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Epilogue
A year after their first date
“Ididn’t realize we were flying low enough for me to get a signal,” she tells me over the hum of the engine.
“Someone called you?”
“Yup. It dropped though.”
“Callan?”
“I don’t recognize the number. You need to stop worrying about him. He’s fine.”
I glower at her. “Are you fine about the corpse in the yard?”
“Yard? It’s a click away from the house.” She pats my knee. “I get what you mean though. It’s probably a good thing that he’s going to college, and, hey, he has Rocket with him! They’re inseparable now. He’ll be fine, Cody. I promise.”
“If you say so,” I grouse, though I know she’s right.
Callan needed to experience life.
I just hate that death is the reason he flew the nest.
Unsurprisingly, Colt’s the one with empty-nest syndrome. Callan moved to Poughkeepsie, NY, three weeks ago for the upcoming semester and we’re all adjusting to his loss.
As my eyes scan the distance, I shove aside thoughts of my baby brother’s decision to focus on the trip ahead of us.
For ouralmosttwelve-month anniversary, Tee was determined to see Inuvik in the fall, and who was I to argue?
I don’t fly our plane often, but I requisitioned its use after Mike dared me to when I was originally intending on driving us on my bike.
If I wasn’t already dare-prone, I’ve upped my game since getting with the self-proclaimed queen of dares.
Once I’ve taxied us into the hangar and we’re back on terra firma, both of us check our notifications while we wait for our taxi to arrive.
“Milord is missing me, according to Zee. I know I shouldn’t be happy about that, but I really am,” she crows. Then, her face falls. “I miss him too, Cody. Are you sure we couldn’t bring him?”
“How were we supposed to bring BroganandMilord, Tee?”
“You’re right. Colt needs to get a bigger plane,” she agrees.
Wait.Agrees?
I didn’t?—
“Definitely one that’ll fit Brogan and Milord. Mention that to him, would you?”
“You want us to spend another couple hundred thousand so we can take our dogs away with us on vacation?”
She frowns at me. “Duh.”
I hide a smile. “Fine.”
Tee has definitely taken to being a millionaire’s fiancée and a billionaire’s future sister-in-law like a duck to water.
As she pats my knee, I can tell her focus has shifted when she starts a call.
For myself, I see that I have some missed phone calls from work and Amy’s whining in our DMs about a prank the tripletsrained upon her—Zee offered her a job as a live-in companion for hergrand-mèreon the Bar 9 after she graduated.