Page 48

EPILOGUE

HEIDI

EIGHT YEARS LATER

T he carrot cake is almost iced when there’s a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Juniper calls, coming down the stairs. She has her face in her phone, barely watching where she’s going.

“I think it should be Briar and Leo,” I tell her, and sure enough, the second the door is open, Elara is whispering with Juniper, gossiping about the latest news at school. Or maybe it’s about the first date Juniper went on the other night.

“Make sure you guys are listening for when I call you for brunch!” I call after them, and they wave me off.

“I smell carrots,” Leo says, sniffing the air.

“It is carrot cake.”

He winces. “I’m not sure vegetables belong in cake, actually.”

“Leo shut up,” Briar mutters with an eye roll, pulling him into her.

“I’m just telling the truth!”

Emmett chooses now to come out from the new and improved garage, his smile widening as he sees his best friend.

“Are you giving my wife a hard time?” he asks with a laugh, embracing Leo before slapping him in the back of the head.

“I’m not giving anyone a hard time other than my wife,” he responds.

The men start talking loudly about what the team is doing these days.

Emmett retired a year ago after suffering an injury. He loves football so much, but he didn’t want to put his body through even more. It’s a tough sport, and a hard position to play with life-long consequences.

The day he sat me down and let me know he was ready to retire, I knew he meant it. The tears in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

It’s hard to give up something you love. But it’s harder to admit when it’s time for you to go, and getting that first step over with was a giant leap.

Leo is still playing football, and he’s now considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league with four Super Bowl rings.

They didn’t win the year Emmett and I got together, which was a huge bummer. I remember how sad we all were after the game. The way Juniper asked her dad if Uncle Leo was going to be okay. The way Emmett let himself cry when he thought I was sleeping.

It was heartbreaking.

But two years later and they were back in the same spot, blowing out the opposing team in historical fashion.

There were two more after that.

We moved after Emmett retired, finding a nice home in the country with plenty of land for Juniper to run around and be a kid.

Theodore passed away right before we moved, which was tragic. She had become one of our favorite animal friends, and she even stayed inside the house sometimes.

It wasn’t until she waddled up to us, clearly pregnant, that we realized Theodore was, in fact, a woman.

We have one of her grandchildren to this day, who has had her own family out back. Although it’s still illegal to technically have them as pets, we’ve set up a second chicken coop out back for them to make a home in. If anyone asks, there was just an invasion, and we’ll take care of it.

We have it all planned out.

Juniper’s favorite part is the chickens though. She spends most of her days outside with them, reading in the grass under the sun.

Emmett’s favorite part is the ten-car garage, where he works on any car he can find. Honestly, I’m starting to think that he somehow finds the cars with the absolute most issues. But he loves to hang out in there, working with his hands.

And he works me with his hands at night.

And in the morning.

And sometimes, during the day.

My favorite part though?

The dark room that Emmett set up for me.

I decided to take Isla up on her offer and started showing my photography off at her gallery.

I’ve made millions off it.

People with money love art of all kinds. They’re willing to spend crazy amounts of money on a canvas with a brand new pigment.

But I wasn’t expecting them to spend as much as they do on photography.

When I started up again, I quickly decided that I really hated doing portrait photography. People tend to not appreciate it as much ever since phone cameras got so good, and it started to make me hate my craft.

So I switched to sports photography and fine art, frequently taking photos at Juniper’s track meets.

The two are so different that it gives me a drive to keep going.

It wasn’t until my mid-thirties that my own career took off and I really realized what I wanted to do in this life. I was more established, had a support system, and most importantly, I loved myself more. I gave myself permission to do what I love, and that made all the difference.

Sometimes we’re all in such a rush to get to our destination that we refuse to remember that there are stops along the way.

My second favorite thing, though, are the crystals lining the house. Emmett decided to fully embrace them and has his own collection.

Another knock comes from the door, and Isla walks through with Leo and their little one, Blue. Champ runs in after, the hair on her snout turning more and more gray.

“Where’s the baby!” Isla immediately asks, looking around.

I smile. “She’s down for a nap. She’ll probably be awake any second now though with how loud the guys are talking.”

I flip a couple of pancakes, laying them out on a plate. “How’s she doing?”

“She’s alright. You know how babies are,” I say smiling at Blue.

Isla and I got pregnant around the same exact time, and we had our babies only days apart.

Not only are Juniper and Elara growing up together, but Charlotte and Blue will too.

We picked out our baby names together as we sipped mocktails at Lulu’s.

“I want to name him Edgar,” Isla rolled her eyes, and Owen nearly gagged.

“We are not naming our baby Edgar.”

“But it’s because of ? —”

“I know what it’s because of!”

“I think it’s better than blue.”

“You had that painting you were working on that first time I came over to hang out with you. I loved it so much.”

“It was blue?”

Owen nodded, and Isla melted into a puddle right then and there.

The baby would be named Blue.

For us, it was a little simpler.

We were in Charlotte, North Carolina on a bye week getaway when we learned I was pregnant, which was followed by one of the most intense, beautiful sunsets either of us have ever seen.

We took it as a sign that both of our loved ones were smiling down at us, happy, and we decided on the name Charlotte the second we found out we were having a girl.

Isla and Briar come around the island to help me get everything on serving trays, and I line the table. We have everything anyone could ever want: three kinds of juices, our Sunday cake, pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

Another knock comes, and we turn, looking out the front window to see who it is. We have a full house this Sunday for the first time in weeks.

“I think that’s everyone else,” Isla calls.

She lets the others into the house, their families in tow, and Mila, Amara, and Zara all hug me, placing champagne and other gifts on the counter.

When everyone’s settled, they’re called for brunch, and we sit around our giant table.

These are my favorite days. Our Sunday brunches.

And looking around the table at the people I couldn’t imagine my life without, I’m filled with so much love I can barely take it.

Chapters come and go. Stories end. The last page turns. But some stories are forever.