Between the Stacks (Behind the Lens)

Epilogue

Lowe

Valentine’s Day...

Crazy right? The one day I disliked more than any other on the calendar and here I was, signing the First Annual Calendar and getting ready for the release of our movie, Between the Stacks .

From beginning to end, I hadn’t seen the turn my life would take. I’d spent more time than I’d like to think about cultivating a fanbase, while also keeping my privacy. I’d done everything in my power to use every bit of anonymity Lorna could afford me. Yet, here I was in a relationship I couldn’t quite explain other than it worked.

Lyra called it why choose with sword crossing.

I was too old for that shit.

But every time she said it, she giggled, then disappeared into her room for hours. In the end, she drafted a book. Maybe those English Lit classes guided her to her passion or maybe working with us got those creative juices flowing. Her first book had the same name as our movie, Between the Stacks, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t take off on the charts. As a matter of fact, she and Jonesy were on their way back from some publicity tour. He was her IP lawyer now, like he’d been my lawyer for the contracts with Lorna. Lyra’s agent was a friend of ours who knew the business better than we did. Her work showed such when Lyra debuted at number one on the New York Times list.

Scott and Cole would join us tomorrow to celebrate the culmination of all our hard work, since they had back-to-back shifts at the local fire department. Spots they’d earned after graduating near the top of their class. As for me... I had a feeling this was my swan song. I had a family now. People who cared about me, and I about them. I’d fallen hard for Lyra, as did the guys. Secretly, later this summer, we planned to propose to her because there was no way we could ever let her go. Obviously, it would be somewhere tropical.

Preferably somewhere where we didn’t have to wear much clothing.

Until we were back together, I continued to sign the promotional videos and calendars. By my estimates, there were over three hundred on the table in front of me, and my hand had cramped up at eighty-nine.

Worth it though.

“Whoa,” Lyra murmured. “Not what I was expecting. Did you do these?”

I glanced up. She looked tired. I cut my gaze to Jonesy, who nodded. “Almost done. You should sign February too and the movie.” I motioned to the pen, and the already done stacks of items.

“Me?” she said. “Isn’t it your day?”

“You made the magic with us,” I said. “You share in the honors.”

She blinked, then nodded slowly. “Sure, okay. Why not?”

For the next few hours, we signed everything on the table. Jonesy held Lyra on his lap because she’d passed out before I’d finished. She looked so peaceful in his arms. He didn’t have to say a word. Three cities in six days with three different time zones. She probably had the worst case of jet lag ever and she hadn’t even gone overseas.

“She did good,” Jonesy said, as if reading my mind. “Signed another four-book contract with her publisher and made bank on it. She also said something about modifying her class schedule next semester.”

“Whatever she needs,” I replied, excited to see what she had planned next. “I have no doubt you were instrumental in that.”

He shook his head. “Nah, she did it on her own. I might have looked over her proposal while we drove to the event, but she has a plan. She made it happen.”

Pride burst in my chest.

Sometimes things happened in life and even when they don’t make sense, you realize you were there for a reason. That night, when the dorm burned down, displacing the students was one of those types of days. No one could have expected the unintended consequences of such happening. Nor how many people it might bring into a person’s life making everything that much better.

For a long time, it was Jonesy and me.

Now, we had a family.

As Jonesy carried Lyra out into the crisp wintery air, my phone buzzed. Scott and Cole sent photos from their location somewhere in the heart of Reno. They were celebrating the release of the movie together, while eating street tacos while waiting for a service call. I—we couldn’t wait for them to be home.

I turned the phone so Jonesy could see, and he smirked. “Slackers.”

I chuckled. “What do you say we go home and wake our girl up the proper way?”

Jonesy nodded. “Stop and get food first? She hasn’t eaten since before we boarded the plane. Oh, and if I haven’t told you yet today, happy Library Lovers’ Day.”

I dropped my head forward and laughed. I guess that was our holiday now.

It was so much better than Valentine’s Day, anyway.

THE END