Second Chance (Hudson Valley Murder Mysteries #2)

Epilogue

I t takes another two weeks for Tony to officially move in.

He doesn’t spend a single night in Kingston in the interim, but he won’t feel properly moved in until he fixes the bookshelf in Daniel’s—their—living room and cleans out his room at his parents’ house.

There’s too much to do before a proper move. First, they have to deal with the fallout of Sean’s attack on the Indian restaurant in Red Hook. In light of Lily’s changed statement, every other witness statement needs rehashing as well. Tony loses a full day at the police station, lucky as always that his employer is so lenient.

The college runs Daniel ragged between managing interviews with the local news, damage control with concerned students and their parents, and getting the place back into something approaching a functional environment for education. Tony works long hours at the shop, making up for the days he missed and babysitting Lia in equal measure, while Gianna visits Lily at Kingston Hospital.

Tony debates going to see her, but he’s learning to be okay with not being okay with everything. Instead, he listens to Gianna and Daniel’s updates on how Lily’s doing and what charges she’ll end up facing. He offers a little advice about how to deal with Sean’s car insurance, but he lets someone else convey it to her.

The Sunday after, they all attend Amelia Lawrence’s funeral. Even Charlie and Blake G, who have only met Emilio once, tag along to pay their respects. Wearing a properly fitting suit and a clean shirt, Emilio makes it through the entire service admirably. He carries Francie on his hip for most of it, letting her hide her face in his neck when she needs to. Though he doesn’t look any less haunted, he seems to have started getting some sleep.

Emilio still makes time to thank them all personally for coming.

Tony caught Ma cooking extra, which convinced him she’s been taking casseroles to Germantown all week.

Maybe that’s why Emilio shows up to help the day Tony officially moves in. Tony’s not sure who told him, but his money’s on Lisa, who can’t resist a stray. It could also have been Colette, who seems to have reached some sort of detente with Emilio on the whole “suspicion of murder” incident.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Daniel mutters to Tony as he watches the two of them chat next to the coffee maker he insisted on buying as part of the moving in process. “Suspecting you of murder is practically how we met.”

“Ouch.” In revenge for that particular comment, Tony makes Daniel come to the hardware store with him.

Tony still isn’t sure why everyone felt the need to be here. All he did was text the group chat that he wasn’t free today because he was moving in properly. Mostly, it’s clothes, a few books of his own, and some photo albums Ma sneaked on top of the pile. He spent the last week dismantling his bedroom since he’s not about to let them be the kind of parents who keep a shrine to him when they could use the space for something worthwhile. He could have used some help taking all the furniture apart, but he knew better than to ask his friends for that. Giving Blake a screwdriver counts as a danger to the public.

Instead, he asked someone actually helpful. Kyle raised his eyebrows practically to the top of his forehead when Tony asked to borrow his pickup to take his old bed and dresser to the used furniture store.

It was practically an out-of-body experience for Tony to tell him, “I’m moving in with my boyfriend.”

Kyle waited a minute to respond while the pieces fell into place. “Ah. The sandwich-maker from Rhinebeck.”

“Again,” Tony told him. “I am fully capable of making my own sandwiches. But, yes.”

Kyle shrugged, said, “Mazel tov,” and handed over the keys to his truck.

Tony assured the Toyota multiple times that it was for reasons of space and transport, not because he was looking to trade up. If he keeps a lookout for reasonable used cars he could buy, well, he keeps quiet about it around his current car in case it refuses to start out of jealousy.

So Tony isn’t taking Daniel to the hardware store for much. Some background lighting for that bookshelf, and some wood stain to match a two-by-four or two to the proper color so he can finally make sure the shelf doesn’t collapse on them. If he can swing it, they’ll stop by Target for a bigger frying pan as well. He still wants a table in the living room for when it’s more than the two of them and Colette at dinner, but Daniel’s been resistant about Tony building one himself, and Tony’s holding out for him to agree to that.

What his friends intend on moving into the apartment while they’re at the store is a mystery to Tony.

It takes them an hour and a half. As he suspected, when they get back, all five of Tony’s boxes are still in his car, and his friends all sit around the living room eating pizza and drinking the case of beer Blake G brought along.

“It wouldn’t be a move without pizza and beer,” Blake W points out.

“I don’t see any of you doing any moving,” Tony tells him.

“Your boyfriend has it handled.” Charlie gestures easily toward the door, where Daniel and Meredith are, in fact, handling two of the five boxes, Colette close behind them with a third.

Much like her stalemate with Emilio, Colette hasn’t said a thing about whether or not Meredith’s continued presence in her guest room is welcome or not. Nor has Meredith mentioned how her husband and children feel about her not heading home after two weeks in the Hudson Valley. Daniel tried asking and was stonewalled so efficiently he’s decided to give up. Knowing Daniel, what this means is that he won’t be asking directly again, but he will be snooping.

Daniel and Colette have been treading delicately around each other since Sean’s arrest. She hasn’t said much more about Sean and how betrayed she must feel; after all, he lied to her and threatened her. Daniel also hasn’t mentioned his own struggle with feeling responsible for everything, and neither of them have talked about how tied up with Mario it all is. Instead, Colette’s been talking about taking an extended trip to France this winter. It hasn’t made Daniel any less tense, but it’s not something he can solve, and he seems to have accepted that.

Tony has a list of therapists in the Hudson Valley area bookmarked on his phone. He hasn’t gotten around to calling any offices yet, but he’ll find the time eventually, and when he does, maybe he’ll forward the link to both of them.

It only takes one more trip to get everything moved in. The remaining home improvement plans Tony wants to spring on Daniel can wait for tomorrow.

With a sigh, Tony settles on the floor with his back against the couch. From under the couch, Worf rubs his wet nose on the hand Tony’s using for balance.

Lisa hands Tony a pizza box. Blake G hands him a beer. Daniel ruffles his hair from above him on the couch.

“If it makes you feel better,” Daniel offers, “we can call this a housewarming rather than a move.”

Colette boos. “Absolutely not. You get gifts for a housewarming. Don’t shortchange yourselves.”

“She makes a good point,” Emilio says.

Lively discussion breaks out on whether this constitutes a move-in party, which Blake W argues vehemently against, given he paid for the pizza. Pretty much everyone else agrees it should be a housewarming to save money on a gift. Gianna and Colette are the only other holdouts, Gianna because she enjoys making Tony uncomfortable and possibly because she feels bad for Blake W, and Colette because she wants to profit from the gifts.

It’s a senseless debate; they should all know by now neither Tony nor Daniel is especially interested in throwing a whole party to celebrate the fact that they’ve been living together for what amounts to several months at this point. They just want Tony to cook for them some more.

Still, warmth suffuses Tony. They’re surrounded by friends and family who love them enough to heckle them mercilessly. After it’s all been said and done, they can look at him in the apartment he shares with his boyfriend, a man he’s kissed and held close and been stupidly in love with right where they can all witness, and nothing much about what they think of him has changed. It feels like a new lease, a second chance at learning how to be himself out loud.

Tony leans his head back against Daniel’s knee, craning up to look at him.

Daniel smiles down at him. “I’m glad you’re here,” he says.

“I’m glad I’m here, too,” Tony tells him.