Single Mom’s Guide to Love (Guide to Love #2)

Epilogue

Maeve

“Guys! We need to get going! I don’t want to be late!”

I finish putting in my earrings as I’m speed walking to the gaming room, where I’m hoping my son and husband are ready to go and just killing time for me to finish before we head to my parent’s anniversary dinner.

Forty-one years. What an accomplishment. Also a weird year to have a big dinner to celebrate, but who am I to judge? When you’ve been married that long I think every year should come with a fancy dinner.

But as soon as I walk in, I realize that was just wishful thinking. Because there they are, looking like twins in Batman T-shirts and gray lounge pants, hair a mess, as they play a beta version of Logan’s new game.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m annoyed. They should be ready. I’ve told them to be ready. But it does melt my heart a little every time I see them playing games together.

“Seriously?”

My snark bounces off them both. Neither turn off, or even pause, the game.

“We’re almost done, Mom,” Jayce says as he starts moving his body along with the controller. Because, you know, that helps.

“I need you both to be done now.”

Hearing a little edge to my voice, Logan stops the game, though it’s accompanied by sighs.

“I know, I’m the worst,” I say. “Now go get dressed. Brush your teeth. Both of you be back down here in fifteen minutes.”

The two let out one more groan for good measure before turning off the game and heading to their respected rooms. Well, Jayce does. Logan decides to walk up to me before heading to our bedroom.

“Is it bad that I like it when you’re a little mean? You know, I’ve always thought you had a sexy librarian vibe. Especially when you wear your hair in a bun like that.”

I know what he’s doing. He’s trying to get me worked up. Too bad it’s not working. After nearly three months of marriage, I’m on to his tricks.

“I’m about to be more than a little mean if you don’t get going. Oh, and can you please fix Jayce’s hair for me? Just so it looks like he didn’t just roll out of bed?”

I’ve apparently lost my touch, because my gruffness only makes Logan lean in for a kiss. “I love it when you talk dirty. And yes, I’ll fix his hair.”

“Thank you. Now go!” I say, pushing him away, which only makes him laugh. “Ten minutes now, and if you’re not back, no sex for a week.”

He looks at me to see if I’m bluffing. I am, but I really need my cheeks to not give me away right now. Thankfully they don’t, and he shoots up the staircase toward our bedroom.

Men. So predictable and easily manipulated.

I take the time I have while the guys are getting ready to check my purse and make sure I have everything. Wallet. Keys. Compact. Lipstick. Phone. Bag of Goldfish crackers in case Jayce is not a fan of the food.

Even in a nice evening bag, it’s always going to be a mom bag.

As I toss in the last of my things I hear the buzzer for the gate. Which is odd. We’re not expecting anyone. It’s a Saturday night, so no meetings are scheduled. Kat is taking a well-deserved vacation somewhere unknown and tropical. So when I ask who is buzzing, color me shocked when I hear a familiar voice.

“Bitch! Let me in!”

What in the world is Quinn doing here?

“Quinn?”

“I hope so. If anyone else is calling you bitch besides me and the failed reality star then you have more enemies than I realized. Now let me in!”

I hurry and open the gate, racking my brain as to why Quinn’s here. And not just in my house, but in Tennessee.

Yes, it’s my parents’ anniversary dinner, and of course they wanted her here. We all did. But all of us realize it’s smack dab in the middle of the school year. It’s March, so there were no federal holidays giving her a long weekend. And she was just home not long ago for Christmas. My parents insisted that she not pay for a plane ticket for a dinner.

Now, could they pay for one for her? Absolutely. They’d love to. Hell, they’d buy her a house if that meant she moved back to Rolling Hills. But my sister—the very middle of the Banks children birth order—is the most independent and stubborn woman I know, myself included. She’s never wanted a handout. Always made sure to pay her own way. So whether it’s plane tickets home, a house, or five dollars for a coffee, Quinn Banks refuses any and all help. And I know she’s joked before about using fly miles to come home, but eventually those run out, and you have to fly and pay to earn them, so where else is she going?

As I open the front door, I see Quinn exiting a car, I’m guessing a Lyft, and grabbing a book bag as well as her carryon suitcase. I’m speechless as I watch her pull the suitcase up the steps, but am too stunned to help her.

“Start talking. Now,” I say as she walks in.

“That’s the greeting? No hug? No ‘Oh my goodness I’m so surprised!’”

I shake my head. “No. Talk. Now.”

Quinn shakes her head. “You can ask me all the questions you want, but can I change and go to the bathroom first? We have to leave pretty soon, right?”

How dare she use my love for punctuality against me. “Fine. But we’re not done.”

Without another word, Quinn heads into the first-floor bathroom, bags in hand, leaving me stunned in my foyer.

“Are you talking to someone?” Logan asks as he and Jayce come down the stairs.

And holy shit, there go my ovaries.

I don’t know if he planned it, or if this is all very happenstance, but the two are coordinated in the best way. Both are wearing navy blue dress pants and a white collared shirt. Logan has paired his with a jacket, but no tie. But Jayce? He’s went for a vest and looks so handsome. They’re both wearing brown shoes, and I’ve never asked Logan to fix his hair before, but how he did it makes him look like such a little man.

My guys. The two men in my life I don’t know what I’d do without. One made me a mom. One made me a wife.

Both made me complete.

“Look at you guys!” I say as I greet them at the bottom of the staircase. I kneel down to get a better look at Jayce and give his vest a tug to make sure it’s laying right. “Where did you get this?”

He looks up to Logan with the biggest smile. “Logan and I went shopping. Do you like it?”

I nod and smile from ear to ear. “I love it.”

I stand back up and pretend to fix the lapels on Logan’s jacket. “When did you do this?”

He just gives me a mischievous smile. “Last weekend. When Maeve’s away, the boys will play. And buy new clothing.”

I’ve tried to limit my travel since everything with Josh went down, even if it came out that his reasons for wanting custody were bullshit, the numbers he threw at me weren’t wrong. I’ve made it a point to cut back on my travel, but unfortunately I’m not able to get rid of it all together. And sometimes those trips don’t always coordinate to weekends when Jayce is with Josh. Like last weekend, when I had to head to Dallas for three days. Luckily I now have a husband who is more than capable of handling a weekend of solo parenting.

And I must say…not having to figure out which one of my family members was keeping Jayce was rather convenient.

“You both look so handsome,” I say, giving Logan a small kiss before hugging Jayce. “Now, as soon as our guest is ready, we’ll go.”

“Guest?”

I can’t answer Logan’s question as Quinn pops out of the bathroom. “Surprise!”

“Aunt Quinn!” Jayce sprints toward the bathroom, barreling into her. “Where did you come from?”

We all laugh at Jayce as I grab Jayce’s jacket. “Your mom would like to know that as well.”

“Well, I came from Arizona on an airplane,” Quinn says. I don’t appreciate her sarcasm, but technically she answered Jayce’s question so I’m not going to say anything. “I just wanted to be part of tonight so much!”

I raise an eyebrow as she slips on a pair of knee-high boots. “Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

She looks at me like I’m nuts. “What do you mean really? It’s my parent’s forty-first anniversary party. Of course I’m going to come home for it.”

Something is up, but because Quinn wouldn’t feel bad lying to a nun, I can’t tell what it is. “You’ve been home three times in four months. And that’s on top of the few times you came home last year that were unusual. Is something going on?”

Quinn nonchalantly shakes her head. “Nothing going on. Just didn’t want to miss out. But can we continue this interrogation in the car? If we don’t leave soon we’ll be late, and what would the people say?”

“I don’t appreciate your sarcasm.”

Quinn gives me a side hug. “But I do appreciate you being my taxi. Now let’s go!”

There aren’t many fancy restaurants in Rolling Hills. And when I say many, I mean none. Which is why when you want something nicer, you come to Franklin, which coincidentally is where Logan and I live.

Convenient on a night when we’re running late and no one seems to care but me.

“Move it!” I yell, quickly unbuttoning my seatbelt. “Everyone out!”

“Maeve. Chill,” Quinn says from the backseat. “It’s just dinner with our family. Literally no one will care that we’re five minutes late.”

I snap my head back to her. “First of all, have you met me? I thought we were close. Second, when they do ask, I’m throwing you under the bus. So can you please get out of my car so we can go in?”

“Sheesh. Touchy tonight,” Quinn says, acting like she’s not the reason we’re late. Because she is. Besides her unexpected arrival, the second we were buckled she informed us that she left her phone inside. She wasn’t in that many places, so I don’t know why it took her ten minutes to find it.

“Mommy! I have to pee!”

I groan from Jayce’s words. “Okay. We’ll go inside.”

“I gotta go now!”

I look back and his eyes are big and oh shit—is my son about to have his first accident since he was four?

“Got him!” Quinn yells, quickly jumping out of the car and pulling out Jayce behind her as they sprint inside the Italian steakhouse that is a big hit with Simon Banks.

Just as I’m about to unlatch my seatbelt and get out of the car, I feel Logan’s hand on mine.

“What?”

“Breathe,” he instructs.

“I’m fine.”

“Maeve. Please. Just take a second and breathe.”

I’m annoyed for a second before I do what he says. And he’s right. I do need to calm down. It’s not that big of a deal that we’re ten minutes late, right?

Right?

“Why am I like this?” I ask as I bring my heart rate back to normal.

“It’s who you are. And why I love you.”

We lean in and share a quick kiss before I pull away. “If I keep that up, we’re going to be even later.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

My raised eyebrow is all the signal Logan needs to know that I’m serious.

Which sucks, because I haven’t had a good car make-out session in years.

As the two of us walk inside, I’m surprised not to see Jayce and Quinn waiting for us.

“Banks party?”

The hostess nods. “Right this way.”

Logan takes my hand as we follow the hostess. I’ve been here a few times, and the food is delicious. I start making my way to the dining room, which is to the left. So consider my surprise when Logan pulls me to the right.

“Where are we going?”

He sends me a wink. “You’ll see.”

I narrow my eyes, because why is he being weird? I go between looking at him, and making sure I don’t run into a wall, as we’re guided back to a private dining room.

Still not having any idea what’s going on, it takes me a second to even realize it once the doors are open.

In the room is all of my family. Friends from high school and college. Kat. They’re all applauding and cheering and I’m so confused, especially when I see a table in the front of the room covered by an ornate flower arrangement.

“Logan? What is this?”

He leans in close so I can hear him over the applause and hollers.

“Happy wedding reception.”

My jaw drops to the floor as Logan leads me into the room. My parents are the first to greet us, hugging us both as we continue saying hi to everyone. It’s overwhelming. It’s amazing. It’s shocking.

And it has Logan Matthews written all over it.

When we get to the front of the room, I notice there’s a microphone waiting. No one better be waiting for me to give a speech, because that’s not going to happen. Luckily, Logan picks it up as everyone’s applause quiets down and they take their seats.

“Thank you everyone for coming out tonight for this surprise wedding reception.” Cheers begin again, though not as long this time. “Please enjoy the bar as its open all night. Please order whatever you’d like off the special menu myself and my sister-in-law Charlie came up with. I have more to say later, but I feel my wife’s eyes staring into me, so I’m going to excuse myself as I think I have some explaining to do.”

The joke—which is also the truth—lands with every family and friend in the room as Logan walks me out through a door and into a back hallway.

“Before we go any farther, I need to know…did my mother put you up to this?”

He smiles and takes each of my hands. “She didn’t. But when I told her my idea, she was more than happy to take over the majority of the planning.”

“I’m sure she was.”

Even though she promised me some time to get used to the idea of being married, my dear mother still makes comments from time to time about us doing a ceremony. Oh! Maybe this will satisfy her for a little while.

“I know why we had to get married in the haste we did,” Logan says. “But now that I’ve seen how the Banks family works, I hate that you didn’t at least get to celebrate with a dinner after. I wanted you—us—to have that.”

Oh damn. I didn’t wear the appropriate eye liner if he’s going to be saying sweet things like that.

“Thank you,” I say as something hits me. “Wait! Is this why you weren’t ready tonight?”

He smiles and nods. “Our timeline was based on Quinn’s arrival. Luckily she texted me right before you came to get us that she was on her way.”

I knew something was fishy with her. But damn, she’s a good liar. And speaking of liars…

“Did you have Jayce in on this?”

Logan can’t hold in his laugh. “The lad was more than ready to play the part. The bathroom thing, though, in the car? All him. Bloody brilliant.”

I throw my head back, realizing that there’s a very good chance that my son has more of his uncle and aunts in his genes than I realized.

“I hope this was okay,” Logan says. “I just wanted to show you?—”

I press my lips to his, not only wanting him to stop talking, but to show him just how okay this is.

Honestly, a surprise party is a fitting thing for us, considering he was the surprise I never saw coming. And every day he surprises me even more. Whether it be the support he gives that somehow tops the day before, or how well Jayce and I have molded into his life, every day is new and exciting. A surprise behind every corner.

And I can’t wait for a lifetime of them.

“This is more than okay,” I say as I slowly pull away. “I love you, Logan Matthews.”

“Not as much as I love you both.”

Thank you for reading Single Mom’s Guide to Love!