Chapter 33 Wes - Epilogue
Wes - Epilogue
Two years later
I blink my eyes open as soon as there’s some pressure on my chest, finding a pair of yellow eyes staring down at me, giving me a death glare that says, Where’s my food, hu-mon? Or I pretend Kitty’s saying it because she does it every morning.
I glance at the clock, and it’s just before seven. “Couldn’t give me ten more minutes, huh?” I reach for the other side of the bed to find it cold.
Meow.
“All right, all right… I’m up. Jeez.”
I lift her off me and climb out of bed, wincing. Jett really gave me a good pounding last night. I’ll be feeling him in there all day.
Kitty follows me around to the bathroom as I relieve myself, weaving in and out of my legs. She’ll do that, trying to speed things along.
“Where’s your other dad? Didn’t he feed you?”
Meow.
I yawn, rub my eyes, and open the pantry to pull out some wet cat food. By now, Kitty’s screaming at me. I dump it into her bowl and set it on the floor. She gobbles it up as if we’ve never fed her before. I roll my eyes and drag my hand along her fluffy tail. “Drama queen.”
After making some coffee, I sit at the kitchen island to sip on it while I look at my phone to find a restaurant for tonight and make reservations. Today marks two years since Jett and I met. I call it our ‘not-so meet-cute.’
I can’t believe it’s been two years. It’s really flown by. We had a rough start, but it’s been smooth sailing since. Well, we’ve had our rough patches, but doesn’t every couple? Still, we always end up talking things out, and it’s like we never even fought.
And it’s fucking nice to have a relationship with him. It’s comfortable and about the little things, like holding each other every night, feeding each other bites of dessert, and decorating this condo to make it ours. It’s about the long haul together.
I truly believe Jett is my soulmate. He went from my teen hero to my boyfriend extraordinaire. He’s everything.
I glance around this place, with the walls covered in art from our daycations around Oregon, the shelves packed with books and decorations, and we even have throw pillows on the couch.
It’s home. Our home. But I think sometime soon we need a bigger place.
I want to marry him one day, maybe have a kid if he wants one.
I think I do, but we have time for all that.
When I look at the front door, I notice something’s off. I set down my coffee and make my way over there. It’s a note from Jett.
Follow the arrows.
“Follow the arrows? What does that mean?”
I open the front door and peek out. Sure enough, there’s a piece of paper taped to the wall with a big arrow pointing at the elevator.
“Huh. What are you up to, babe?”
It has to do with our anniversary. I’m sure of it. I smile, and my stomach gets fluttery.
I close the door and hurry to the bedroom to get dressed and brush my teeth.
A few minutes later, I rush out of the condo and head down the elevator. As soon as the doors slide open into the lobby, I see another arrow taped up, pointing at the entry doors.
Once outside, I see another arrow taped to the light post. I shiver from the chill in the air and take a deep breath.
The leaves have started to change color, and the rising sun catches the orange and red tones.
I love this season and time of day. I look around the sprawling street filled with students, but there’s no sign of Jett.
“What are you up to, my love?”
I keep following the arrows. They’re close enough to each other that you can’t miss them. Not sure how much the city will appreciate cleaning them up later. I chuckle as I start jogging. I think I have a pretty good idea of where Jett’s skulking.
It takes me about ten minutes to reach the tracks at the school. I instantly see him, sitting in the middle of the track, cross-legged. It’s late enough in the day that there should be athletes everywhere, but it’s empty.
As I get closer, I see a potted plant next to him. I chuckle at that. He got me a houseplant for our last anniversary, too, saying it lasted longer than flowers. We still have the money tree, which I named Wilson, sitting by the window at home.
There’s also a gift bag.
“Oh, I love pressies!” I yell out before I reach him.
“Get your smart ass over here.” He smiles widely at me, reaching his eyes, lighting up his entire face. Fuck, to have my boyfriend look at me like that is everything.
Jett stands as I reach him. When I do, I wrap my arms around his neck, and he presses his palm to my back. I scowl at him. “Couldn’t you have at least fed Kitty before coming out here?”
He rolls his eyes. “Nope. She was your messenger to get your lazy ass up, and she’s the best alarm clock around.”
“Lazy?” I huff.
“Well, then what took you so long?”
“Needed my caffeine, duh.”
“Nice to know I come in second after coffee.”
“Sorry, babe, but you come in fourth, after Kitty and Wilson.”
“You’re so mean.”
“Aww, I’ll make it up to you tonight. I’ll even bottom, how about that?”
Jett smirks and pulls me tighter against him. “Gee, I feel so honored.”
“As well as you should. I’m a catch.”
He leans in and kisses me. “That you are.”
Jett eases me back, bends down, and grabs the plant. It’s really pretty with large green and pink leaves. “This is Jeff,” he says.
I take the plant from him and cradle it with one arm. “Hey, Jeff. Wilson’s gonna love you.”
“And this is for you, too.”
I set the plant back on the ground and take the proffered bag.
Digging past the rainbow tissue paper, I pull out a T-shirt.
I hold it up and read, ‘Dudes Just Taste Better.’ I snort a laugh and put it back into the bag.
I’ve been collecting these corny T-shirts, and Jett has no problem adding to my growing collection. “Love it!”
Before I can thank him properly, Jett drops to one knee, a little black box in his hand. My heart skips a beat, and I inhale a gasp. Oh shit. I was not expecting a proposal at all.
“Now, let me get this out, then you can… yap away,” he says.
I roll my eyes as my heart continues to pound. “Such a romantic.” He huffs at me, and I rush out an apology and mime zipping my mouth.
“Wes, you came into my life when I needed you the most. I didn’t know it then, but I wish I had.
I wish I’d seen the sunshine behind those gorgeous blue eyes.
I wish I’d seen how quickly you turned around my life and gave me hope for the first time in years.
My blindness made me nearly lose you. You never gave up on me.
You continued to support me even when I felt like I didn’t deserve it. ”
My racing heart melts at his words. I want to say something so badly.
I want to tell him he was fine. We worked it all out.
It didn’t matter. That our break helped make us realize we belonged together.
That he had things to deal with that he could only do on his own.
But I keep my ‘yap shut’ as he so eloquently put it.
“When I feel like I’m falling again, slipping to a place I don’t want to go to, you’re there to ground me every single time.
I never dreamed I could have a love like this, and you remind me of that every day, and how much you love me.
You never let me doubt it or second-guess myself.
” He looks down and holds out the box, and my stomach dips.
I suck in my trembling bottom lip. “This is my way of showing how much I love you. No more fears about our future. No more doubts. This is me committing a lifetime to you. To let you know that I’ll always stick by you in return. That I’ll always love you.”
I hold my breath, waiting to see if he’s finished or if I can speak yet. Jett opens the box, and I find a gorgeous ring. “Will you marry me, Wes?”
A few tears spill, and I swipe them away. “Hell, yeah, I will. God, yes.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, dumbass.” I point at my face. “You see what you’ve done to me? I’m all emotional.”
Jett stands and holds out the ring. I take it and inspect it. “It’s hammered titanium, and the inlay is from an old whiskey barrel,” he says.
I slide it onto my ring finger. “It’s perfect, babe. Beautiful. I love it. God, and here I was thinking about making reservations for a lame dinner. This is way better.”
He smiles and tugs me against him before he presses his lips to mine. “I can’t wait for our future,” he says. “And all the lame dinners.”
“Me, too. But next time, we should get a girl plant. Name her Shirley.”
Jett chuckles and bites my chin. “Dork.”
“How much did you have to pay to get the track and field to clear out?” I ask.
“Nothing. The students and coaches gave us an hour. I mean, I needed the time so I could break down, in case you said no.” His pretty chocolatey eyes gleam with humor.
I smack his chest. “Ass. As if.”
With his arm wrapped around my shoulders, he pulls out his phone and FaceTimes someone.
No, not someone, but someones.
“He said yes!” Jett beams at the phone.
Dennis, Mike, Mom, Teddy, Granddad, Grandma, Janelle, Owen, Justin, and Rose are all on the screen, cheering and whistling.
“We never doubted it,” Dennis says.
“Y-y-you nnnneed… t-to come hhhome. We’ll hhhave… a… p-party,” Mom says.
Mike says he’ll bring the grilled meat, Grandma will make sides, and Janelle will make dessert.
“Sounds fun,” I say. The emotions are feeling a little heavy, and it’s taking all my power not to weep like a baby in front of everyone. Jett just fucking asked me to marry him. I’m not sure it’s completely sunk in yet.
When we hang up, I rest my hands on Jett’s hips. “As I watched you run for the first time, in awe of your power and speed, I never dreamed in a million years that we’d be here and now, planning a long future together.”
Jett kisses my forehead. “I’m grateful every fucking second that you forced your way into my life that day at the bar.”
“I’m grateful every day that you stopped calling me Wilson.”
He throws back his head and laughs. “I wonder if I can take a lifetime of horrible dad jokes.”
“Pft, you love it.”
“I really do.”
“Because you looove me.”
“I really do.”
THE END