Epilogue
It’s summer in Rosehill, the sticky kind of warm against your skin, with the air smelling like cut grass and honeysuckle. I’m in the car with an uncomfortable Alex beside me, wearing a button-down and khakis. He keeps shifting around, tugging at the fabric.
“You look nice,” I tell him.
“Yeah, yeah,” he mutters, tugging at the collar like it’s strangling him. “You too.”
I glance down at my dress, pale cream and flowy. Layla insisted I wear it to the party, and who am I to argue with that?
We’re supposed to be picking Nate up from practice before heading to Layla’s, but Alex won’t meet my eyes. And turning into the football field parking lot, my stomach flutters with something that feels an awful lot like hope.
“Alright, c’mon,” Alex says, more gentle than I expect from him.
I slip out, sandals crunching on gravel, the humid air already curling my hair at the edges.
And that’s when I see it.
A path of rose petals, winding from the gate down to the fifty-yard line, pink and red against the green turf. At the end of the path stands Nate. His eyes are locked on me like I’m the only thing in the world. And off to the side—
I gasp.
There’s Liz, holding her baby on her hip beside Calvin. Ben and Gracie with their three kids, the youngest perched on Ben’s shoulders. Layla, Mr. Holloway, and Ms. Price. My parents, standing close together, my mother’s hand curled into my father’s arm.
Next to them is my sister.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, tears already blurring the edges of my vision. “Alex…”
He gives me a small, crooked grin and a pat on the back. “Go,” he says, stepping away to join the others.
At first, I can’t. My heart’s in my throat, and my legs are threatening to give out. But somehow, when I look back at Nate, my feet remember how to move.
When I reach him, his hand finds mine, steady and warm. “Hey there, Darlin’.”
My mouth wobbles into a smile. “Hi.”
The breeze picks up, catching my dress, stirring the rose petals around our feet, while behind us, the people we love wait patiently for our lives to change forever.
And as Nate drops down to one knee, the world seems to hold its breath with me.