Epilogue
THREE MONTHS LATER…
“ A nd today we have a very special surprise guest joining us on the podcast.” I press the mute button and do a little happy dance. Thankfully, I’m not recording live. “I think a lot of you might know her name and probably a lot of her characters. I’m so, so so excited to introduce you to Chloe Fisher!”
“Hi, Mira! Thank you so much for having me! I’m so excited to be here too, talking about sex in real life versus romance novels. Which is hilarious in a way because I was just having this talk with my husband yesterday.”
“Ohhh really?”
“Yeah. I tried making a joke about vampires having a lot of stamina and it didn’t go over well.”
I laugh. “Ouch. But even though he is a mere mortal human, you have some pretty spicy scenes that we all assume you draw from real life inspiration.”
“Sorry, Sam, if you’re listening,” Chloe goes on and we both laugh. “But yes and I might have ordered wings off Amazon for him to wear one night so I could make sure I was describing certain movements correctly.”
“Ah! I love it,” I say. “The dedication you have for your readers.”
“The things I do. Or the things I make my husband do. But speaking of him, does everyone know that your new man is my brother in law?”
“Shhh, I wasn’t going to tell them yet. I’m pretending you’re here because you think I’m cool and nothing else.”
Chloe laughs. “You are cool and I would be here without the family connection.”
We continue the podcast, laughing and having so much fun with this episode. Mason is out with Sam, and we meet them for drinks after we finish recording. It’s a hot late summer day in Chicago, perfect for sitting outside and enjoying the weather.
“Hey,” Mason says, standing up when he sees us coming onto the restaurant patio. My heart does a little flutter thing when I see him. It’s pure kid-on-Christmas-morning excitement, and the last three months have been amazing.
It hasn’t been without its challenges, of course. Mason has been perfect in every way I could imagine a partner to be. But it’s been a learning curve for me to be in the healthy relationship I coach my clients to get into. I’ve had to learn how to separate my anxiety from intuition and remind myself that I’m worthy of love just as much as anyone else.
His large hands clasp around my waist and we kiss, my body immediately going into overdrive. I just want to fuck him all the time and I don’t think that feeling is going to fade away.
“How did your episode go?” he asks us as Chloe and I sit down at the table.
“Great,” I reply and Chloe agrees. “It was so much fun! I think we could make this a series.”
“You should,” Sam encourages and I beam, not just excited about the episodes, but about how nice it is to hang out with Mason’s family like this. I’m meeting his parents for the first time this weekend, and while I’m nervous, I’m more excited.
Because I love Mason Harris.
“What’s good here?” Chloe asks.
“I usually get this salad, but without the bacon,” I say, pointing to it on her menu. “How was your day?” I ask Mason, putting one hand on his thigh. He links his fingers through mine.
“Filled with lots of paperwork today.”
“I need to write an FBI character,” Chloe muses and Sam makes a face. “What about a sexy anesthesiologist instead.”
“True crime is popular right now so going the cop or FBI agent route is on trend.”
We all laugh and put in an order for our food. My phone dings with three rapid fire texts in a row. Wanting to make sure it’s not of my friends needing something, I check it and am surprised as fuck to see the messages.
“What is it?” Mason asks.
“It’s Noel.”
“Your ex husband’s girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” I blink, reread the messages and then look at him. “She said I was right about everything, he’s a horrible person, and she left him.”
“Fuck.”
“Right?” I shake my head and put my phone down, telling myself I’ll deal with it later. Life certainly didn’t work out as I thought it would, but if it weren’t for the hard times, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Every single bad ex taught me a lesson, and I’m so glad I didn’t settle.
Because sitting here next to Mason is exactly where I’m supposed to be.