Five Years Later
Austin
“Daddy, daddy, daddy!”
Austin threw his head back and groaned.
Five minutes. He only wanted five minutes of peace.
Andrew burst into Cabin A.
He’d hoped that his son wouldn’t think to find him here, but it had taken him all of ten minutes.
Austin rubbed his head, then winced.
It was still sunburnt from yesterday’s boat excursion.
“Yeah, kid?”
“Uncle Archer told me that he needs everyone out on the lawn right now !”
“You can tell Uncle Archer he can go—”
Andrew tilted his head.
Austin sighed. Fuck himself.
He’d stopped swearing around the kids years ago.
Swearing was his love language.
It felt like the only way he could communicate with his brother.
But that was the kind of sacrifice you made when you and your smoking hot wife decided to procreate during a pandemic and make the most adorable (and obnoxious) children in the world.
“Why don’t you go find Auntie Tea? I’m sure she can help with whatever your uncle needs.”
Andrew pouted and crossed his arms. “Nope. He said you have to go out there. Everyone is waiting for you.”
He made a face at his kid.
“For me? Why?”
The screen door swung open.
Kiera stood there, arms and legs covered in ink, silky black hair tied up in a bun, her eyeliner accentuating her almond-shaped eyes.
He did a double take, not understanding why his brother’s tattoo artist was here , in Silver Falls.
On the Fourth of July.
“Dude,” Kiera started.
“Why the fu—”
Austin pointed at his kid.
“Little ears. What the duck are you doing here?”
Andrew laughed.
“Dad, you said duck .”
Austin tilted his head at Kiera.
“See what I mean?”
She looked confused.
“Do you really not know why I’m here?”
“Don’t tell me Archer had you drive all the way up here to do another tattoo? Don’t you have a studio to run back in Minny?”
She rolled her eyes.
“You better get out there.”
Austin glanced around the cabin, annoyed that he couldn’t get his five minutes.
Archer’s cabin was a lot nicer than his parents’ place these days.
They really had outdone themselves, creating a space that felt cozy and calm, the perfect spot to spend all of their summers in.
They called it the nest, which Austin thought was fucking strange, but who was he to judge?
Riley had nicknames for the three birthmarks on his back.
He followed them out to the lawn.
Everyone was already congregated around the flagpole, like they were waiting for their traditional flag-raising ceremony before the Fourth of July potluck.
But they weren’t all due to the lawn for another hour or so, and by the looks of everyone’s confused faces, it seemed that no one knew why they were being summoned outside.
Rhonda stepped up to the center of the group.
“ Silence !”
The group stilled.
Her son Danny whispered something to Chris beside them, the two of them chuckling at something.
The pair were one year away from graduating from the University of Michigan.
Chris eyed Ashley from across the lawn, but she rolled her eyes and looked away.
The two had been avoiding each other all summer.
But Austin already knew how that story would end—the two of them would eventually end up together.
It’s just how things went around here.
Riley stepped up to him and grabbed his butt.
“People are watching, dearest,” he mumbled under his breath.
“No they aren’t, they’re all looking at BILF.”
Austin watched as his brother walked to the front with Rhonda.
He was dressed up in khakis and a button down, the sleeves rolled up to show off those ridiculous tattoos he had on his arms.
Then the door of Cabin B swung open.
Molly stepped out, then held out her arm.
Tea followed.
Gasps erupted amongst the Wild Pines crew at the sight of her.
She was dressed in a strapless sky-blue chiffon dress, her hair long and flowing down her back.
She linked arms with her mom, then the two made a procession over to the group.
“No ducking way,” he whispered to Riley.
“Yes…yes ducking way,” she replied.
Austin turned to look at his brother, noticing the asshole had tears streaming down his cheeks.
When they reached the center of the group, he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her cheek, whispering something in her ear.
Then he slipped an arm around her waist and faced the crowd.
“Thank you everyone for coming out an hour earlier than usual.” He paused and smiled like a goof, which only happened when he was around his woman.
“And welcome to our wedding.”
Screams and cheers and crying ensued.
Once Rhonda finally got a hold of the group, she began the ceremony.
Everyone listened to her babble on and on as she told Archer and Tea’s story and watched as Kiera tattooed a star on each of their ring fingers.
Then they gave some pretty gross speeches about mates and stars aligning or some other garbage that he could barely pay attention to because Penny decided that was the perfect time to climb the tree behind him.
Austin helped his daughter down from the tree, then stood still, watching his little brother gaze into the eyes of the woman he was head-over-heels in love with.
Even after all of those years of scraping by as Archer tried to launch the Craft Mixology School, or Tea with her freelancing as financial advisor for small businesses like the Minnesota Conservation Lab and the Ten Thousand Lake Loon Committee, they still looked at each other that way.
It made him stupidly happy to see it.
Rhonda finished up the ceremony, explaining that the couple decided to take both names—Vincent as a middle, and Richards as the last. They wanted to keep Gareth’s name for years to come.
Their decision brought the entire group to tears.
Then Rhonda lifted her hands.
“ Kiss and seal the deal! ”
Archer cradled her face.
Tea nuzzled his nose.
Then he slipped a hand around her waist, dipped her low, and kissed her on the mouth.
Austin yelled at the top of his lungs.
Penny and Andrew ran up to the couple and hugged their legs, and eventually everyone went up to hug them and celebrate.
Music blasted from some nearby speaker.
He went up to his brother and slapped him on the back.
“Really? You weren’t going to tell me?”
Archer grinned.
“Don’t like surprises?”
He glared.
“No. I would have liked to give my brother a proper bachelor party, though.”
Archer shrugged.
“Didn’t have time for it. I proposed last night.”
“You what ?”
Archer laughed.
“Yep. In bed. Then I called Kiera and asked her to drive up. Rhonda technically isn’t certified, but who cares. We’ll go get the official license when we get back to Minneapolis.”
Austin shook his head.
“You guys are reckless, you know that?”
His brother gazed over at his woman, who was laughing at something Kelly and Wayne said.
She was glowing. They both were.
Eventually she looked in Archer’s direction.
Archer jerked his head, motioning her to come here.
When she got close, he wrapped her in his arms. “Austin thinks we’re reckless.”
Tea smirked at Austin.
“You did tell your brother he had five years before you…” She faced Archer.
“What did he say? ‘Make it my business’?”
Austin racked his brain, trying to remember their conversation on the boat all those years ago.
“I’m pretty sure I was talking about him following his dreams,” he recalled.
“She was always the dream,” Archer replied, his gaze fixed firmly on his wife.
She poked his nose. “I knew it. You think I’m dreamy .”
Austin rolled his eyes.
Archer cocked a brow at Tea.
“Want to be even more reckless?”
“More reckless than getting married in less than twenty-four hours?” she replied.
Archer gave her a devious grin.
Then he bent down and grabbed her legs.
“Wait, Arch, no! ”
He threw his wife over his shoulders, then took off down the dock.
She screamed as he jumped, holding her legs tight as the two of them plummeted into the lake.