31. Epilogue
Ten Months Later
My gorgeous man stands at attention on the outdoor stage in the town square, his permanent Lucky Police Department badge glinting brightly in the afternoon sun. He’s supposed to be paying attention to his uncle, but his eyes keep straying to me.
Watch ! I mouth, hoping I come across as stern, but knowing I probably look more like an avenging cherub than anything. At least, that’s what Reid tells me.
He winks and turns back to the ceremony.
Chief Mac is finishing a speech that is probably longer than it needs to be, but the man is retiring, so he can speak as long as he wants. Happily, he seems to be on the cusp of wrapping things up.
“And so it gives me the greatest pleasure to announce Lucky’s next chief of police, Ox Hall!”
Everyone on the lawn claps and hollers. We had the vote earlier in the year, but this is the official handing-off of duty.
Ox, the big lug that he is, simply blinks back his emotions and steps forward to accept the badge that Chief Mac pins to his uniform. Then they shake, and Ox pulls the older man into a fierce embrace.
“Couldn’t have happened to a better man,” Matty says beside me, pocketing his cell after looking at it for the millionth time in the past hour.
“What’s got you so glued to your phone?” I ask. “It’s not calving season.”
He purses his lips. “Nothing.”
I sniff. “You know I know you’re lying, right?”
“It’s still not your business,” he shoots back.
“Ooh, is it a girl?” I tease him. He says nothing, and I know I’m right. “When do I get to meet this mysterious woman?”
“Don’t you have a diner to run?” he asks, clearly angling to change the subject.
I brighten. “I do!” Mom and Dad have agreed to let me buy the diner, but they’re not quite ready to retire. They are ready for a three-month European vacation, though, and are flying out tomorrow. Which means yours truly is getting her first trial run at the place.
I squeal at the prospect and shake Matty. “It’s mine! All mine!”
He laughs and extracts himself. “Yes, we know. We alllll know,” he says as Goldie joins us, a camera strapped around her neck.
“About how excited she is to run the diner?” Goldie quips. “You’d think she’s won the lottery.”
“I basically have.” And I mean it. I moved in with Reid about six months ago, and it’s been amazing. He’s full-time here in Lucky, and even brought all three of his parents up for us to meet. Agatha swears she’s responsible for getting the two of us together and routinely cites the dinner Reid cooked as the moment love bloomed.
I don’t have the heart to tell her otherwise, and neither does Reid. Which doesn’t bode well for Goldie, since she’s now in the little cottage behind Agatha’s house and is next in line for “Agatha’s Amorous Assignment,” as Agatha keeps referring to it.
Yeah, it’s hilariously weird. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Reid catches my eye as he descends from the tiny stage, popping those delicious dimples and winking at me.
I wink back, even though it probably looks like butterflies are fighting on my face.
He grins wider as he nears. I’m happy to say that even though just about everything he does makes me weak in the knees, especially when he pairs it with a smoldering look that says he’d rather have one of us cuffed in the bedroom, I haven’t fallen in the last month. Not literally, anyway.
Progress.
I jump into his arms when he reaches me, and he emits a grunt. “Nice to see you, too,” he says around a kiss.
The click of a camera shutter goes off, and I pull myself away from my hunk of a man to see Goldie smiling mischievously at us. “Great photo,” she grins. “Too bad Ox is front-page material, or you two would definitely be the news.”
“I can’t believe you’re working for JJ,” I groan, nestling into Reid’s side as he squeezes me close.
“Someone has to take responsibility for moving the paper back to actual news,” she says wryly. “Besides, as much as I love waiting tables, I don’t want to do it for the rest of my life.”
“Well, I, for one, am super proud of you,” Matty says. “I think it’s great you’re the, what was it again?”
“Senior Photographer and Junior Staff Reporter,” Goldie supplies.
I giggle. “Only JJ would come up with that as a title.”
Goldie shrugs. “It works. Now I just have to convince him to pay for mileage when I travel outside Lucky’s town limits.”
Reid leans down to nuzzle my neck. “Wanna go home and let me see where your limits are? ”
I hum, goosebumps flying across my body in response to his kiss. “Definitely.”
We leave the town square, nodding our hellos to just about everyone we pass. Tom and Jerry sit on a bench to the side of the clock, and they wave as we pass. “See you tomorrow, Willa!” Tom calls.
Midnight greets us at the front door like always, yowling her displeasure at being left behind. She quiets when Reid produces a new toy from his pocket.
Reid turns to me. “You have far too many clothes on.”
I gesture at him, still done up in full police gear, including the protective vest that he and Ox began insisting everyone on the force wear in the wake of the Bunnies business. “You’re in more than me, Officer.”
His forest-green eyes darken at the term, just like I knew they would, and he reaches around to swat my behind. “Naked. Now.”
I reach around him and lock the door, smirking as I do so and beginning to back up. “And if I resist?”
He pulls his cuffs out, then undoes his utility belt and deposits it on the table in the front hallway. “Then I might have to punish you.”
My blood heats. “Sounds promising.”
Later, when we’re lounging on the couch and deciding what to cook for dinner, it hits me all over again that this is my life. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close. “Hey, Reid?”
“Hmm?” He looks up from the menu-planning app he’s been obsessed with lately.
“I love you.”
The smile that breaks across his face sends my heart galloping. “I love you, too, Willa Dean Dash.”
I lean over and kiss him. “Just Willa.”
“I love you, too, Just Willa.”