Epilogue
Samantha
Two Years Later
Normally, the sight of Nate sleeping soundly filled me with nothing but joy. This morning, I really needed him to get up and leave the house so I could get on with my plans.
I picked up our ball of smoky gray fluff we’d adopted last year and dropped her on the bed. Meowzebub was not a cat who liked to be dropped. She also didn’t like fast movement, slow movement, Adrian, cars driving near our house, flies, shadows…well, the list was long. She didn’t like a lot.
But she did love Nate. He was her favorite human. As soon as she was beside him, she couldn’t help rubbing herself against him and meowing loudly, craving his attention.
I understood wholeheartedly.
Our girl woke him up demanding pets, and Nate obliged. He sat up with her in his lap and leaned over to drop a kiss on my lips.
“I slept in,” he said groggily.
“I noticed.” I tried to keep the grumps out of my voice. “Don’t you have that meeting with Roman and the investors today?”
“Mmm…yeah.” He bent down and gave Meow a kiss too. “It’s hard to leave this bed when my two girls are here.”
He was so sweet and sleepy, I forced myself to chill out and snuggle with him for a while.
Right before he got up to take a shower, he took my chin between his fingers and swept his gaze over me.
“Happy anniversary, by the way.”
I scrunched my nose, playing it cool. “It’s only six months.”
“You’ve been my wife for half a year. I get to acknowledge that if I want to.” He kissed me softly. “I’m taking you to dinner tonight.”
“Okay,” I agreed, though I had other plans. “I’ll be waiting with bells on when you get home.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t be upset if that was all you were wearing.”
I poked his chest. “Play your cards right, and that can be arranged.”
He was in for a surprise this afternoon. It wouldn’t be bells. I hoped he would think it was even better.
Adrian walked into my house with a pile of mail. “I got this for you.”
I gestured toward the counter as I rushed past him. My time management skills were not managing today. I was running way late. “Just throw it over there. I’m sure it’s all junk anyway.”
He hummed as he sorted through the pile. “Oooh, what’s this?”
Meowzebub darted between my feet, yowling for no good reason. Well, her reason was chaos and evil. Why she wanted to commit it against her mother, I didn’t know.
Adrian glanced up from the mail. “Did your cat just try to murder you again?”
“Naturally.” I picked her up and stroked her back. She perched her paws on my arm, surveying her territory from up high. “It’s a bad habit of hers.”
He raised a brow. “And you punish her by picking her up and petting her?”
“She’s just a baby.” I held her face up to Adrian’s. He scowled. She hissed. “Look at her. She doesn’t mean to be evil. It’s part of her DNA.”
Adrian jumped back just before Meow’s swatting paw connected with his face. “You really should look into an exorcism.”
“Don’t say that.” I kissed my cat’s head. “You’re going to hurt her feelings.”
Meowzebub squirmed until I let her down, then she pounced on Adrian’s feet before running to one of her beds—yes, she had a selection throughout the house—where she started meticulously cleaning herself.
He waved an envelope at me. “You might want to open this. It looks interesting.”
“I’ll check later.” I darted down the hall, grabbing my bag and Nate’s. He would be home any minute. I hoped I’d remembered to pack everything.
“Do I have everything?” I asked Adrian, though he’d have no idea.
“Nate’s meds?”
“Check. His journal, toothbrush, and chargers too.”
He tapped his chin with the envelope he’d been waving at me. “Pajamas?”
“Of course. Who would Nate be without his favorite old man PJs?”
“Not our Nate.” He drummed the envelope on the counter. “It sounds like you have everything important. If you forgot something, I’m sure you can buy it at the resort shop.”
“Right. You’re right.” Dropping the bags at our feet, I swipe my forehead with the back of my hand. “I’m terrible at surprises. Why did I think this would be a good idea?”
He grabbed my shoulders and gave them a little shake. “Because you know Nate will love it, and you’re that kind of wife.”
Sucking in a breath, I gathered myself. “You’re right. I’m an awesome wife. And my wonderful husband is going to be thrilled.”
“That’s the spirit.” He glanced over at Meowzebub as she eyed him back. “Are you sure she can’t fend for herself?”
“You agreed to babysit her.” I gave his shoulder a shove. “Don’t try to back out now when I just found my zen.”
He raised his hands. “I’m not backing out. But be prepared to come home to your devil cat feasting on my corpse.”
“As long as she’s well fed…”
To say Nate was surprised when I drove us to the airport instead of our favorite restaurant was an understatement. Traditionally, six months wasn’t a big wedding anniversary. The last thing he’d expected was for me to whisk him off for a long weekend.
But I liked finding reasons to celebrate with him. I was still at the point where every day we had together was a big deal, and I kind of hoped that would never change.
“I can’t believe you.” He shook his head, his eyes alight.
“Good. I like keeping you on your toes.”
“You do a good job at that.” He looked at the plane’s window, his brow furrowed. “You won’t tell me where we’re going?”
“You’ll see when we get there. It’s somewhere new.”
He turned back to me, his gaze warm. “I’ll give you this anniversary, but I’m in charge of our one-year. You’ve got to give me that.”
“That’s a deal. I make no promises about nine months, though.”
His eyes flared. “Is that a thing?”
I laughed at his panic. “It could be; I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve ever been married. Besides, can’t we make our own rules?”
“We can. We should.” He leaned over, running his nose along mine. “Maybe just give me a heads-up so I don’t miss something important.”
I kissed the corner of his mouth. “But I like surprising you.”
He smiled into another kiss. “You’re fun.”
“I know. And you’re hot.”
That made him laugh, which I liked a lot. “God, do I love my wife.”
He did. Nate Wells was the very best husband.
He loved me in a way I never doubted. He said the words without prompting and showed me through his actions without fail.
Even on the days he needed time to himself.
Even when he needed to be quiet for a while.
He never completely removed himself from me.
He didn’t hide or make me feel like I needed to chase him.
We’d worked to get to this place, both individually and together.
In therapy, I was able to find the words to tell him what I needed from him, and he gave it to me readily.
In turn, he learned to recognize his feelings and communicate them to me.
Sometimes Nate would simply say, “Today is hard,” and that was enough.
I no longer heard those words as rejection.
He no longer thought of asking for space as failure.
These days, most of the time, our relationship flowed like water.
That wasn’t to say we didn’t hit rocky ground.
Nate had mood swings and down days. My insecurities managed to reanimate like zombified corpses.
We sometimes got too busy and stressed with work.
We bickered like every other human being learning to live with another person for the first time.
But we always found the smooth path again because we had the tools to guide us.
When we landed in Utah, Nate was filled with questions. As we sat in the back of a luxury SUV, with a driver provided by our resort, I put him out of his misery.
“I thought we could make a goal,” I explained. “The first time I saw you laugh your head off was at the bottom of an alpine slide. So I thought, what if we try out all the alpine slides?”
His head tilted. “What do you mean?”
I took his hand in mine, playing with the tips of his fingers. “I looked it up. There are twenty-three operational alpine slides in the US. That’s where we’ll start.”
He blinked. “Is that what we’re doing here?”
I nodded. “We are. The one at our resort is three thousand feet long.”
“Wow,” he breathed.
“I know, right? It’s huge.”
He chuckled. “I wasn’t wowing over the slide. Though yes, that sounds really big. It’s you, Sammie. The thought you put into this for me…I’m in awe of you. And maybe I’m impressed with myself for landing you. How did I get so damn lucky?”
I scooted across the seat to plaster myself to his side. “We’re both lucky, love. You put so much thought into me, I can’t help but do the same for you.” Leaning in, I kissed the corner of his jaw. “What other man would have let me adopt a cat named Meowzebub?”
“You kissed me, and I forgot what I was agreeing to.” He spread his fingers along my cheek, his thumb stroking my chin. “Are you sure she and Adrian will be okay?”
“He’s all talk. He’ll take care of her.”
He rubbed his nose against mine. “It’s not Meow I’m worried about.”
Later, after we rode the slide until our cheeks hurt from laughing and they kicked us off the mountain, we went back to our room and traded smiles as we made love.
When we were settling down for the night, I reached into my bag for my charger, and my hand hit a hard envelope. I pulled it out, instantly recognizing it as the one Adrian had wanted me to see.
Nate came out of the bathroom wearing his plaid pajama bottoms and nothing else, momentarily distracting me.
“What’s that?”
I looked down at the envelope, turning it over in my hands. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Wells, and the return address belonged to my parents.
“Adrian must have stuck this in my bag.” I slipped my finger under the envelope’s flap to slide it open. “It’s from my family.”
He sat down beside me, putting his hand on my thigh as I looked at the wedding invitation. Kelly was getting married again.
Denver was a big city, but in a lot of ways, it was a small town.
I couldn’t avoid news about my family, and it was possible I listened out for it.
I’d heard when Kelly and Josh had gotten married a few months after she’d left my house.
I’d also heard when they’d gotten divorced less than six months later.
My mother texted me twice. My father called once. Not a word from Decker, but that wasn’t surprising. I had heard he and Georgia recently had a son, so I bet he was happy.
After she got divorced, Kelly showed up at my house several times. Sometimes crying, sometimes with flowers, asking to talk. It was easy to ignore my parents. Kelly was a little more difficult.
If she were an old friend I’d had a falling-out with, I might have been able to forgive her. It was hard to see her cry and not soften toward her. But I remembered the last time she’d cried in my arms. Once her tears had dried, she’d walked away without looking back.
I had promised myself I wouldn’t go through that again.
And when I wavered, Nate reminded me.
Nate slipped the invitation from me, reading it himself. “Kelly’s getting remarried.” He looked up at me. “Wonder how we made the invite list this time.”
We definitely hadn’t been invited to her second go-round with Josh.
A folded piece of paper fell out of the envelope with Kelly’s bubbly scrawl. Despite my wariness, I couldn’t stop myself from reading it.
Sammie,
I would really love you to come this time. Karl is great. I think you and Nate would actually like him. Mom and Dad don’t approve, and I couldn’t be happier about that!
I miss you so much. I was a trash sister to you, and I regret it every day.
Even if you don’t come to my wedding, I’d love to see you.
Coffee maybe?
Please text or call. I miss you!
Love,
Kelly
I took the invitation back from Nate and stuffed it, along with her note, back into the envelope.
“That’s a no then,” he said.
“It’s been a no for more than two years.” I let my head fall on his shoulder and sighed. “I hope this guy is what she says and she’ll be happy, but nothing’s changed. I can’t get tangled up with her. It’s not good for me.”
He cupped the side of my head and sifted through my hair. “I’m so fucking proud of you, sweet girl.”
“Me too.” Turning my head, I nuzzled his throat. “I’m proud of me too.”
For a while, I’d worried standing my ground would be a challenge and I’d eventually feel something was missing.
But that never came.
How could it? I had a busy life, a career I loved, the best friend I could have ever asked for, the rest of the Wells clan, and my Nate. My sweet, sweet Nate.
I was so rich with love, I wanted for nothing. And I hadn’t had to earn my place; I’d been welcomed into it.
Tossing the envelope to the ground, I wrapped my arms around my husband.
I had everything I needed.