Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
F loor-to-ceiling bookshelves were lined with the best and brightest in young adult fiction, or so Bryan had been told, and right in the midst of them, Gracie Rios . The cover of her brand-new sequel was facing out for all the world to see. That was how Bryan knew they were right about the best and brightest.
“Ready?” he whispered, turning to Grace , who looked about as pale as a person could, but she tried to take a deep breath.
“Not even remotely.”
He pulled her back against him in a calming embrace, poofy purple dress and all. “ You’re going to be amazing,” he whispered in her ear. “ You’ve already done the hard part.”
After Wesley had gone home alone, Grace stayed another month on Barra so they could really get to know each other. They took long walks on the beach and cuddled beside his bonfire until the wee hours watching football or just talking, sharing bits of themselves with each other like buried treasure. Only this time, she had stayed in his room so Lùcas could finally move into the promised spare.
It had been a long, glorious summer of making plans and pretending they had all the time in the world.
At the end of it, she’d returned to Tennessee , back to her day job, and her friends, and the away-fan bleachers at Diego’s games. But Bryan had had plenty to keep him busy for the past year too, building his distillery from the ground up. Thank Christ for video calls, but it was a poor substitute for actually holding her in his arms like this.
After an impromptu trip to visit her in Knoxville , they’d decided to spend another whole summer together, this time in America . She’d taken him to the Grand Canyon , and now they were in La Vicenta , Mexico , where a new release of Ardbeg’s Rionnagach was given an award for Best in Class at the whisky festival, along with Best Label for a Lùcas original design featuring the Big Dipper .
“Did you give any input on the new label?” Bryan had been asked this morning during a podcast interview where they were desperate for news about Finnbar .
He had glanced over at Grace and smiled sheepishly. “ I had some inspiration, yes.”
A podcast in the morning and now this afternoon, Grace was going to speak to a packed bookstore and sign copies of her sophomore novel—the day after her third book had been announced to the press.
What even was their life? Distance and all, he’d never been more content. Or more proud.
“I am so happy to introduce, all the way from Knoxville , Tennessee , Printz Award winner Gracie Rios !” the bookstore owner shouted into a tiny microphone in both English and Spanish . Dozens of teen girls cheered, but Grace’s posture went rigid.
“You got this, Rios .”
From his pocket, Bryan withdrew the rainbow-colored worry stone—the one they made a point of passing back and forth each time they saw each other based on who needed it most, the one that said they had each other’s back without words.
She smiled up at him and kissed his cheek before making her way to the podium to speak, resplendent in the shimmering purple dress and shiny engagement ring.
Part of him still couldn’t believe she’d said yes when he knelt along the Southern Rim at sunset, giving himself over to the absolute cliché of falling for his best friend’s sister.
Now he stood back in a corner and just watched, basking in her magnificence as the musical cadence of her Spanish washed over him. Diego and their father leaned against the shelf nearby, wearing matching expressions of admiration.
The soccer player looked as exhausted as ever, but he couldn’t stop smiling. “ My kid sister’s really something, isn’t she?” he marveled.
“She absolutely is,” Bryan agreed. And she was his.