Epilogue
Emery
We’d lived in Birchwood Bay for nearly a year when we decided to finally, finally throw ourselves a housewarming cookout.
As the school year wrapped up and summer rolled in full force, it felt as if we’d actually have time to entertain.
We invited our families, friends new and old, and—of course—Margaret, who we’d visited multiple times in the past year and grown close to.
We were grateful that she only lived a short drive away.
The day of the cookout, Mason spent the morning prepping food and cooking side dishes, despite my repeated reminders that everyone was bringing a dish to share.
“I like cooking. Besides, I want to make sure there's enough for everyone.”
I snorted, wrapping my arms around him from behind. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” I pressed a kiss to his neck and Mason tipped his head to the side to give me further access. When I dragged my tongue along his neck, he groaned and shivered.
“Keep doing that and we’re going to scandalize our guests.”
I responded by nipping his neck lightly and stepped away, laughing at Mason’s frustrated growl.
A half hour later, Josh and Ava were the first to arrive.
They knocked and when I called out that they could come in, Josh stepped inside, Ava behind him looking every bit the sullen preteen.
She lit up when she spotted Mason, though.
“Uncle Mason!”
Mason held his arms out wide and she ran into them for a hug. Watching him pick her up and twirl her around warmed my heart, and it got me thinking—as it always did—about the possibility of us having our own kids someday.
Shortly after Josh and Ava, Mason’s parents arrived, making themselves comfortable by heading into the backyard, where Mason had fired up the grill. Margaret and her new partner—her suitor, as she called him—were next to appear in the driveway.
“Margaret!” I cried as she came up the walk. When she reached me, I pulled her into a hug.
Margaret chuckled softly, her hug still strong. “Thank you for having Allen and me.”
“Of course. We wouldn’t be here without you, you know.”
She shrugged and waved away the thought. “You would’ve landed in the same place without me. Don’t think any differently. Now, where’s the booze?”
I laughed and pointed Margaret to where Tommy, Mason’s former employee, was uncorking a bottle of wine. “I think Tommy can take care of you.”
“That sounds delightful,” she said.
Allen shook my hand and followed her into the kitchen with a chuckle and a shake of the head. “Full of life, that one is,” he murmured to me as he passed.
My parents arrived not long after, at the same time as some of my teacher friends and some buddies of Mason’s from various contacts he’d made as he built his business.
Soon, we were all in the backyard, laughing and having a good time.
Mason kept the food plentiful, not to mention the side dishes that we had in abundance, and Tommy was kind enough to keep the wine and beer flowing, too.
At one point, Josh made his way to Tommy to get a beer from the cooler, and when Tommy passed it to him, they both stopped and made eye contact in a way that made me raise my eyebrows.
Tension crackled between them, and Josh looked away first, clearing his throat.
Tommy, for his part, ducked his head, but not before I noticed the pink on his cheeks.
He’d been going through a recent divorce and I didn’t know if he was back on the market, but the look between them definitely said something.
I made my way to Mason’s side after another hour, patting his ass fondly as he worked.
He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Hey now,” he said, a playful warning in his tone.
“Hey what?”
“Don’t start something you can’t finish until much, much later today.”
I leaned in close to his ear. “I bet I could finish you pretty quickly if it came to that.”
Mason groaned quietly, just enough for me to hear. We’d been together just over a year and we were still hungry for each other in ways I couldn’t explain, but never wanted to see change. “Fuck off,” he muttered without any vitriol.
“Are you saying yes?”
He bumped me with his shoulder, a tight smile on his face indicating the sexual frustration that was certainly winding him up. “Get out of here with that nonsense. I’m working with fire.”
“Fine, fine.” I took a step back and glanced at Josh and Tommy, who were engaged in conversation with each other, both of them smiling and nodding and laughing as they talked. “I think your brother might have a thing for Tommy,” I murmured.
Mason snorted. “Josh is straight. And so is Tommy, as a matter of fact.”
“You sure about that?”
He glanced over his shoulder and hesitated when he caught sight of them. “No, I’m not,” he said after a beat. “Not at all.”
It didn’t take long until Mason finished grilling and had finally taken a seat at the table.
Being surrounded by friends and family made the past year so worth it.
We’d missed everyone and had even gotten a little homesick for Cedarvale on more than one occasion, but our lives were full, and the people around the table proved it.
As the cookout was wrapping up and people were bringing out desserts they’d brought, Mason stood and cleared his throat.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone for joining us today. It means a lot. Birchwood Bay has been good to us, but Cedarvale was, too. Seeing people from both parts of our lives come together makes everything worth it.”
Everyone applauded and raised their glasses. A few people called out, “Hear, hear,” but Mason stayed standing.
“I just have a couple more things to say.” He turned to me and pulled me to my feet.
I frowned—I hated giving speeches in front of peers, and I hadn’t had time to think about what I might say.
The next thing I knew, though, Mason was sinking to one knee in front of me as he removed a box from his pocket.
“Em, I love you. I’ve loved you as long as I’ve known you. First as a friend and then as my partner. Our life together is so beautiful, and I can only think of one thing that would make it better. Will you marry me?” He opened the box in his hand and showed me a simple dark silver band.
My hands moved to cover my mouth and I nodded frantically. “Yes, of course!” I pulled Mason to his feet and he kissed me, a firm press of his lips against mine, a quick swipe of his tongue sending a shiver through me.
He pulled back and leaned his forehead on mine. “We can finish this later.”
It was my turn to groan and nod. “We’d better.”
When we parted, our guests cheered and clapped, celebrating our engagement. Later, much later, after everyone had left and it was just Mason and me left cleaning up after the party, he looked at me and chuckled softly. “You know, I almost didn’t propose today.”
My eyebrows shot up in confusion. “What? Do you not want to get married?”
“No, I definitely do want to get married. I just—I almost panicked and bailed on the proposal idea. I was worried you’d say no. I almost asked you if you wanted to get a dog instead. It seemed lower stakes.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous. You knew I’d say yes.”
He shrugged. “I was nervous.” Then he gave me a lopsided grin. “I still want a dog though.”
After a second, I paused. “You’re serious?”
“About the engagement and the puppy.”
A slow smile spread across my face until I was grinning so hard my cheeks hurt. “That sounds amazing.”
After everything was cleaned and packed away, Mason pulled me close to him and kissed me deeply, with purpose. “It’s later now.”
I nodded. “That it is.” And with that, he tugged me by the hand until we made it to our bedroom and made good on his promise to finish what we’d been dancing around all day. I’d never been happier in my life.
The End