Epilogue
Five Years Later
T ori still didn’t exactly understand the purpose of a white coat ceremony. Mia and her FIU classmates wouldn’t be doctors yet—she still hadn’t even graduated from the med school that had taken many tries to get into. But what Tori did know was that the damn thing started at four o’clock. And Mia—who was still in the garage/workshop, elbow-deep in paint, working on the kitchen cabinets—wasn’t going to have enough time to get ready.
“Mia, let’s go,” she said when she opened the door leading from the house to the garage. Tori stopped and looked around, confused.
The garage was empty except for the wall of storage built into one side that now held all of Mia’s family heirlooms. All the things she wanted to keep, but didn’t have any use for. Considering the garage, house, and pool house used to be full of those things, a few cabinets weren’t so bad.
Tori returned to the house and continued looking. They’d kept Grisel’s Pottery Barn couches after testing hundreds of possible replacements over the years, but everything else was new. Little by little, they’d moved things out and made space for their own taste. Made space for themselves.
In the kitchen, Mia’s latest project was organized chaos. Convinced that it would be more manageable, Mia was taking down one cabinet unit at a time and repainting the solid wood a warm white. Judging from the mess of supplies and cabinet innards, she had been there recently.
“Where the heck are you?” Tori called down the hall toward their bedroom, the primary they’d moved into years earlier. Unfortunately, the adjoining bathroom didn’t have a single sign of Mia having recently showered.
Tori checked her phone. Mia had considered getting her hair done, but if she’d made an appointment, she would have at least texted. Pulling up Mia’s location, Tori furrowed her brow. She was home. Or at least her phone was.
With nowhere else left to look, Tori went outside. February was crisp and cool even at noon. She was heading toward the pool house when she spotted her runaway girlfriend.
“What the hell are you doing up there?” Tori shielded her eyes from the sun when she looked up at Mia sitting on the roof.
“Waiting for you to find me,” she said like it was obvious. Like it was Tori who was doing something strange. “Do you know how long I’ve been up here?”
“No, because I was at a listing.” She looked down at her sweater and pants. “And now, we have to start?—”
“Come up here first,” Mia said with a grin.
“No,” she shot back with a laugh. “Why?” She shook her head. “No.”
“Oh, come on.” Mia’s smile only brightened, like playing this old game was the most thrilling thing in the world.
“What is your obsession with risking the integrity of your neck?” Tori crossed her arms over her chest. “Now that you know how much important shit is back there, aren’t you a little more nervous about?—”
“Victoria,” Mia interrupted. “Please?”
“Babe, we really have to?—”
“Please?”
Because Tori was destined to be a simp for Mia her entire life, she took a deep breath, dropped her arms, and started for the ladder still tied to the mango tree. A hurricane had tried to take it a year earlier, but the old stubborn thing had held strong. Unfortunately for Tori.
When she reached the top of the ladder, Tori didn’t transition onto the roof. “What?” she said, already smiling at how beautiful Mia looked in the sun. Red hair in a messy bun, she’d never stop being the woman Tori had fallen so hard for.
“Come all the way up,” Mia said, hand extended.
“Only because I can see you’re not going to let this go, and we really have to get moving,” Tori replied, knowing she was always going to get on the roof. Always going to play along.
Sitting on the tile that had only gotten more uncomfortable over the years, Tori avoided looking down. It was easy to do when Mia was interlacing their fingers and looking at her with her eyes glittering in the sun.
Mia turned toward her, legs crossed like they had all the time in the world even if they didn’t. But there was something in her expression that made it impossible for Tori to rush her. She could already feel the shift in the air, the gravity tilting just slightly toward something.
“This ceremony has me thinking so much about turning points. About how rarely we mark these big changes. Celebrate the moments when we step into something new.” She squeezed Tori’s hand when her voice started to tremble.
Sure that Mia wouldn’t drag her to the roof for bad news, Tori’s chest tightened. Anticipation coursed through her, making her wish she hadn’t had another coffee.
Mia shook her head like she was deciding on starting a different conversation. “I came looking for you all those years ago because being with you was the last time I ever felt truly safe.” Her eyes were glossy with unshed tears when she met Tori’s faltering gaze. “And I couldn’t have known that you gave me the strength to start over. Not just with you, but with myself.”
Holding her breath, Tori waited for Mia to say what she’d been so ready to hear. What she’d wanted for so long.
“And I know I was a mess,” Mia continued, eyes glassy but not yet spilling. “I was messy then, and I’m still messy now. But you never made me feel like I had to be anything else. You never asked me to be less. You just loved me. Exactly as I was. Exactly as I am.”
Tori’s heart was in her throat. It was pounding so hard, she could hardly hear Mia over the sound of it.
“But the real miracle here is letting me love you.” Mia’s voice finally broke and then they were both crying. “There is just no one like you, Tori. I haven’t forgotten that for a single day. A single moment. You’re life and breath and—” She wiped her face. “And you’re my family and I love you more every single day. I choose you every single day, and I’m honestly not sure how I’ve suckered you into choosing me.” She laughed but it didn’t slow her tears. “But I’ll never take you for granted.”
From her pocket, Mia produced a small, simple engagement ring. It was brilliant in the pale winter sun and made Tori close her eyes just to center herself in the moment. In her own body.
“I thought you didn’t want to get married again,” Tori said because she didn’t know what else to say when her heart was pounding and her entire body was trembling.
Mia bit her bottom lip. “Well, what I said was I never want to get divorced again. So if you say yes, you’re stuck with me forever.”
Tori laughed, tears blurring her vision and burning her throat. “I love a menacing proposal.”
“Is that a yes?” Mia searched her face like she could ever really have a doubt.
Tori reached for her, hands cupping both sides of her face. “Obviously.”
Mia kissed her like an anchor. Like a promise. Like a gift.
Like home.