Epilogue
HAZEL
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Hazel?”
I look up from my laptop at the sound of Tyler’s voice in the other room. “Yeah.”
“Come out here for a second, please.” He sounds hesitant, as if he’s not sure what’s going on.
“Okay.” I hit save on my edits and gently close my computer. My muscles ache as I stand, the change in position long overdue. I really need to get better about taking short breaks to stand and stretch.
As soon as I walk out of the bedroom of the hotel suite, I stop dead in my tracks. Standing beside Tyler are my brother and sister. They both look back at me warily.
“Hi,” I say as I approach them slowly.
“Hello,” Sara says. “I’m Sara, your sister. This is Nate.”
“I know who you are. Why are you here?” I wave them in. “Not that you’re unwelcome, I’m just surprised.”
“So were we when we overheard Mom and Dad fighting about you,” Nate says sullenly. He drops his backpack and flops down on the couch in what I can only imagine is a typical teenage boy way.
“I hope you don’t mind us showing up randomly like this. We knew this was Blue Sunday’s last tour stop, so it’d be the easiest time to find you.”
“How did you know what hotel we were at?” Tyler asks, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“Reddit,” Nate answers.
“Reddit?” Tyler blinks looking at me incredulously.
“Yeah, there’s a whole sub about you guys. People are always posting theories about where you stay and aliases you use.”
“We just went down the list.” Sara approaches me, our eyes a perfect mirror of each other’s. She studies me, just as I do her. “This is weird.”
“It really is.” I smile at her. “But in a good way, at least for me.”
“Do your parents know you’re here?” Tyler asks.
“No.” Sara glances away, looking guilty. “I told them Nate was helping me move apartments.”
“And honestly, fuck them for lying to us so long,” Nate adds. “They don’t get to know where we are.”
“So you’ve been going around to every hotel in Miami looking for us?” My brows rise.
“We only went to two before this. Your bodyguards were walking past and heard us at the front desk.”
“Oh. Dan?”
“Yeah, I think that was the name he gave me. Apparently he was with you when you came to our house back in Chicago.” Sara’s lip trembles. “I’m sorry Dad was such a dick to you. If I had known,” she trails off.
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, and I wasn’t really expecting him to welcome me with open arms.”
“Are you guys hungry? I can order room service for us.” Tyler reaches for the menu.
“I can’t believe I have another sister and she’s dating Stone Tyler,” Nate mumbles as he takes the menu. “I love your music.”
“Thanks. I’ll order anything you guys want.”
I sit down on one of the chairs while they relay their orders to Tyler. I wish I had my Dad’s number, so I could call and let him know they’re here and safe. I’ll have to ask them for it so I can do that. They both seem pissed enough that I doubt they told him what they were doing.
Over the next couple hours, I come to find out the details behind them realizing that I exist and who I am.
Nate got home early from practice and overheard his parents arguing about whether or not they should tell them about me.
Before doing anything extreme, he called Sara and they googled our dad.
It took them less than an hour to figure out he had been married before and had an older child with his first wife.
It’s too soon to go into detail about my relationship with our father, so I leave everything I tell them vague. I don’t care about my father’s feelings, but I do care about theirs. Just because I’ll never have a healthy relationship with him doesn’t mean I want the same for them.
Tyler books one of the empty rooms on our floor and arranges a flight home for them tomorrow afternoon. He also extends an invitation to the concert tonight to them, whether they want to hang out with me or sit in the VIP section. Warmth spreads through me when they opt to be with me.
“We didn’t come here for special treatment from the band,” Sara says when Tyler leaves for sound check. “We really did just want to meet you.”
“I’m glad you came. I’ve wanted to meet you guys for a long time.”
“How long have you known about us?” Nate asks.
“For quite a while. I just never had a way to get connected with you.”
“Because Dad barred you from us.”
I nod. “But you’re here now, and we can finally get to know each other like siblings should.”
“We’d like that.” Sara gives me a watery smile.
STONE
TWO YEARS LATER
“Did you see where I put my earrings?” Hazel walks into the living room of our Malibu beach house distracted but stunning in her gorgeous cobalt blue dress.
She moves papers around on the counter that catches all our crap from mail to keys.
“The diamond studs you got me for our first Christmas together.”
She hasn’t noticed me on the deck, down on one knee in the suit she picked for me to wear to the Grammy’s tonight.
The way the dress drapes over her lush curves makes me think that maybe we should skip the awards and stay home.
I don’t want to share her looking like a goddamn snack with the rest of the world.
“What are you doing out there?” she huffs, annoyed that I’m not helping her. “We’re going to be late.”
“I’m not the one who misplaced their earrings,” I say with laughter in my voice.
She looks over sharply, but the retort dies on her tongue as she realizes what I’m doing. “Tyler.”
“Hazel Antionette Archer.”
“Holy fuck.” She steps out onto the deck. “Are you serious? Right now?”
With my free hand, I reach out and pull her closer. My hand shakes as I pull the red box from my pocket and open it, revealing a princess cut sapphire stone on a gold band. It’s understated and classic, just like the woman I’m giving it to.
“Falling in love with you was everything my life had never been. It was sudden but sure, steady yet exhilarating. It was inevitable. We are inevitable. Will you marry me?”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”