Epilogue
brADLEY
Leaning against the wall, I shudder as I gasp for breath. “I don’t know how I let you drag me into this.”
“Oh, come on.” Molly joins me in leaning against the wall and rests her head on my shoulder. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
I turn to gaze down at her ruefully. “I think I lost it on our hike with the newlywed New Englanders.”
She wrinkles her nose. I fight the urge to smile, which isn’t easy. It’s every bit as adorable now when she does it as it was the first time I saw her do it years ago. I should have known then that I was crazy about her.
“Was that the one through the glaciers?”
I shake my head. “Guess again.”
“The alpine pass?”
“Nope.”
“The people who wanted to go deep-sea diving even though it was a whale-watching tour?!?”
I cluck my tongue. “You really don’t remember?”
“Well, we did a lot of business this year.”
She’s not wrong about that. If we both thought we were running successful businesses before, they were nothing compared to when we joined forces. With her attention to details, my stubbornness, and our mutual senses of adventure and ambition, we’ve quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the outdoor excursions industry.
And we didn’t need any sexist travel agent to get us there.
“That hardly seems like an excuse.” I shake my head in mock disappointment.
“You’re the one who keeps coming up with all of the cute nicknames for our clients.” She folds her arms across her chest and eyes me dubiously. “How am I supposed to keep track of them?”
“Because you love me?”
A smile tugs on the sides of her lips. “I suppose, I do.”
“I knew it.” I take her gloved hand in mine. “Now, do we really have to do this?”
“Yes, we do.” She squeezes my hand. “Besides, if my memory serves me correctly, you were the one who wanted us to start dancing in the first place.”
“Yeah, but that was at the retirement center.” I wrinkle my nose as the rest of the ballroom dance class students file past us. “I didn’t realize you were going to want me to become Fred Astaire.”
“God, I love that you can make references like that.” She tugs my hand. “Besides, I don’t expect you to be as smooth as Fred Astaire. I just don’t want us to step on each other’s toes at our wedding next month.”
I heave a beleaguered sigh. “Fine. But I’m only doing this because I love you.”
I let her drag me inside.
She greets our fellow students, and I give a few nods of my own. We line up in our positions on the floor and as the music starts, I pull her into my arms.
I swirl her into a dance, following the steps perfectly.
Her eyes widen. “Um… Have you been holding out on me, or did you actually become Fred Astaire?”
“I didn’t want to embarrass you. So I got a little coaching from the girls at the home.” Wanting to further her surprise, I dip her low. “Are you proud, honey?”
She giggles and leans up to kiss me. “So proud.”
Thank you for reading, New Year, New You and Me.