Epilogue
One year later
Recent transactions:
“Thoughts?” Dominic asks.
Dominic crosses the wide carpeted expanse overlooking Queens and sits in an office chair next to me, “I meant the location,”
he clarifies. “It’s not Manhattan.”
I give him a look, my face reflecting against the floor-to-ceiling windows framing the city skyline.
We’re not quite on bestie terms yet, but we sit comfortably somewhere between “my boss” and “my brother’s boyfriend.
” This means most of the time we can skip the polite pleasantries neither of us is interested in.
Also, I’m in love with his cousin. It’s messy, but luckily, I don’t see any of it going south anytime soon.
Spencer and Dominic are so sickeningly in love.
It always hits me like whiplash when Dominic’s demeanor shifts from an immovable stoic businessman to a malleable lovable boyfriend around my brother.
Over the past year, I’ve had the good fortune to meet him somewhere in the middle.
“I think if you squint hard enough you can see Spencer from here,” I say with an impish grin.
Dominic rolls his eyes, pouring his own glass from the bottle I brought to celebrate signing the lease. I think he is secretly
using our trip to find an office space for the new FemTech Fund headquarters as an excuse to go see his boyfriend, but he’s
refusing to admit it. Spencer has been back in New York for four months now, filming on and off for the second season of his
show with BBC America. Weirdly, I think many couples would have struggled to make long-distance work so soon into a relationship,
but dating an international businessman with offices in London and New York helps considerably.
Oliver is flying in later today, a few days after the first semester of his advanced course finishes, and then we’re traveling to see his mum.
It’s the first time I’ll be meeting her in person, but Oliver’s weekly FaceTime calls quickly turned into mine and his mum’s FaceTime calls.
She says she gets more information out of me than him, and when his course days run long or the time difference gets in the way, I’m more than happy to step in.
It’s nice to feel that undivided love from a mother figure.
I think she secretly always wanted Oliver to pursue his dreams, but just like Oliver, she didn’t want to betray her husband’s wishes.
After some coaxing from his therapist, including a session in which his mother joined in to talk about his dad, they began to open up their dialogue surrounding his career more and more.
From what he’s shown me, his mum’s house is nestled in the countryside, between forests of redwood trees.
She says no wonder Oliver grew up to be so tall; surrounded by woods reaching up to the sky, it would be impossible not to.
Cecily and Pacha were more than happy to hold down the fort back home with Lana, our new head of legal. She officially started
a few weeks after helping me through the process of taking action against Malcolm. Ensuring the blocked number he threatened
me from was traced back to his IP address and the CCTV footage of him approaching me on the street outside the Wyst office
was taken into account. After his computer was seized, it was found that he was doing even more than blackmail. Dodgy accounts,
wire fraud, and a variety of other activities mean he is potentially looking at jail time, but Lana has warned me that with
his family money he’ll likely just get probation. Just to be safe, she gained a restraining order against him for me, Spencer,
and any employee of Wyst.
When Oliver joins us in New York, we share a table at a crawfish seafood restaurant that he has been desperate to go to ever
since we put this trip on the books. He manages to wangle his way into the kitchen and is chatting to the chef behind the
counter.
Dominic furrows his brow but retains a small smile. “That boy has never met a door he couldn’t finesse his way through.”
“Be nice,” Spencer says, squeezing his broad arm.
“It was a compliment,” Dominic assures him, his hard surface cracking just enough for some unspoken communication to slip
through.
“We could go with the smaller place uptown?” I ask, continuing our office space debate.
“I know what I want,” Dominic says, “and luckily I’m good for it.”
“When are you seeing the period app people?” Spencer asks.
“Tomorrow,” I say as Oliver slides into the booth beside me. “Have fun?”
“They let me feed the lobsters,” he says, his eyes wide and joyous.
“And during your adventure to the zoo, did you happen to find out if we can eat one of them soon?” Dominic’s eyebrow lifts.
“Dodo, I don’t work for you anymore, remember?” Oliver quips, using the nickname we all know Dominic publicly hates but secretly
loves ever since Spencer also started using it.
Oliver and Dominic both get up to use the bathroom before our food arrives, leaving Spencer and me alone at the table.
We smile at each other before Spencer breaks the silence. “I think Dom is going to propose.”
I almost choke on my spiked lemonade, sputtering, “What?”
“He’s booked a very fancy hotel for this weekend while you guys are in Montana and apparently has some sort of surprise, but
he’s been acting less naturally grumpy than usual. I even saw him smile at a crying child yesterday.”
“Whoa, if you’re correct that’s amazing news, right?” I hold my straw in anticipation.
“Oh my god, yes. If he doesn’t do it soon, I will. I nearly did the other night with a Krispy Kreme doughnut as the ring.”
“Oh, Spence, I’m so happy for you.” I place my hand on his across the table.
He eyes me suspiciously. “So you don’t know anything about this weekend?”
“No.” I shrug nonchalantly. “I wish I did.”
I’m lying of course. Well, bending the truth. Choosing my words carefully because I know for a fact that Dominic is going
to propose very soon. I’m pretty sure Oliver and Dominic are conspiring in the bathroom right now, but I won’t press Oliver for the details.
Dominic showed me the ring on our flight over and then asked the flight attendant if he could be moved to another seat when
I started loudly sobbing in business class. Blaming the altitude pressure instead of when he said he “wants the most important
person in Spencer’s life” to know beforehand. My legitimate surprise comes from Spencer having suspicions and actually being
correct. I thought he would have no idea as he’s been too busy rehearsing, learning lines, and shooting his show.
Oliver and I have our apartment together in London, but we’re a few years away from even thinking about marriage.
We’ve been taking things slow, using the past year to work on ourselves and become actual human beings rather than the crazed emotional messes we’d both been living as.
Decorating our new space has been cathartic.
Both building and creating our home, our safe space to be our true selves.
When flat hunting, we obviously had to prioritize the kitchen for Oliver and a second bedroom turned office space for me.
One of Cecily’s family’s many ventures includes an estate agent firm, so she helped us get the first application in on a perfect flat overlooking a lush green park in Stoke Newington before it had even hit the market.
Oliver spends most of his downtime experimenting with new recipes, all of which I am more than happy to consume and review for educational purposes.
Our favorite part is the living room with a giant crockery cupboard, which folds down into a huge dining table.
London flats being low on dedicated functional space is just a fact of life at this point, so having those small details built into our space means monthly dinner parties at ours.
I choose the wine, and Oliver sorts the menu.
Dominic reluctantly joins us even when Spencer is away filming, but I think he secretly loves our weird little supper club.
“You two have that look,” Oliver says, shifting his gaze between us as he and Dominic return to the booth. “The twin telepathy
thing.”
“Just plotting,” I say.
“And scheming,” Spencer adds, clinking our glasses together.
“Because that went so well last time,” Dominic deadpans.
“I think I got a pretty good deal out of it,” Spencer says, sipping his drink.
“Me too,” Oliver whispers into my ear.