Epilogue #2
Mirabelle beams at Javi. “Très bien!” ? 2
Hayes nods his agreement. “This is a great combination. I think I’ll need the recipe if you don’t mind sharing,” he says, a twinkle in his eye that matches the same one his daughter has.
“Really?” Javi asks, grinning widely at him showing off his missing front tooth.
“Really really .”
I recenter my focus on Kaitlyn who is pouring a small amount of syrup on her plate to go with her pancakes.
She’s entirely too far away from me, but I can easily fix that.
Being with her helps me breathe easier. She sees me not only for who I am, but also for who I’m trying to be.
Hooking my foot around a leg of the stool, I pull it closer to me, resulting in Kait giving me a funny look.
“Can I help you?”
“I already helped myself because you were too far away,” I say, taking the bottle of syrup to pour a generous serving on my plate.
She shakes her head at me, a playful smile curving her lips upward. “You’re going to give yourself diabetes if your ratio continues to be more syrup than pancake.”
“Life is too short to deprive yourself of sugar,” I say, pouring more syrup on her plate.
“Bailey!” She elbows me as I laugh.
“You can thank me later,” I say, grinning at her as I take a bite of my pancake.
My smile falters when Hunter walks into the kitchen, rubbing at his eyes to wake himself up.
I’m not going to hide my relationship from him, but I’m also not going to flaunt it in his face.
Progress in our relationship has stalled, and I’m sad we’re not much closer than we were a few months ago.
It hurts like I’m missing a part of myself, but my therapist says I need to let him come to me when he’s ready.
Javi’s excited voice rings an echo through the room. “Can we build snowmen today? A whole army of them and dress them up?
“We sure can,” Dad says, raising any eyebrow at Marley’s parents. “Unless you guys are afraid of getting a little cold?”
Sephine laughs, accepting the challenge head on. “Oh, you are so on.”
“Bash, be nice,” Penelope chides, taking a long drink of her steaming coffee as Chris busies himself with a piece of bacon.
“It’s just a little friendly competition,” Dad says, putting his hands up in defense.
Mom rolls her eyes. “Sure, friendly . Just don’t cry like a baby when you lose.”
“Will you kiss it better if I do?” he teases, and I gag at the question. It’s nice to see them happy, but I don’t need them to flirt in front of us.
“Fuck, do you have to say that stuff in front of us?” Hunter groans, spearing a piece of pancake before shoving it in his mouth. Javi gasps, his eyes widening because he knows that’s a word he isn’t allowed to use, even when telling everyone we can’t say it.
“It wasn’t me this time,” JJ says, seeming pretty proud of the fact.
“Language,” Henry warns, causing Hunter’s cheeks to pink in embarrassment.
“Sorry.” He shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck.
Mom rolls her eyes, moving on. “Hunter, it’s perfectly normal for your dad to say stuff like that. It doesn’t warrant an exaggerated reaction. Can I have Clem?” she asks Henry, who passes his daughter over before dragging his hands down his face with a yawn .
Hunter grimaces, and I hold in my laughter, especially when JJ decides to open his mouth again. “Yeah, well, kissing is fine. As far as I’m concerned, you guys have only had sex three times: once for Mirabelle, once for me, and once for Bailey and Hunter.”
Marley laughs before she can clap a hand over her mouth, causing her parents to snicker at her. Henry moves to cover Javi’s ears quickly. “For fuck’s sake, there is a child at the table. Can we please just have an age-appropriate conversation?”
“Um, well I’m pretty sure Javi just heard you swear, so you’re undermining your own point,” Mirabelle adds, and Kaitlyn turns into me to hide her laughter in my chest.
Javi pushes Henry’s hands away, peering at JJ. “What’s sex? Is it the same thing as making babies?”
Water spews out of JJ’s mouth, clearly caught off guard by this, but I don’t know exactly what he thought was going to happen. “Good lord,” I whisper into Kaitlyn’s ear, “this fucking family.”
“I’m happy they’re here,” she says, smiling up at me.
“Javi, why don’t we go eat outside,” Henry suggests, trying to smooth this over before it could possibly get any worse. Kaitlyn pulls away to look at him like he’s stupid, but Javi beats him to it, reminding him it’s winter.
“Dad, there’s snow outside. Remember?” Javi says, pointing where everything outside is blanketed in white. “Does this mean you guys are going to have a baby too?” he asks, staring directly at JJ and Marley. Oh my god. At least it’s not me and Kaitlyn he’s asking.
Marley’s face flames bright red. “Nope.”
“But I saw you guys making babies.”
JJ turns stark white, looking at Hayes with a little bit of fear.
For my brother’s sake, I hope he already asked for permission to propose.
After learning how many zeros are in his checkbook, I’d be a little afraid of him too.
“No, no, no. It wasn’t what it sounds like.
We were just making out, and Javi is so quiet when he walks, and it definitely wasn’t sex,” he rambles, and Marley covers her face as the room fills with laughter.
“JJ, just shut up, please.”
Javi throws his hands in the air. “I don’t understand.”
Mirabelle adjusts Theo to where she has a free hand to comb Javi’s hair out of his face. “It’s okay. You don’t need to understand for a long time.”
God, this family is fucking insane, but I love them.
Kaitlyn’s hand slides into mine, squeezing once. I lift it to press a kiss to the back of hers, and I’ll never get over the way her smile brightens my whole world.
“You’re my favorite person, sunshine,” I whisper, trying not to draw attention to us.
“I love you.” Kaitlyn’s eyes are a kaleidoscope of green and brown, shining bright.
Out of all the endings I pictured for myself over the last few years, being surrounded by all the people I love and knowing what it’s like to be loved by the girl of my dreams is better than I could’ve hoped for.
All I know is I’m not going to take one moment of this second chance for granted.
1 ? Breakfast is served.
2 ? Very good!