Epilogue Augusto
Augusto
My house used to be quiet. Not peaceful, necessarily, or particularly warm, just quiet. Everything had its place, every surface was clear and every routine lived within these four walls was planned and predictable.
Now, there’s a pink hairbrush on my kitchen counter.
It’s been there for three days.
I’ve moved it twice. It returned both times.
I stare at it for a full ten seconds before exhaling slowly and setting my espresso cup beside it instead of relocating it to the drawer where it logically belongs.
To adapt is to survive. I always knew this but I’ve never really had to put it into practice before now.
Behind me, the faint sound of Erin speaking to her mother on the phone is obliterated by the thud, thud, thud of a seventeen-year-old coming down the stairs.
Leaning back against the cupboards I let my gaze roam the open plan kitchen and living space.
There are books on my coffee table. Hair bands on the floor.
Enough blankets to warm the human race. Candles that smell like “spiced pumpkin.” And the TV remote is about to be swallowed whole by a sofa cushion.
“You’re doing it again.”
Erin stands in the doorway holding her phone, watching me with that curious expression that still disarms me more effectively than any weapon.
I arch a brow. “What am I doing?”
“Assessing your living space? Questioning whether you made the right decision in moving us in with you? Squinting at the hairbrush like it might be loaded?”
I huff, lightly. “I’m always assessing. I would never question having you live with me. And it is occupying a strategic surface.”
She picks up the hairbrush and laughs, and the sound still rearranges something in my chest.
But, before I can say anything else, Paige skips into the kitchen, her head down as she locates random brightly colored paraphernalia and shoves it into a sparkly tote.
“You heading out?” I ask.
“Uh huh,” she replies, with the dialogue range of a typical teenager. Or so I’m told.
Erin narrows her eyes. “Where to?”
“Just… I don’t know. A coffee shop?”
Erin glances at me. We’re both thinking the same thing.
“Who with?” Erin asks, trying but failing to sound casual.
“No one,” Paige replies. “Okay, I’ll see you later!”
We both stalk her to the door.
“Wait—no you don’t.” Erin adopts her stern mother voice which always makes me smile, much to her irritation.
Paige spins around, slightly panicked, her gaze flitting between us both.
“What’s going on, sweetheart? Why are you being cagey?”
Paige opens her mouth, then closes it, then swallows.
“I’m… Um, I’m seeing someone.”
Something dark, sharp and unwanted unfurls across my shoulder blades.
“That’s okay,” Erin says. “Who is it?”
Paige glances at me.
“Name?” I ask.
She sighs dramatically. “Ethan.”
I knew it. Unbeknown to Paige—and her mother, who would kill me if she found out—I have eyes on Paige everywhere she goes. She’s been hanging out with some kid after school lately. I got his name—and his social security number.
“Ethan who?” Erin asks.
Paige doesn’t take her eyes off me.
“If I tell you… please don’t track him.”
Too late for that, pickle. “I’ll think about it.”
She tips her head slightly and adopts a very serious tone. “Don’t hack his accounts.”
I pause as if I’m genuinely considering her request. “I already did.”
Erin chokes on air while Paige glares at me. “You what?!”
I sigh like it should have been obvious I’d be two steps ahead. “I performed a preliminary digital background review, that’s all,” I shrug.
She purses her lips. “And?”
Folding my arms across my chest, I lift my brows. “I found nothing.” Which is both reassuring and mildly disappointing from a risk-assessment standpoint.
Relief floods her face before suspicion returns.
“Please don’t tell me you threatened his family.”
I bite my bottom lip. “…Oops.”
“Augusto!” Erin snaps.
“I haven’t approached any member of his family. I promise.”
“But you did background checks on them too, didn’t you?” Paige says.
I huff. “Of course I did.”
She regards me for a moment then positively flips out. “Augie, you can’t run a background check on every boy I like!”
I lift a shoulder. “Sure I can. I can also veto anyone your mother and I do not approve of.”
Her mouth falls open, aghast. “What?”
“But I’ll make you a deal,” I continue, ignoring the fact her face is now burning up with rage.
She growls at me. “You want to make a deal?”
Erin’s gaze bats back and forth between us like she’s watching a game of tennis.
“Yeah. I will let you date this boy…”
“Huh,” she grunts. “Yes?”
“If you let me marry your mother.”
The room stills. Even the air doesn’t shift. Erin’s face pans from her daughter to me and the pink hairbrush clatters to the floor.
Paige looks at her mom then back to me. “Have you asked her?”
I look at Erin for exactly one second before returning my attention to Paige.
“Not yet,” I admit. “I wanted your blessing first.”
Because she’s not just Erin’s daughter—she’s part of my life now.
Her eyes flick between us again.
“I just want my mom to be happy,” she says in a quiet voice. “If she thinks you’ll do that for her… then, yes. You have all the blessings.”
I let her permission settle into my chest. The space that was entirely responsible for me begging Erin to lease her house and move her and her daughter into my home for the foreseeable.
“Thank you Paige.”
She brightens instantly. “Cool. So I can date Ethan?”
I glance at Erin. “Only if your mother says so.”
She huffs impatiently. “Mom?”
Erin looks stunned. “Yeah. I guess.”
“Okay great. Bye!”
The door opens and closes, leaving me and Erin standing in the hall.
“You hacked a teenager,” she says, staring at the door.
“I vetted a potential risk to household stability.”
I reach for her, sliding my hand along her jaw, turning her face toward me. Those blue eyes are wide.
“My house used to be immaculate.” I say with a slight accusatory note.
She opens her mouth to apologize, but I stop her.
“It was also empty.”
I sweep a thumb over her lips, dragging the bottom down one before it pops free.
“It became a home the moment you and Paige walked into it.”
She blinks up at me.
“And I will allow nothing and no one to threaten it. Not even a seventeen year old kid with pimples.”
Her eyes narrow. “How do you know he has pimples?”
“I have photographs,” I reply without hesitation.
“You’re insane,” she breathes.
“You’re my family, Erin. I didn’t consider my life to be of much value before. You and Paige have given me something to live for, and I will protect you both until my dying breath.”
She turns her whole body to face me, but before she can reach for my arms, I slide a hand into the pocket of my slacks and pull out a small, round box.
Her mouth falls open and a soft gasp slips out.
Popping the lid, I lower onto one knee.
“No, no, no, no, no,” she says, ushering me back to my feet. “I like looking up at you,” she rushes out, to my immense relief.
She steps back a touch and glances down at the ring. “Oh My God, Augusto… It’s gorgeous.”
The platinum band is decorated with three princess cut diamonds—one for each year I’ve known and loved her.
I wait for her to glance up again, her beautiful blue eyes swirling like oceans.
“Will you be my wife?” I whisper.
She watches me with teary lashes and parted lips. “Yes, Augusto. I would be honored.”
I kiss her softly on the lips, tuck her head beneath my chin and hug her tightly to me.
There’s no triumph in this moment, only gratitude.
Deep, humbling gratitude that I got a second chance, not at the woman I fixed, but at the woman who fixed me.
the end.
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