Epilogue
Six months later, Sam is still living with Hattie and me. I think she likes him more than she likes me at this point, but there’s such a blissful ease between us all—though we’re wondering if, when our lease is up, we should move to a bigger place. TBC, I guess.
Sam’s mostly been modeling, but he’s been in talks lately with a friend he’s made here who also loves coffee—I think they’re going to open a café in Fulham.
Work and university for me, it’s been good. I still love it; I’m still completely riveted by the faces of everyone I come into contact with, though I’ll admit that now being loved back how Sam loves me back, I can never tell whether I love to feel seen how he sees me, or if it’s sort of a pain.
Both, maybe.
I’ve only spoken to Mom a couple times since I left, and Oliver not at all—Tennyson said he’s doing better though.
I have weekly calls with Alexis. He’s going to come here soon, he says. I don’t know whether he will actually come, but in my professional opinion, he at least believes that he’ll see me soon.
It’s about a week before my birthday, fairly early on a Saturday morning—Sam went to Third Space and I’m just having a lazy day reading in bed—when our bedroom door opens.
Sam pokes his head in, and I smile over at him.
“I have a surprise for you,” he says.
I scrunch my face up. “I don’t really like surprises.”
“No, I know.”
I put my book down. “So why’d you do it then?”
“Well…” He sighs. “It wasn’t really my idea, I’m just enabling it.”
My face pulls in confusion. “Okay?”
And then there’s a knock at our front door.
Sam motions for me to open it. I groan because my lazy bed Saturday isn’t off to a rollicking start, and he kisses my cheek as I walk past him.
“What is this?” I look back at him over my shoulder.
He shrugs mysteriously. “Special delivery.”
I roll my eyes at him as I swing open the door to find Tennyson and Savannah.
“SURPRISE!” Savannah yells.
“Oh my God!” I gawk.
Tennyson throws his arms around me, and then Savannah wriggles into the hug herself. “We’re going to Paris!” she tells me.
I look back at Sam, so happy now. “I love Paris!”
He sniffs a laugh. “I know.”
Tennyson pulls back a little, catching my eye. “We brought you something, actually…”
A moment later, Alexis Beauchêne appears.
My mouth falls open. “Alexis!”
He pulls me out of the Tennyson hug and into one of his. “Hello, mon cherie.” He gives me a smile. “I said soon, did I not?”
I nod at him, pleased. “Oui, tu l’as fait.”
He lights up. “Incroyable. Votre francais devient très bon.”
I wave my hand at him, unsure. “Comme ci, comme ca.”
He gestures to himself, Tennyson, and Savannah. “Is this okay?”
“So much more than okay,” I say emphatically. “Did you all fly here together?”
“Yeah.” Tennyson nods. “We had to go via LA to pick up something—”
And then Oliver steps around the corner and I sort of freeze. I don’t mean to, I don’t choose to, I just go still and look at Sam.
He gives me this look that makes me feel like it’s okay, I’m going to be okay—I don’t think he’d let me not be, actually.
Oliver gives me a gentle smile. “Hey, Gige.”
“Hi,” I say quietly.
“I have something for you,” Oliver tells me as he reaches in the pocket of his Varsity bomber, then offers me whatever’s in his closed fist.
Cautiously, I stretch out my hand, and then he drops in a four-month sobriety chip.
I stare at it for a few seconds, smiling at it like a weirdo, my eyes filling with tears.
I look back up at him and swallow heavily. “Did you do this by yourself?”
Oliver’s eyes flicker over everyone—Tennyson, Savannah, even Alexis—then his eyes land on Sam.
“No.” Oliver tosses Sam a smile. “I had some help.”
I stare over at Sam and feel an overwhelming sense of gratefulness for him.
“So, you had the best help…” I nod toward Penny.
“No.” Oli shakes his head. “The best help would be in the form of my know-it-all little sister who actually, unfortunately, does know it all.” He gives me a pointed look before he softens it again. “But I had a close second in the man who loves her.”
Apparently, all this time, Sam had kept reaching out to Oliver, checking in, making sure he was okay. I don’t believe Oliver was overly receptive at first, but once Maryanne realized there was no way around the sobriety clause, she faded out of Oliver’s life quite quickly.
“The men who love her, actually,” Tennyson clarifies, gesturing between himself and Alexis, and I could cry. Maybe I already am, actually.
“What do you think, Gige?” Oliver tilts his head, eyebrows all up and hopeful. “A long overdue family trip to Paris?”
I glance at Sam, who gives me a perfectly charming, lazy smile, then back at Oliver. I nod.
“Great.” He claps his hands together and moves into the apartment. “I’m going to start packing for you,” he calls back to me.
“Wait—” I look between the others. “When are we going?”
“We need to leave in an hour,” Oliver calls again from somewhere in the house.
Savannah laughs and trails in after him, followed by Tennyson and Alexis, and then it’s just me and Sam Penny in the hallway.
“So.” He walks toward me, smiling, a bit pleased with himself. “How am I doing, first birthday as a boyfriend?”
I give him a measured and restrained nod. “Fine.”
He squints at me playfully as he slips his arms around me. “Am I fucking it up?”
I get on my tiptoes and press my mouth against his.
“Actually…” I scrunch up my face as I try to work out the logistics of the sentence I’m about to try to say. “I think you’re unfucking the greater ‘it’ up.”
He laughs. “Just so you know, you are still, easily, the most complicated person I’ve ever met.”
I smile up at him. “Thank you.”