Chapter 23
One Year Later
C HLOE STANDS NEAR THE cliff, her long blonde hair blowing in the wind. The gauzy white dress whips around her ankles. She has a small bouquet of baby’s breath in one hand, and Wyatt is holding the other hand. When the judge announces that they are married, Chloe drops the flowers on the ground and throws both arms around Wyatt’s neck.
There’s no applause. It’s the smallest ceremony possible—just Chloe and Wyatt, promising to continue the life they’ve built together over the last year for as long as they possibly can.
Wyatt wrote their vows and Chloe said, “Ditto,” because Wyatt expresses how he feels through words and Chloe does it through dozens of gestures, big and small, every day.
When Wyatt proposed last week, Chloe suggested an elopement. As soon as she said the word, they both knew it was the perfect celebration for them. The idea of being the center of attention for an entire night terrified Chloe. And Wyatt is fiercely protective of his privacy, especially since his novel was published over the summer and Sloane’s viral videos of him resulted in a social media sensation.
It baffled Wyatt that a video Chloe took one morning of Wyatt sipping coffee, hunched over his computer, and then smiling in Chloe’s direction could garner so much attention. Chloe only sent the video to the group text because everyone had been asking about Wyatt’s book. But then Sloane posted it to her accounts, tagged Wyatt’s publisher, and captioned it: Doesn’t every woman want to be looked at like this?
The publisher did the rest, teasing their real-life romance alongside Wyatt’s novel about an off-limits love. Since then, Wyatt and Chloe have been inundated with questions about their personal life. And their friends have been teasing them mercilessly.
The private wedding is exactly what Wyatt and Chloe need. The next day, Chloe plans to surprise her brother and spoil her nephew. But tonight, Chloe wants to call Wyatt her husband a dozen times and fall asleep in his arms.
“Do you miss living here?” Wyatt asks. The judge left after they finished their vows, and Chloe and Wyatt lingered by the cliff, finding a bench to watch the sun set.
“Sometimes. But I love our home,” Chloe sighs.
Six months ago, Chloe and Wyatt moved into an old farmhouse in Virginia. There’s space for Wyatt to write, and the upstairs bedroom floods with light, perfect for Chloe’s painting. When Chloe first proposed the move, falling in love with an online listing, she expected Wyatt to protest. Or hesitate, at least. But he just shrugged and said, “I can write from anywhere. I’ll live in any home as long as you’re there.” They moved the next week, and the cheaper rent combined with their savings allowed Chloe to quit her job so that she could focus on her art.
The gamble paid off because Chloe’s first solo show is scheduled for next month, at the New York gallery where she worked after graduation. Luke and Lucy are throwing her a party, and everyone else is flying in for opening night.
“I think there are a million places I could live and love,” Chloe says. “I like finding them with you.” She rests her head on Wyatt’s shoulder. Home is no longer a place when you find the right person.
“Are you hungry?” Wyatt asks.
“I’m starving.”
“Fancy dinner or non-fancy dinner?”
“When have I ever picked fancy food, Wyatt?”
“Alright. Let’s go.” Wyatt holds out his hand.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
They drive up the coast, all of the windows down, Chloe’s dress bunched up around her knees as her hand weaves into Wyatt’s dark hair. They are smiling broadly, singing loudly, and Chloe can’t imagine a better wedding night.
A few minutes later, Wyatt pulls onto the shoulder of the highway. Chloe laughs. It’s a taco truck. There are a few picnic tables, paper plates, and a menu with a picture of what looks like the best crispy pork tacos of Chloe’s life. Since it’s dinnertime, Chloe is surprised there aren’t more people lined up. Instead, the makeshift parking area is empty.
Wyatt grins. “Come on.”
When they step out of their car, a mariachi band starts playing and string lights turn on.
“What did you do?” Chloe asks.
Wyatt shrugs. “They want to celebrate with us. Sloane insisted.”
Chloe turns around and sees her friends running toward her. Just before they reach her side, enveloping them both in hugs, Wyatt whispers to Chloe, “We will have all night alone in the hotel room. Do not worry.” And then his eyes light up and Chloe’s stomach flutters.
Marianne reaches out to examine Chloe’s ring. Sloane and Alden look tanned and relaxed. They’ve spent the last two months in Europe, hopping around the Mediterranean. “Kid-free luxury,” Sloane calls it.
Sometimes Chloe wonders how Sloane is really doing, because she is so good at pretending to be put together. But in their late-night phone calls, because Chloe is finishing a painting and Sloane can never calculate time differences, she seems at peace.
Sloane had agreed to stop IVF, at least for now. After the fire, it was apparent the physical and mental strain was too much, even for someone as determined as Sloane. Sometimes Chloe fears that Sloane is transferring all that focus from having a baby to traveling the world. She talks about all the inspiration she’s gathering for when they decide to build a new home. And once, she made a passing reference to an adoption agency that a high school friend recommended, but otherwise, their conversations are mostly about the new places and foods she discovers. Chloe doesn’t push because she knows that often decisions take time. Sloane would share her plans, whatever they were, whenever she was ready.
Luke hangs back, his arm wrapped around Lucy’s waist.
For a brief moment, Chloe wonders if it will be awkward. It’s the same fleeting thought she’s had each of the handful of times they’ve gotten together over the last year. But just like every other time, the moment quickly passes.
Luke’s been trying to rebuild trust among his friends. Marianne said he was the first to text wishing Teddy Happy Birthday . He crowd-sourced restaurant recommendations for Sloane and Alden from his coworkers. He was the first to buy one of Chloe’s paintings. Luke’s not perfect, and probably never will be, but he knows he needs to be a better friend and show up for the important stuff.
“Congratulations,” Luke says, slapping Wyatt across the back and then pulling him in for a tight hug. “I’m really happy for you guys.”
“I’m happy for us too,” Chloe says. “All of us.”
They order dozens of tacos. Luke pulls out a cooler of beer and a jug of margaritas. Sloane and Alden tell them about the cliff they jumped off of near Marseille. And island hopping through Greece. And hiking the Costa Brava.
“I never knew you were so sporty, Sloane,” Wyatt teases.
“It’s a surprise to me too,” Sloane says. “But I like trying on different versions of myself.”
Chloe likes that answer. Twenty years from now, she wonders what version they’ll be on. She hopes they will have tried on several, because watching your friends turn into adults is a privilege.
“Marianne has some news to share.” Sloane nudges her side.
Marianne shakes her head. “No. Tonight is about Wyatt and Chloe.”
“Absolutely not,” Chloe says. “That’s why we didn’t have a big wedding. Please share your news.”
“I started my own business,” Marianne beams. “The waitlist was so long for my math-tutoring clients that I decided to hire two people to help. We’re fully booked through the end of the year. We might even rent some space so that we don’t lose travel time driving to clients’ houses.”
“It’s the beginning of your math empire,” Sloane brags.
Marianne waves her hand dismissively, but her face is full of pride. She started tutoring students for a few hours after school rather than going back to full-time teaching. She told Chloe that those hours, when she wasn’t a mother or a wife, she was just doing something she loved, made her feel alive.
Chloe smiles at her friends. She’s proud of their efforts over the last year. It’s not easy to fight for what you need, especially when mind-tricks like guilt and obligation try to derail desire. But it seems like Sloane and Marianne and even Chloe decided that losing themselves wasn’t an option anymore.
“We have some news too,” Lucy squeals.
“Are you engaged?” Sloane asks.
“Did you knock up my sister?” Alden blurts.
Lucy punches her brother’s arm. “No. I’m twenty-four. I’m not getting married or having babies. No offense, Marianne.”
“None taken,” Marianne smiles.
“Luke bought an apartment in Tribeca. We’re moving in together. He bought me a La Cornue range.”
“I have no idea what that is,” Marianne says.
“It’s a stove that costs as much as a car,” Luke says. “But Lucy makes the most amazing sourdough bread, and now she’s going to do it in style.”
Lucy works as a marketing assistant by day, but she spends most of her free time baking. If she wasn’t Alden’s sister and Luke’s girlfriend, Chloe would hate her because she somehow defies physics by being so thin despite the steady stream of carbs.
Luke kisses Lucy on the top of her head and pulls her closer.
It’s been strange, watching their relationship develop over the last year, but Chloe knows that they’re really good for each other. Lucy has no problem challenging Luke, and Luke is constantly trying to find new and better ways to support Lucy.
Chloe used to think that it was somehow her fault that the relationship with Luke didn’t work out. But now she knows, loving a person isn’t enough. You have to figure out the love you need in return.
Chloe turns to Wyatt. His arm is draped behind her back on the bench, their bodies never separating for one moment tonight.
“How did you know?” she asks.
“Know what?”
“You asked where I wanted to go to dinner. What if I had said fancy dinner? I am in a wedding dress.”
Wyatt shrugged. “I know my wife.”
And it’s true. Sometimes Chloe thinks Wyatt knows her better than she knows herself. Wyatt forces Chloe to remember that her needs are more important than keeping the peace. It’s not always a reminder she appreciates, especially when she has to tell Sloane that monogrammed invitations aren’t necessary for her art show or even admit to Wyatt that she hates the food at the town diner that’s his favorite. Wyatt reminds Chloe that love isn’t the absence of conflict. It’s important to fight for the love you deserve.
Sloane leans over the table. “I was prepared for all scenarios. I made a backup reservation at a French bistro ten minutes away.”
“Of course you did,” Chloe says.
And then she kisses Wyatt, her husband, while the sound of their friends’ laughter floods her ears. Chloe hopes she has thousands of married kisses in her future. Maybe ten years from now they’ll have children like Marianne and Noah. Or maybe they’ll travel the world like Sloane and Alden.
After all, everything in life is unpredictable. But Chloe hopes that wherever her life takes her, these five people will be there to watch. Because sometimes history is so deep, roots so tangled, that no matter what changes—and inevitably everything does—there’s always a path back together.