Epilogue
Ten Days Later
Parker
I laughed to myself as I went into the bedroom from where Tristan had just called me. He was lying down and his feet were dangling over the edge of my bed. He was too tall for his own good.
“We need to have a conversation,” he said.
“About how ridiculously tall you are?” I replied.
He rolled over, propped his head up on this hand, and patted the bed in front of him. “About logistics.”
I’d been expecting him to say this. We’d been squeezed into my Maida Vale flat for the last ten days and it was just too small for the both of us.
I slid onto the bed next to him. “You’re right. We should move back to your place.” I don’t know why I hadn’t said something sooner. I just knew that when I moved out of this place, I’d never move back. I supposed I’d been saying goodbye these last ten days.
“I’m not so sure,” he replied.
“You want to stay here?”
“No. But at the same time, I don’t want you just to move into my place. I think we should get something that neither of us have lived in before.”
He was impossibly thoughtful. “That’s a nice idea. Where were you thinking?”
“I’m not sure I have a preference,” he replied. “Let’s start thinking about it. But in the meantime, can we go back to Notting Hill so I can get a good night’s sleep?”
“I think that sounds like a good idea.”
“And another thing, Cream Puff . . .” He grinned as he spoke, delighted at the nickname he’d coined for me. I wouldn’t ever tell him, but I thought it was cute that he thought back to the first time we ever met every time he used it.
“Another thing? What more can you possibly want from me?” I flopped my arm over my forehead like a fainting maiden in an historical romance.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a check.
“Who uses checks anymore?” I asked.
“Me. I can’t make electronic transfers from this account.”
“What’s it for?”
He pushed the check into my hand, but before I had a chance to see who it was made out to, he said, “It’s a joint decision, but I thought we should give ten percent of our net income to your charity.”
I reached out to stroke his cheek. “That’s so nice.”
I glanced at the check and then looked more carefully. “You can’t be serious. You’re giving Sunrise . . . five hundred thousand pounds?”
“No,” he replied. “We’re giving Sunrise ten percent of my net income. I figured your salary was a little lost in the rounding.”
I sat bolt upright. “You’re telling me you earned—wait, that’s an insane amount of money.”
“What?” he asked. “You thought I was poor?”
“No, but this is a lot of money.”
“Right, which is why I’m discussing it with you.” He sat up and pulled me onto his lap. “I don’t want to do anything you don’t think is right, so if you’d prefer to split it among a few good causes or—”
I turned in his lap and pressed my lips to his. “How did you get to be such a kind and generous man?”
“I’m inspired by you,” he said without missing a beat. “You’ve made me reevaluate almost everything in my life. Including what I do with my money. Although not on the interior design front. Your taste is . . . awful.” He glanced over at the rabbit lamp on my bedside table.
I prodded him in the stomach. “It’s eclectic.”
“I can’t do eclectic.” His hand shot into his hair the way he did when he was anxious about something.
“Hey,” I said, my finger rubbing over his eyebrow. “If it bothers you that much, you can design the entire place, wherever we end up.”
He exhaled and his shoulders dropped. “That would make me feel so much better.”
“I’m not accepting that I have bad taste. Just that you’re more particular.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself.” He grinned at me. “So I have your solemn promise that you won’t get involved in any design of our new house and you won’t buy anything for the house without my express agreement?”
“Wow, you mean business,” I replied.
“Honestly, I love you, Parker, but being in your flat stresses me the bloody hell out. It’s all too much.”
I laughed and lifted my right hand. “If that’s important to you, then I solemnly swear not to get involved in any interior design discussions, and I shall make no home purchases ever at all for as long as we both shall live.” Nothing was more valuable to me than making Tristan happy.
“You can have one room where you can go wild. Apart from that, it’s what I say all the way.”
I nodded resolutely. “Yes sir.”
He growled and pushed me to my back. He’d just climbed over me when the doorbell went.
“That’s Sutton.”
“I was about to ravage you,” he replied.
“Ravaging can wait. She hears about her hospital placement today.” I scampered off the bed and went to open the front door.
Sutton looked like she’d just been slapped in the face with a frying pan. I could almost see the cartoon halo of stars circling over her head.
“What is it?” I pulled her inside. “Tristan, we’re going to need tequila,” I called. “Come and sit down.”
“I got into the Royal Free.” She collapsed onto the sofa.
I was confused. It sounded like good news. “Wasn’t that your top choice?” I sat down next to her and patted her on the back.
“Absolutely,” she said. “But I didn’t expect them to pick me. I’m an older student and everyone wants to be on their program. It must be some kind of mistake.”
Tristan came through carrying a tray of shot glasses and a bottle of tequila I wasn’t sure I’d seen before. “I’d like to say I’d leave you two to it, but given we live in a two-room shoebox, there’s nothing you can say that I can’t hear.”
“Of course it’s not a mistake,” I said, ignoring Tristan. “Tell her,” I said, glaring at him.
“What’s not a mistake?”
“Well, you just disproved your own theory.” I rolled my eyes. “Sutton got the job she wanted at the Royal Free Hospital and thinks they must have made a mistake.”
“Of course they didn’t,” Tristan said, pulling up one of the dining chairs—it was between that and the floor in terms of seating options.
“But I’m older than most of the candidates.”
“Not by much,” I said, trying to be reassuring.
“That would likely go in your favor,” Tristan said. “More life experience and maturity.”
“And your exam results were epic,” I added.
She grabbed my hand. “Don’t forget about me, will you? These next few years are going to be intense. And now you have this husband.” She nodded toward Tristan like he was a lamp I’d just acquired. “And he has a thousand friends with wives and girlfriends. You’re not going to be able to fit me in.”
“Of course I am.” I squeezed her hand. “This is exciting. It’s the job you dreamed about. Yes, you’re going to be working hard, but we’ll just be around the corner—we’re moving. You’ll be able to pop round and have dinner when you’ve finished a shift.”
She looked up at me. “You’re moving to Hampstead?”
Tristan was shooting me devil stares as he poured out shots of tequila.
“We have to find a place still, but why not?” What wasn’t there to love about Hampstead? I was sure we could find a place there. “And I’m going to task Tristan with finding a new friend he can hook you up with.”
She groaned. “I don’t need a boyfriend. I just need to be good at my job and not get sacked on the first day.” She needed my dad’s pep talk ASAP and a hefty amount of distraction.
Tristan handed Sutton a shot glass of tequila and then gave one to me.
“I’m not going to be able to drink tequila again. Not after I start at The Royal Free. I have to be . . . like a grown-up. I’m going to be a doctor.”
“Better get as much in as possible now, then,” Tristan said, tipping back his shot. I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed and held back from pinning him to the floor and licking his neck from collarbone to chin.
I clinked my glass to Sutton’s. “This is amazing news, Sutton.”
“We’re all growing up and moving on,” she said.
“Where does Hartford work?” I asked Tristan. “Isn’t that The Royal Free?”
Tristan shrugged. “No idea. You want me to text her?”
I shook my head. “Whatever happens, we’re always going to be the best of friends.”
She sighed. “I’m never going to have a man like Tristan to come home to. Taking this job is basically receiving my single-for-life certificate.”
“I thought I had one of those,” Tristan said. “Beware. They have a tendency to disintegrate when you’re not watching.”
Sutton laughed. “Never going to happen. I need to throw myself into the job. It’s okay. I’m choosing that. I love the fact that I’ll get to be a doctor. There’s just a sacrifice. You know?” She sucked in a breath. “Until then, one more tequila won’t hurt.”
Tristan poured out second shots for us all and I caught his eye, trying to convey how much I loved that he was sitting here, celebrating and consoling my BFF. I knew that whatever we were doing, there was nowhere he’d rather be than with me. There was no better feeling.
June later that year
Tristan
Just a couple of years ago, the idea that there’d ever be a day when I’d witness Joshua say “I do” was ludicrous. The idea that my wife would be by my side was a step past insanity. But here we were, and I’d never been happier.
“I swear Hollie is glowing. Even if she hadn’t told us she was pregnant, it would be totally obvious,” Parker said as Hollie and Dexter walked toward us.
Hollie and Dexter had dropped their news a couple of weeks ago. They wanted to be sure it didn’t take away from Joshua and Hartford’s ceremony. I didn’t want to tell Parker, but I wasn’t sure Hollie looked much different to how she normally did.
“I don’t know why they were worried about overshadowing this though.” Parker swept her arm across the green lawns.
“Joshua’s wedding was never going to be low key,” I said. Of course he’d chosen Cliveden House to get married. Nothing but grandeur and opulence for Joshua. And if Claridge’s wasn’t going to accommodate him and his bride, then he wouldn’t wait for him.
“Shall we get married again?” I asked.
Parker shook her head. “I only intend on getting married once, thank you very much.”
I chuckled. “A vow renewal then? Some kind of celebration where we’re both in it forever.”
“Isn’t that every day?” Parker said. “It won’t make me love you anymore than I already do, because that’s impossible.”
I circled my arm around her waist, dipped her, and kissed her dramatically before standing her upright.
“You two are just adorable,” Hollie said as she came toward us, hand on stomach, Dexter by her side.
“Joshua and Hartford look happy,” I said, not wanting to discuss our adorableness any more. Not that we weren’t adorable.
“Everyone does,” Gabriel said as he and Autumn joined our group.
I waved at Stella across the lawn. She tugged on Beck’s sleeve and they headed toward us.
“God, I bet they have great sex,” Autumn said, nodding toward Andrew and Sofia as they came down the steps to our group.
“You don’t think we have great sex?” Gabriel said, slightly affronted.
“Wow, did I say that out loud?”
Gabriel widened his eyes.
“Duh, of course we do.” Autumn lifted herself up on her toes and kissed Gabriel’s jaw, then squeezed his bottom. “The best ever. You have moves that would win—”
I cleared my throat. I didn’t want images of Gabriel and Autumn in my head that I was never going to be able to get rid of.
“What’s everyone talking about?” Sofia asked as she and Andrew joined the group.
“We were just saying that the group of committed bachelors are committed husbands or fiancés now,” Parker said, saving the day.
“And I need a favor from you. My best friend thinks she’s going to be single the rest of her life because she’s just starting as a junior doctor.
We need to put our heads together and find her a man. Even if it’s for a bit of fun.”
Parker hadn’t been joking when she’d told Sutton we’d move to Hampstead.
We’d started house hunting exclusively in a mile radius of the hospital Sutton was going to be working at come September.
If it made Parker happy, I didn’t mind where we lived as long as she didn’t decorate it and we had an Alaskan king bed.
Sutton was important to her. Which meant she was important to me. “We’ll find her someone,” I said.
“I bet Hartford can set her up with a single doctor,” Autumn said.
“Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take for Joshua and Hartford to get pregnant?”
“Do they want children?” Parker asked. Parker and I agreed that the time wasn’t right for us at the moment.
I wanted to be with Parker forever, and I wanted a family.
At some point. But I needed some time for just the two of us first. Parker felt the same.
When the time came, she’d make the best mother I could imagine.
But right now, I was happy to focus on being a great husband.
That’s what she deserved. She was the best wife a man could ask for.
“Joshua’s far too vain to let his genes go to waste,” Andrew said.
Parker laughed beside me. She was still getting used to Andrew’s idea of social chit-chat. She was still getting used to all my friends, but she understood how important they all were to me, so they were important to her.
Our group of six had been boys when we’d met.
Now we were men with wives and fiancées, and soon we’d be six families who’d navigate this world together, through the ups and downs, the good times and bad.
With the loves of our lives at our sides, all six of us were stronger and better than we’d ever been.
With Parker by my side for the rest of my life, I knew the future could only be bright.