41. EPILOGUE
Brody
Two months later
Ivy comes in, carrying a box twice her size.
“I’ll take that, thank you.” She hands it over without protest and I reward her with a kiss on the cheek. “I told you. You don’t have to do anything. That’s what the worker bees are for.”
I nod to Nick and Zane carrying a three-seater couch between themselves. Nick eyeballs me and Zane looks surly.
I give them a one-fingered salute. When they offered to help me and Ivy set up our new place, I wondered what they thought they’d be doing. Sitting around and drinking beers? Not around here, they’re not. We have one afternoon to make the house livable and I’m not stopping until it’s done.
“So, what do you think?” I head over to the kitchen with the box labeled utensils.
Ivy drifts to the window and looks out over the towering hills. Winter has carried with it the persistent snow and left lush green trees and shrubs. “It’s unreal.” Her voice trembles with awe. “Magical.”
My heart fists. “I think so too.” I evade the stacked boxes and reach her. Her heady fragrance swirls around me. I get to be close to her every day. I wrap my arms around her middle and drag in a breath of her. So sweet .
Her hands cover mine, stroking gently. “I still can’t believe we get to live together.”
“Best believe it, love.” I kiss her temple. “We’re roommates now.”
She’s about respond when Nick’s voice has us spinning around.
“Hey, lovebirds, we need your opinion.” He waves us to follow him.
In the living room, the big couch sits at a weird angle.
“How do you want it?” Zane asks. “Here or there?” He points to the spot facing the blank wall where we’ll mount the TV. The other faces the large window that shows off the breathtaking outdoors.
I glance between both men. Based on their tense faces, the position of the couch was hotly debated. I pull Ivy forward. “Choose, babe. Where do you want the couch?” If she chooses, they won’t argue with her. Unlike me.
“I like it here.” She hops to a neutral spot. “We can get the best of both views this way.”
The guys nod their approval.
While they set up, Ivy skips around the living room, pointing at different spots with her ideas for the decor.
“What do you think?” She spins to me after she’s been on a roll for a full minute.
The light in her eyes sparks in my heart. “I think it’s perfect.”
She beams and goes ahead to rope Nick and Zane into the conversation, asking their opinions. The guys know fuck all about interior design, but they nod along, throwing an opinion here and there.
A week ago, our long search for a place to ourselves yielded this house. Tucked at the base of the hills on the outskirts of the town, it was the last place we thought to look.
But my mom heard from a friend of friend that the owner, an old widow, wanted to rent the place out and move to live with her sister in town. Not thinking much about it, I arrived with Ivy in tow. Her immediate squeal made me go rigid, wondering where the threat was coming from. It took a bit of explaining on her end to let me know she just fell in love with the house at first sight.
Mrs. Hennes in turn thought we would be perfect tenants and here we are.
“So, vases would go there and there.” Ivy spins on the spot. “And there, we’d have ivies…” Nick gives her a look and she pouts. “I know. We’d have ivies curling around the beams.”
“You’re very sure of what you want,” Zane says. Which is a compliment in Zane-speak.
Ivy is already well-integrated with the guys because she grins, understanding Zane meant that in the best way. “I know! It’s going to be so cute.”
Nick snorts. “Brody’s going to live in a cute house.”
Even Zane’s stoic exterior cracks.
The smile on my face falls off. “What are you doing standing around? There’s more stuff to bring in.”
It’s their turn to look less than merry.
We follow them as they file out.
Ivy loops a hand through my elbow. “I promise it won’t be too cute.”
I scoff. “Don’t tell the guys, but the cuter the better.”
I kiss her smiling lips as we reach the porch. The guys resume hauling in our luggage, and I bask in the feeling of Ivy being here with me.
Once they finish, I hand them each a cold six-pack of beer and hustle them out. “Go get drunk somewhere else.”
“Come back for dinner tomorrow,” Ivy says.
“Thanks, Ivy!” Nick calls back. “I know now which one of you is appearing on my gratitude list.”
“I’m so heartbroken,” I say.
“It’s a list with great people. You’re missing out.” Nick climbs in the driver’s seat and shuts the door.
Like I care. “I’ll email you a jar of my tears.”
“I’ll email you the embossed kerchiefs I’ll gift the people on my list because I’m a kind person.” The engine starts and he turns the wheel.
“How lovely,” I respond. “I’ll use it to wipe the mud off my boots before tossing it out.”
Nick glares at me before turning around and driving off. Zane sticks his hand out the window, waving goodbye. They probably don’t see it, but Ivy waves back.
“Can you hear that?” I ask her.
She pauses, concentrating. Then she shakes her head. “Hear what?”
“That’s the absence of Nick’s voice. Who would’ve thought it could sound so beautiful?”
She laughs and claps my back. “You keep goading him. I think you like when he teases you.”
I wink. “Never.”
My phone rings. I answer without looking at the caller ID, unable to take my eyes off Ivy.
“I have a good one.” Nick’s voice comes on. Zane sighs in the background. “I’ll set out a gold-trimmed garbage can to catch the stained kerchief adding to the pile of your greatest achievements.”
Laughter bellows from my lips. “Damn. I have no comeback.”
“Music to my ears.”
It hits me then just how great my friends are. Sobering up, I say, “Hey, thanks for today, man.”
“Anytime. Now, enjoy playing house until I crash it tomorrow.”
“Of course.” I stick my phone back in my pocket and hold Ivy.
She melts into my touch, laying her head on my chest. “I’m happy, Brody.”
“Me too, babe.” I smack a kiss on her head.
“Will it always be this way?”
“I think so…” My lips curve. “Unless you pick a fight with me.”
She rears back, fire sparking in her eyes. “Unless you pick a fight with me.”
“Well, you’re great at starting them. I just do my best to resolve them.”
“One, your opinion is not a fact. And two, you’re wrong.”
“Is that an opinion or a fact?”
Her lower lip sticks out, tempting me. “It’s a fact.”
“Hold on a second. Your opinion is a fact, but mine is just an opinion?”
“You’re learning.”
“That makes zero sense.”
She pouts and flattens her palms on my chest. “Just let me have this one, babe.”
The tenderness of her touch. The look in her eyes. Her soft voice. What were we talking about?
Who cares? Whatever she says, she must be right.
“Okay.” I lean down and kiss her.
“So I win,” she murmurs.
It all comes back. I lean away. “Wait, what just happened?”
She giggles, pulling me back in. “Nothing. You love me.”
That brings a smile to my face. “Very much.”
“I love you, too, Brody Hawke.” She nibbles on my lower lip, and then she whispers, “I win.”
She has no idea. She may win this argument, but I get the ultimate win because I have her by my side.
And I’m keeping her with me forever.
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