Epilogue
ASHTON
“How many times do I have to tell you? Grains go on the bottom shelf.”
I watch as my girlfriend stands tapping her foot, hands on her hips, her crisp white chef uniform hugging her in all the right places.
This is the third time she’s put it on today.
The first time, I ripped it off her in the dry storage closet after she bent over to put something away one too many times.
The second time, I ended up in the walk-in fridge on my knees while she ordered me around and made me respond with “Yes, Chef.”
It doesn’t matter who bosses who around in the bedroom. She’ll always have the power. I’ve been her willing submissive since the day I saw her across the crowded bar, and I will continue to be as long as she lets me.
This is the longest she’s kept her outfit on today, though, so I’m hoping we got it all out of our system.
I remind myself that I have to be on my best behavior.
We only have two more hours until the dining room is filled with our closest friends and family.
This is the day Allie has worked tirelessly for.
She’s planned, designed, and obsessed over turning her dream into a reality for the last five months, and she deserves for this night to be as damn close to perfect as it can get.
A few weeks after Allie’s dad came back into town, Theo came to me with an idea.
I ended up telling him most of what happened prior to my leaving the paper, including how I found the kind of love he and my grandmother had.
He was pleasantly surprised to find out it was Allie Montgomery who had stolen my heart.
He said he saw something in her during their interview.
Said she had the heart of a true chef. I told him about her dream of owning a restaurant one day, and a couple of weeks later, he made me a proposition.
If I bought The Emberfield Lantern, he would invest in a restaurant for Allie.
By “buying” The Lantern, he meant paying him what he paid for the building back in the seventies, which in today’s world is next to nothing.
What he really wanted was to leave it to someone who he could trust to take care of it.
While he was mostly recovered from his stroke, he took it as a wake-up call that he needed to step back.
He also knew it wasn’t my choice to leave, and that over time, being editor-in-chief had started to feel less like a favor and more like what I was supposed to be doing with my life.
Of course, the rat bastard knows the only way to get me to do something is to involve my beautifully grumpy girlfriend.
Needless to say, I made the deal. I called my dad the next day and told him he could keep my trust fund.
Have it transferred to his name. It’s what he’s always held over my head.
I thanked him for helping Allie but told him I had to go back on my word.
I’ll never lie to her or keep anything from her again, and I’ll always choose her, even if it means losing my integrity with everyone else.
He was angry, to say the least, but he’ll get over it.
Or he won’t. I honestly don’t care either way.
Convincing Allie, on the other hand, was a whole different story.
It took a while for her to accept the money, but when she met with Theo and he told her she could think of it as a loan that she could pay back when and if she wanted to, she finally agreed.
The next week, we started renovating the space where Willow & Thyme had been.
Craig’s old restaurant had also had a similar farm-to-table concept, so not much had to be done.
There was even already an outdoor garden space.
Allie still wanted to put her own touches on it, so I split my time between the paper and coming to help out with the restaurant preparations.
Everything was finalized a few days ago, and tonight is the soft opening for Daffodil Provisions—a name we came up with together.
Despite my attempt at relaxing her earlier today, Allie is a complete ball of nerves.
Which is most likely why she just snapped at a well-meaning Luke for accidentally putting a bag of rice on the middle shelf.
I clap him on the back and gently shake my head when he looks like he’s going to yell right back at her. “Why don’t you take five? I’ve got this.” He sighs and walks out, giving me a sympathetic smile. Allie huffs and leaves the dry storage to go back to the kitchen.
“Tonight is going to be amazing,” I tell her as she angrily chops herbs at her station.
“You don’t know that,” she fires back. “The halibut…and then the napkins weren’t the color I ordered…”
“Allie. Look at me.” I place my hand over hers, halting her movements, and she releases the knife, her baby blues flicking up to me. “You’re going to be amazing.”
She nods, looking down at the pile of herbs. “What if I fail?”
I love when she’s vulnerable with me. It took so long to get to a point where she could talk to me without running away afterward, and I’m thankful for every single piece of her that she allows me to see.
“I happen to know that you’re not going to fail,” I say, lending her some of my confidence. “And if you do, we’ll fail together and try again.”
“Okay,” she says softly.
“Luke was just trying to help,” I add.
“I know. I’m a raging bitch. I’ll apologize.”
“Yeah, but you’re my raging bitch,” I wink at her and slap her ass.
I’m scrubbing dishes, my shirt sleeves rolled up to my elbows, as I watch Allie thank our last few guests for coming tonight.
The evening went off without a hitch. Well, mostly.
There were a couple of snafus behind the scenes, but none that anyone in the dining room was aware of.
The turnout was more than I could have hoped for.
All of the people closest to us came to help celebrate Allie’s new venture.
Emory, Luke, and their six-month-old son, Rowan.
Nate and his father. Skylar and Dan from the paper.
Of course, Theo was there, beaming like a proud parent.
Even Declan showed up at the very end after Skylar had already left.
Allie’s father flew in for the opening, and to our combined shock, arrived with not only her half-brother but her mom as well.
Allie had hired her mom as the general manager for the restaurant, but she gave her the night off so she could attend the opening as a guest. Still, we weren’t expecting her to show up with Nick.
We knew they had talked when he was here back in May, but then he returned home to Nashville and we figured that was that.
Allie kept in touch with him and had several phone conversations with her brother, but I guess Jennifer and Nick also continued to talk.
I’m not sure exactly what’s going on there, but I guess time will tell.
Allie’s brother, Colt, is like a slightly younger male version of her, which is both amusing and slightly terrifying.
The most surprising guest, however, was not Allie’s father or mother, but my own father.
I had told my parents about the opening, never thinking in a million years that they would show up, but there they were, dressed like they were attending a cocktail party, with my brother, sister, and niece in tow.
I’m not going to pretend that this makes up for the last twenty-five years or that our relationship will magically be fixed, but it was a gesture and I will acknowledge it as such.
I was glad to see my sister out and about.
She’s been going through a divorce, and while it has been mostly civil, it’s still been really hard on her.
I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to be married, pregnant, and divorced all before you turn twenty-four.
I hear the lock click in place and a long sigh come from the front of the house.
Footsteps grow closer and my heart hammers behind my ribcage.
The little black box that has been anchoring me all night now feels like an anvil about to pull me through the floor.
I continue my task, washing the dish I’m holding, making sure to hide my shaking hands as they dip beneath the sudsy water.
I told our staff they could leave early, and when a few friends asked if they could stay and help clean up, I turned them down.
I needed it to be just the two of us tonight.
I could have waited until we got back to my house—our house.
I’m still getting used to calling it that.
Allie only just moved in a few weeks ago.
I would have had her move in the day after our “first date,” but she wanted to take that part slow.
The second her lease was up for renewal, though, I all but made a PowerPoint presentation convincing her to move in with me.
All her stuff was at my house anyway, and we slept in the same bed nearly every night.
She entertained me, with a smile tugging at her lips like she knew she was going to say yes no matter what, but wanted to see me work for it.
Anyway, I wanted to do this here. At the place where she thrives.
Soft hands wrap around my middle, and I hear a sharp intake of breath. “How the hell do you still smell so good? I smell like I just bathed in chicken stock.”
I chuckle. “You basically did.”
She runs her hands down my arms, causing goosebumps to form. “We need a dishwasher,” she muses. “I’m all hyped up. I need my man’s hands slipping and sliding on me. Not my damn plates.”
“Who says it can’t be both?” I tease, flicking a bubble in her direction as I continue to rub the soapy water over the dish in my hand.
“Okay, drop the plate,” she snaps. “I’m over here throwing myself at you. And don’t I get a ‘good job’ for not burning the place down or giving people food poisoning tonight?”
I set the plate down in the sink and turn around, barely able to contain my grin. Grabbing a towel off the side of the sink, I dry my hands and roll my sleeves back down.
I lean into her, right by her ear as if I’m going to tell her a dirty secret and whisper, “Food poisoning symptoms take at least a few hours to show up.”
She spins around and growls just like I knew she would, as she starts to place leftover herbs and vegetables in marked containers. “Where the hell did everyone go?” she scoffs. “Did they think they didn’t need to help clean up?”
“I sent them away.” My voice is calm and steady, despite the nerves sending tingles down my spine.
She spins around only to find me on my knees on the floor in front of her. Not one knee. Both knees. My arm is outstretched, holding a sparkling princess-cut diamond ring.
“Ash.” Her voice trembles with that one word.
“Allie, I love you in a way that doesn’t even make sense.
It’s irrational and crazy and breathtaking and beautiful and scary as fuck.
” I bring my arm up higher, the diamond sparkling under the kitchen lights as I attempt to even out my breath.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. You told me I wrecked your life, but baby, you set the goddamn universe on fire and pulled me out of the flames.
Let me put this ring on your finger. Let me marry you. ”
Thick tears fall down her face as she falls to her knees before me, cupping my cheeks and bringing her lips to mine.
I open for her, the saltwater mixing with her unique taste. She pulls back slightly. “Yes,” she says against my lips. “I’ll fucking marry you, Ashton Tyler.”
The moment I slide the ring on her finger, she stands, tugging at my hand.
I rise to my feet and she leads me into the back office.
Eyes overflowing with emotion, she gently pushes me down onto the couch.
For the third time today, I shove her black pants and underwear down.
She shakes them off, discarding them on the floor before ridding me of my clothes.
The moment she sinks down, a feeling of comfort washes over me.
Because being inside Allie is not just about pleasure. It’s coming home.
And I can’t wait to come home to her for the rest of my life.
The End.