Epilogue
PAIGE
Candles line a path along the beach like hovering fireflies. They lead the way to a blanket covered with scattered petals and a man who still makes my heart stop after two years.
Benji is gorgeous in a loose button-up and dark pants, and I stumble my next step when I remember it’s the same outfit he crashed back into my life wearing. We’ve come a long way from speed dating, and if you’d told me then that we’d be here a year later, I wouldn’t have believed you.
The Belle keeps watch over the horizon, a glittering presence as I reach him.
“How did I do?” he asks. “Is it as good as you imagined?”
Is he kidding? It’s better—because it’s him.
“Yes,” I choke out, already losing my battle to not cry.
“Fuck,” he whispers, and now we’re both crying. “I was trying not to lose it here.”
Any chance of breathing stops as he lowers himself to one knee, catching my hands in his and staring up at me. Candlelight glows against his cheeks and in his eyes, and no one has ever looked at me the way he does.
As though I’m wondrous.
As though they never want to stop.
“Paige,” he starts. “I…”
I know I should wait—he’s probably got a whole speech prepared and a plan he’s been waiting to enact—but the love of my life is on one knee, and my heart is full enough to burst, and Skye is probably hiding behind a tree, dying to hug us both, so I don’t wait.
We’ve both done enough of that.
“Yes, Benji. Yes.”
He’s barely pulled the ring from his pocket when I throw myself at him, knowing he’ll catch me. He does.
He always will.