Epilogue
Leo
CHRISTMAS
My parents shook their heads at me and Miranda while exchanging glances with James, Marley, Maureen, and even Will.
The eight of us sat across various seats in the living room. Marley had talked us into putting on the footie pajamas from last year. As ridiculous as I looked in the gingerbread men onesie, I appreciated the do-over as Miranda snapped about five thousand happy selfies of us.
“Pay up,” Maureen said to Marley, sticking out her hand.
“Nuh-uh.” Marley swatted it away. “You just said there was no way they’d been dating since summer. You didn’t guess the part about dating Stone.”
“If Maureen’s getting paid, I want to get paid,” James said.
“No one’s getting paid,” our mom said. “Besides, you only guessed they weren’t really dating at all.”
“And you kind of had an unfair advantage there since you knew about Leo being demi-ace,” Will reasoned.
“Well, I still can’t believe the whole thing,” Marley declared. Glaring at Miranda, she said, “Seriously, Stone Caseman?”
Miranda shrugged.
“What were the bets exactly?” I asked.
“They weren’t bets. More like conversations you weren’t a part of. We knew you guys were hiding something about this whole situation,” my dad replied. “We disagreed about what it could be.”
“Well, we’re not hiding anything now,” Miranda said.
“We’re aware,” Maureen said dryly. “When Will and I decided to stay at the house last night, we forgot the walls were so thin.”
I leaned around Miranda to grin at her.
Miranda and I had just told our family the whole story.
Even Bambi and Oscar were in the room. There had been a lot to tell—everything with Stone, my reasons for not dating, and some of what had happened between us.
We kept the more private details to ourselves but had agreed that our family deserved the truth.
They could be trusted to keep it to themselves and not harm Stone.
We had, however, ended the truth-telling with our families. As far as our coworkers and others were concerned, we were sticking to the story we’d given the public.
The interest in Miranda as a potential home-wrecker had dissipated almost immediately after the photos from the arcade.
People seemed to prefer the narrative that she and Stone were just good pals.
Reaction to pictures of us at the Holiday Hoopla solidified the general lack of interest in the matter.
Miranda told me she still planned to be friends with Stone and possibly even Naomi. I was surprised at how little that concerned me, but I figured if James could be okay with Kasen, I could be okay with Stone.
As though thinking of him had summoned it, Miranda’s phone buzzed with a text.
“Stone wants to know if it’s okay if he calls me in a few minutes,” she said, concern in her voice. “That’s pretty unusual for him.”
We’d already opened gifts and had no plans for the day other than watching football, so she went into our bedroom to take the call.
I hoped whatever he had to say wouldn’t derail what had been a wonderful couple of weeks.
Miranda had received some welcome news on a Zoom call with her supervisors five days ago.
Apparently, several of her coworkers had pointed out the mastery of the @theadventurousmiranda persona she’d created, and Walt wanted her to be part of a team focused on expanding the company’s business to include younger clientele and new media companies.
She was excited to return in January, eager to continue proving herself. I’d be staying in Tacoma for the time being, burning up I-5 until we figured out a long-term living situation.
Ten minutes later, Miranda poked her head into the hallway, motioning for me to join her.
I followed her into the bedroom, closing the door behind me.
“You’ll never guess…” she said.
“He called to tell you about a big sale on surfboard wax? Or give you an update on the weed gummy situation in Vancouver?”
She rolled her eyes. “He called to let me know he’s dating someone, and he didn’t want to risk my finding out some other way.”
“He’s giving it a go with Naomi for real?”
Miranda laughed. “Um, no. As much as the public wishes that were true, they barely have anything to say to each other. They’re sticking with the plan to break up publicly around Valentine’s Day.”
“Then who?”
“Shoshanna! When he let her know about our breakup, she admitted her feelings for him. Then I guess she insisted he make it clear to me that she never would have made a move while we were dating.”
“You believe her?”
“Uh-huh. Shoshanna is a true boss. She’d respect girl code.”
I smiled. “And Stone feels the same way about her?”
“Honestly, it sounded more like he was just sort of fine with it, like he hadn’t thought about it, but once she proposed the idea, it made sense. At any rate, he wants to give it a try.”
“Leave it to Stone to start a relationship with a proverbial shoulder shrug. I mean, he’s a grown man and can do what he wants, but that just seems odd,” I said.
“But on-brand,” Miranda countered. “Besides Stone himself, no one cares as much about his career as Shoshanna. If they’re both on the same page there, it might work.”
“Still, it sounds so businesslike. Joyless.”
Miranda raised her palms. “Stone just isn’t in a place right now to put someone else’s needs ahead of his own. Businesslike is probably the most he can handle.”
“Welp, not our sink, not our dishes,” I said. “As long as it doesn’t bother you, I don’t care who Stone dates.”
“It doesn’t bother me. I hope someone comes along someday to knock him off his feet, but he’s happy focusing on his career right now.”
“Just like I’m happy focusing on you.” I toyed with the zipper at the top of her onesie.
“Ditto, Bear.”
“You know I loved you every minute you were with him. So even if he wasn’t doing it the right way, you were always loved.”
“I knew that. Deep down. That’s what made it bearable.”
“Bearable. I see what you did there.”
“I’m dork Barbie now.” She twined her fingers with mine. “Cheeseball Barbie? Bad pun Barbie?”
I brought her hand to my lips and kissed her knuckles. “Not Barbie. Just my Miranda.”
The End