Epilogue
HOLDEN
It had taken months of work, late nights, and a whole hell of a lot of coffee, but in the end, we’d done it. The Renewal Initiative hadn’t replaced a single thing on this block. We’d only restored what had already been good and turned it into something great.
The sun was shining, the air smelled like sugar and coffee, and the soft sounds of a local band drifted through the crowd. Second Story Sunday was finally back, built to last now that we’d created a designated market space in the revitalized version of Ellora’s block.
Families strolled through the new green space in the middle, the park we’d managed to squeeze in.
Kids laughed at the crafts table while parents balanced paper cups of lemonade and pretzels.
All around us, the buildings gleamed with fresh paint, their old charm still intact, but they were stronger now, steadier and safer.
It had taken a lot of hours to get this far, construction crews working all day, every day on the maintenance and renovation of the buildings, but as I stood there with Ellora leaning against me, my arm around her shoulders, it felt like it had been worth every late night meeting and on-the-fly adjustment to the plans.
As tended to happen with these kinds of projects, it had turned out that the neighborhood had needed a ton more work than we’d thought. Some of the buildings had been downright hazardous to be anywhere near and I didn’t even want to get started on the electricity and gas situation.
“What are you thinking?” Ellora tapped underneath my chin with one soft, powdered-sugar-coated fingertip. “Are you sorry that there are no high-rises?”
I snagged the beignet she’d stolen from me back and took a big bite, probably getting powdered sugar all over my cheeks now too. After I swallowed, I winked at her and shook my head. “Beignets beat high-rises any day of the week.”
“There wouldn’t have been a bakery in your fancy shopping complex?”
I shrugged. “Probably not one this good. Josie is amazing.”
“She is.” Ellora eyed the beignet like she was considering stealing it again, laughing when I moved it to my other hand and held it jokingly out of her reach. “Fine. Be like that. I can’t even get annoyed with you about it today because this turned out so much better than I ever thought it could.”
Her gaze drifted away from mine to drink in the scene around us, the packed market and the new, smooth sidewalks. “Seriously, I still can’t believe it’s the same place.”
I slipped my arm down to her waist and tugged her a little closer. “You did this, you know.”
She snorted in an attempt to hold back a laugh. “I’m pretty sure you were here too, Professor.”
“Call me professor again when we get home and I’ll show you what this professor has been thinking about in class,” I said, bent over to speak into her ear, but then I straightened up again.
“Also, I might have been involved but you made people believe it was possible. You rallied the troops locally and in my boardroom. That’s the real work.
Without you, none of this would’ve been here right now. ”
Across the square, I spotted Bree at a booth, showing a little girl how to paint sea glass, still wearing her hospital badge on a lanyard.
Mercedes and Kody were by the food trucks, arguing over tacos while Jimmy held court near the coffee stand, pretending to be offended that no one recognized him as the creative genius behind the layout.
Josie was handing out cookies and scones to anyone who wandered past her booth, her newly reopened bakery behind her. The crowd was thrilled to have her back, and I watched kids and adults alike grab the treats she was offering with big smiles.
It was chaos, but the good kind that made the place feel alive.
In the end, I’d still gotten to leave my mark on the city in a very real, very lasting way.
It just looked a lot different than I’d thought it might, but this right here, preservation instead of destruction, seemed a much better legacy to be leaving behind anyway.
Besides, a few months ago, I’d been painfully single and planning on staying that way. My entire life was looking a lot different now than it had back then.
Ellora looked up at me again, green eyes twinkling like she was scheming. “You know what I was thinking?”
I faked a sigh. “Should I be worried?”
“Always,” she said with a grin. “I think this is a good idea, though. How about if, next month, we add a little stage for live readings? Poetry, short stories, music. Real people’s stories, second or otherwise.”
I laughed. “You’ll have me writing slam poetry in no time.”
Her grin widened. “You? Please. You’d buy the stage before you’d read on it.”
“That’s probably fair,” I admitted, leaning down to brush a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll build you anything you want, baby. Always.”
Her expression shifted into something soft and a little amazed as those eyes lingered on mine, like she still couldn’t believe any of this was real. “Careful, you’re starting to sound like one of my book boyfriends.”
“You have other boyfriends?” I pretended to gawk at her. “How am I supposed to beat up a fictional dude?”
“You’re Holden Langton.” She laughed. “You can do anything. If anyone is going to figure it out, it’s you.”
I groaned. “God, you make me feel like Superman when you say stuff like that. At this rate, we’re going to need a bigger house just so my head can fit in it.”
Pulling her closer again, I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed her, slow and easy this time. It still amazed me every day how natural life felt with her. How something as seemingly simple as a Sunday afternoon kiss in the park could seem so normal. Easy.
After years of thinking Sundays would forever be reserved for hangovers, escaping hookups, and recovering, I fucking loved that they were now about lazy mornings spent together, the market, and community.
She smiled as I pulled away. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back. I’ll just keep pricking a pin into your ego so it deflates a little when it starts getting too big.”
“What pin?” I asked laughingly. “There is no pin.”
She bumped her shoulder into mine. “You wanted to turn this place into stuffy condos where no one knew each other’s names and where people felt like they couldn’t be out on the street, living their lives with their neighbors as friends.
That’s a pretty sharp pin that you thought it was such a great idea. ”
I sighed. “Fine. You’ve got me there, but I really am glad you changed my mind. This is much better. Seriously. I’m not just saying it because it’s your neighborhood. I genuinely am happy that it turned out this way.”
“And so the student becomes the teacher,” she joked. “It looks like you wound up learning a thing or two from me too.”
I chuckled. “More than a thing or two. Some important life lessons, I’d say. And that thing you do with your tongue…”
As she settled into my side again, I let my eyes wander across the crowd and felt a swell of pride like I hadn’t experienced in years. Josie stepped onto the makeshift stage. The music cut out and the singer handed the microphone over to her. The pride faded into nerves.
I hadn’t just come here today for the return of Second Story Sunday. There was something else I wanted to do and Josie being on that stage meant that the time had come. My throat tried tightening, but I cleared it and swallowed away the surge of tension that thrummed through me.
The first time I’d done this, it hadn’t ended very well, but it was different with Ellora. It had been since the very beginning. I felt things when I was with her that I’d never felt before, the kinds of things I’d previously thought belonged to myths and fairy tales.
What I was about to do was right. I knew it all the way to my bones, but shit, I couldn’t deny that I was suddenly second-guessing my decision to do it here. In front of all these people. I wasn’t about to back out, though.
Josie thanked everyone for coming and said none of it would have been possible without Ellora.
Josie called her up and Ellora gave a heartfelt welcome to everyone gathered.
She spoke passionately about her love for their community and her hopes for Second Story Sundays to come.
When she was done, the crowd cheered like she’d just saved the world. Honestly, in a way, she had.
She’d saved their world for sure. And mine.
Which was why I stepped onto the stage just as she and Josie turned to leave. Josie gave me a conspiratorial smile, winked, and patted my back as she passed me, but she was the only person here aside from me who knew why I’d come up.
Ellora frowned when I caught her wrist, keeping her on stage with me as I took the microphone. Curiosity sparked to life in her eyes, but thankfully, there was no suspicion there anymore. No distrust. She might not know what I was up to, but she didn’t think it would be anything bad.
As I turned to face her, focusing directly on her eyes, I brought the microphone to my lips. My heart was pounding. “I think many of you would agree that this woman right here, Ms. Ellora Kinney, is an absolute miracle.”
Whoops and hollers rang out. Some people cheered her name while others whistled and clapped. I waited for it to die down before I reached for her hand, smiling. She flushed and widened her eyes at me like she was silently demanding to know just what the fuck I was doing.
“Just bear with me for a minute,” I murmured before moving the microphone back to my mouth.
“What she’s managed to accomplish here will forever stump me, not only bringing people together in a way that’s not very common these days, especially not in cities like ours, but also for the way she never gave up.
She might’ve lost hope at times, but she kept fighting, no matter how high the odds were stacked against her. ”
Those green eyes lowered, like she was embarrassed about the praise, but people were clapping and shouting again, and frankly, she deserved it. She deserved to know how incredible she was, even if she would probably never fully believe it.
“I am utterly in awe of you, Ella,” I said when she slowly lifted her gaze back to mine. “I’m even more in awe of the fact that you choose to spend time with me on a daily basis.”
Laughter bubbled up from the crowd and I sent them a quick grin, but then turned back to her, tightening my grip on her hand.
“I love you and I would like nothing more than to spend the rest of my life listening to your ideas, knowing they’ll always be better than mine, learning from you how to be a better human being, and soaking up some of that love and compassion you always seem to radiate so freely. ”
I dropped to one knee. “Will you marry me?”
The crowd erupted, but all I saw was her as I set the microphone down and reached into my pocket, pulling out the ring that had been burning a hole through the fabric all damn day. Her eyes shimmered as she nodded, laughing through tears that started streaming down her cheeks.
“Yes!”
Cheers, claps, and ear-piercing whistles filled the air. People hugged and kids danced around the stage. Ellora pulled me up, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me close.
We kissed right there in the sunshine, the community celebrating with us, music blaring, and too many people to count lining up to hug her and congratulate us when we finally left the stage.
Our journey had been messy and painful at times, our story fraught with heartbreak and immense loss, but we’d come through it together, stronger than ever.
And holy hell, it was ours, and that made it absolutely fucking perfect. I honestly couldn’t wait to start building instead of breaking with her right by my side—and I definitely didn’t want to wait long before I officially made her mine.
***
My brother is an idiot—he’s getting married.
And I’m in charge of getting things together since our folks are gone.
Lucky me. The guy who thinks love is for the birds and worn-out 80s songs.
I honestly don’t have time for this drama. I run a billion-dollar company, have women to entertain, and am working on my plans to rule the world.
No, seriously.
And yet, when you least expect it, life kicks you in the balls.
The beautiful, snarky woman that runs the flower shop is perfect to help me pull off this wedding.
Just seeing her sends my head spinning with possibilities.
She’s perfect. To play my fake wife for an event I have coming up as a side deal.
My ex-wife will be at the event, and I sure could use someone to show her how well I’ve done since she ripped out my soul.
So my curvy new friend gets my ring and a chunk of my wallet before agreeing to the deal.
Funny thing is, I’m not so interested in taking it back by the end of the adventure.
I’m willing to go all in on what might be the best decision of my life.
And I’m demanding the same of her. No maybes. No I-don’t-knows.
No fear of what might be or might not be.
Open your pretty pink lips and utter the words.
Say you do.
I gotta have this!