Epilogue
“IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU LOVE HIM OR CAPITAL H-I-M-M-M”
To the Hearts of Hideaway Bay, I have a confession to share…
Someone I look up to recently questioned my pride, which got me thinking: What is pride?
Sometimes pride is as singular as one man’s ego. But other times it expands as wide as self-respect can reach. Pride is freedom, community, and the confidence to be yourself. Pride is the refusal to be ashamed.
I’m filled with pride when I think of this column. It has been a joy to chronicle every meet-cute and play Secret Cupid throughout the years. But for as much as I love writing about these little local love stories, I long for the day I get to live my own.
Being “Lady Lovewatch” has allowed me the freedom to express myself honestly. My columns have become a sort of wallpaper in the background of our quirky town, and I thank you for giving me a place to share my truest self, as honestly as I know how.
I take great pride in Hideaway Bay, the only home I’ve ever known and the place I want to stay.
I believe my Mr. Right is out there, but I need your help finding him, so he can eventually find me.
And to do so, it’s time I came clean. While I love to watch you fall in love, I’m not a lady at all.
And it’s time I show you exactly who I am.
But first, I need a sign. Something small that says I’m welcome as I am. A symbol of pride, a ribbon in a shop window or a flag on a front porch, something in every color of the rainbow, so someone like me feels safe and free to visit or stay in a place like Hideaway Bay.
Can you do that for me? Can you make Hideaway Bay a place where all are welcome, so that one day my perfect prince might come find me? If you do, I will reveal myself to all of you by next June.
Yours with pride,
Lord Lovewatch
Jocelyn set the paper down and gaped at Soren. “You knew? This whole time?”
“Not the whole time.” He sliced into the long cardboard box and withdrew a slender pole wrapped in plastic. “I found out the night I had the anxiety attack. I told him how crazy in love with you I was, and he told me he likes men.”
“Unbelievable. I had no idea. Damn. I really thought I had a better gay-dar than you.”
“Well, I didn’t guess. He confided in me.” The dogs panted at Soren as he opened another box. “He sent the column to me before it published—to proofread.”
Her jaw gaped. “I’m the author! I would have proofread it for him.”
“He must not trust you the way he trusts me. I am his brother, after all.”
Her eyes rolled. “Whatever.” The dogs nosed through the empty boxes. “They think you ordered them toys.”
“That’s because they’re smart.”
Soren withdrew two stuffed rabbits and threw them into the den. The dogs lunged, and squeaks erupted from the other room, followed by a loud bang.
“There goes the coffee table.”
“Hey, keep it down in there!” Soren yelled, and Cordelia barked back. “Don’t sass me, you little demon.”
“Deelie, listen to your father!”
He cut open the third box and revealed an enormous rainbow flag.
“Subtle.” Jocelyn laughed.
“What? He asked for support.”
“He asked for a ribbon in a window.”
“You know my motto: go big or go home.”
Soren unfolded the flag and slid it onto the pole, then tipped it over his shoulder like a knight heading into battle. He grabbed his drill with a quick bzzz-bzzz because who didn’t do that when they touched a drill?
Jocelyn smiled. He was her idiot.
As he drilled and the dogs squeaked, she considered how much everything had changed and would continue to change. For now, the town was only just realizing Lady Lovewatch was a man. Mind-blowing, because even she had never assumed the columnist might not be a woman.
And, if he kept his word, once those pride flags started flying, Logan would out himself next June. “Hey, what month is Pride Month?”
“June, I think,” Soren yelled from out front.
How appropriate. And as the town event coordinator, Jocelyn knew exactly what to do. “We’re going to throw him the biggest, gayest parade Hideaway Bay has ever seen! Something that will bring gay men and women in from all over.”
“Flags hung,” Soren said, returning from outside with another bzzz-bzzz.
“That was fast.”
“It was two screws.”
She lifted a brow. “I’ve seen you screw. Usually it takes at least three minutes.”
His head shot up. “Is that a challenge?”
She smiled. Of course it was. “First, you have to catch me.”
Jocelyn bolted into the kitchen and squealed when he had her on her back before she even made it out the door.
“Gotcha!” he said, already pulling off her clothes. “Now, your ass is mine.”
“Oh, no. Don’t. Stop,” she said in a deadpan voice.
“No use objecting. You’re getting the full treatment.”
“Not the whole three minutes!”
“The whole three,” he teased, kissing her deeply.