Epilogue
Dina
Iflicked through the new stack of menus on the counter, grinning as I admired the glossy lamination and the fun new titles we had given to our favorite dishes.
It was hard to believe that, in just a few days, the diner was officially going to be open again, but I could hardly wait to see how much everyone loved it now that I had switched it up.
Nine months since Labor Day, since Felix had put that deed in my hand.
We had kept the doors open through the fall on Pam's old menu, then closed up in January, when the town was at its quietest, and gutted the place down to the floor tiles.
Now Memorial Day weekend was just days away, and the diner would reopen right as the tourists came pouring back in.
The bell above the door tinkled, and I looked up to see Felix striding in, lifting his chin in greeting. He grinned when he saw what was in my hand, taking a seat at one of the new red leather stools that ran along the freshly-renovated service counter.
"New menus?"
"Mhm," I replied, pushing them towards him. "Looks good, right?”
"Dang, you’re going to make me hungry," he protested, as he looked over the offerings we had laid out. "I think I’d have to get the special, though. The waffles with the chocolate strawberries? That sounds amazing."
"Yeah, I think Mom’s going to order that tonight," I remarked, and he tipped his head to the side, raising his eyebrows.
"You sure you don’t want me to take us to Ford’s Italian Kitchen?" he suggested. "Family dinner, you should be there, not spending all night in the kitchen..."
"I’m not going to be spending all night there," I protested. "And besides, it’s good practice. I want to make sure my cooking skills are on point by the time we open."
"Well, if what you’ve made me is anything to go by, I’d say you’re ready to go."
He pulled a face.
"Apart from that time you charred the bacon. I’m pretty sure that was charcoal by the time you got it to me..."
"Hey, it wasn’t that bad!” I laughed, though I knew there was no point. Honestly, with how hard I had been working these last few months, how much of a blur everything had been, I was just glad there had only been one major disaster in the kitchen since I had taken this place over.
Pam had shown me the ropes before she had officially retired, determined to pass down some of the recipes that she had been using since she had opened the Jukebox Diner in the first place.
I wasn’t a bad cook before all of this, but it had sure as heck been a crash course since I had taken it over, and I was glad for any guidance I could get.
I had hired a few wait staff, but I wanted to be the one on the grill, making sure all the old favorites plus a few new ones had justice done to them.
Because everything else in this place was unrecognizable.
Felix had helped me fund the renovations for this place, though I had insisted I would pay him back when the money started coming in when we re-opened.
I doubted he was going to accept it, but hey, that was just how he was.
Generous to a fault. With the family he came from, I supposed it shouldn’t have surprised me.
He had more money than he knew what to do with, and he was just glad to have somewhere to spend it.
His family had visited once, though it was clear they had been thinking about other things when they had been spending that brief weekend here.
His brothers and his dad, they had spent practically all of the time on the phone, organizing meetings and replying to emails; his mom had been a little more amenable to it, and I hoped she would come back again, enjoy the quiet pace of life here instead of the rush of New Orleans.
Even if his family couldn’t entirely make sense of why Felix liked it so much here, all that mattered was that he loved it.
And this diner wasn’t the only piece of Whisper Falls real estate that he had purchased since he had arrived here.
No, he had bought a house near the square, a beautiful little place that overlooked the fountain, catching the morning rays of sunlight as we drew up to the summer season once more.
He had never officially asked me to move in, but he didn’t need to; all those long nights I had spent working at the diner, he had brought me home and I’d crashed out there, dozing in his arms on the couch while the TV warbled away in front of us.
I had been worried, at first, that he might find it hard to adapt to life here in Whisper Falls, given how much he had been travelling before.
But he had assured me, it was a novelty to wake up to the same place every day, and he had taken us both on plenty of hikes and adventures in the surrounding areas.
Now that I didn’t have to worry about picking up a dozen shifts a week just to make ends meet, I had the time to explore, and I felt like I was seeing Whisper Falls through entirely new eyes thanks to him.
Not that he had entirely given up on travelling, of course.
After Labor Day this year, I was closing up the diner for a week so we could go to Italy, which I was beyond excited for.
My first trip abroad, and of course, it would be with him.
The man who had entirely opened my life up in ways that I had never imagined possible.
The man who had shown me a care and a love that I didn’t even know existed.
He had done more than stay; he had gifted me a life that I never imagined I would have for myself, and I would forever be grateful for it.
He pushed the menu back across the table towards me, and I saw something in his eyes – a little glint, as though there was something on his mind. I cocked an eyebrow, shifting my weight slightly and crossing my arms across my chest.
"What is it?”
"What do you mean?”
"What are you thinking about?"
He glanced towards the door.
"How long till your mom and brother get here?"
"I don’t know, maybe ten minutes?" I replied. Danny and my mom were coming by to see the diner in all its glory before it opened officially, and to celebrate the end of Danny’s exams. I couldn’t believe he was all but finished with his degree, and I couldn’t have been prouder of him.
Nor myself, for having something that I could show for the last few years too.
"Why?"
"I was going to wait till they got here to do this," he remarked, as he reached into his pocket. "But I don’t think I can..."
My eyes widened as he withdrew something from his pocket, hand closed around a small object that he placed on the counter between us. When he drew it back, I gasped. It was a small red satin ring box.
"Felix...?”
He grinned, that crooked smile that had wormed its way so deep into my heart I knew it would never leave. And, as he popped it open, he gazed up at me, his eyes so full of devotion it was almost more than I could take.
"Dina," he began. "When I met you at this diner, I knew there was something special about you. And it might have taken me a hot minute to figure out how to show you how special I think you are, but I’m willing to spend the rest of my life proving it, if you’ll let me. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life, you’ve given me family when I felt like I had none.
And...and I want to know if you will do me the honor of being my wife. "
"Of course I will!” I exclaimed, before he had so much as finished speaking.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, not so much as looking at the ring glistening out of the corner of my eye as he spoke.
There he was, sitting in the very same place he had been when we had met, the memories all blurring together into a wash of love and adoration and care that I knew I would never grow tired of.
His grin spread a little wider, and I leaned across the counter, catching his face in my hands and planting a great big kiss on his lips. He laughed, lifting the ring from the box and cocking an eyebrow.
"I think it’s customary to put the ring on after you accept," he teased, and, a little shakily, I held my hand out to him, still trying to wrap my head around what just happened. The ring was small and delicate, clearly chosen so that it wouldn’t get in the way of my work at the diner, a little sapphire twinkling up from the silver band in which it was set.
"It’s perfect," I breathed, and I gazed up at him, heart brimming with so much love I didn’t know how to express it. All I had were those three little words, but they would have to do for now.
"I love you, Felix," I told him, as he slipped the ring on to my finger. He pressed a kiss against the back of my hand before he locked eyes with me again, his face set to split in two his smile was so big.
"I love you too, Dina."
But, before we could say another word, the sound of an engine cut through the quiet. I looked outside to see Danny pulling the car to a halt outside the diner, and I raised my eyebrows.
"Oh, gosh, they’re here already," I fussed. Felix turned, raising a hand in casual greeting to the two of them; he had spent Christmas with us this year, and if his clear love for me hadn’t been enough to endear him to my family, his willingness to do all the dishes post-dinner had done the job.
They both loved him, and he was especially fond of Danny, always asking questions about the future buildings that he was going to be working on.
I glanced down at my hand again, reveling for one last moment in the shock and joy of my engagement.
I knew Mom would freak out as soon as she saw the ring.
But, for now, for this one last second, it was just the two of us, in that little bubble together.
A world full of love that we had made, a world full of adventure that now stretched out to fill a lifetime ahead of me.
I knew I would never have to worry about being left behind ever again. And, as I watched my family approach the door, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.