Epilogue
TEN MONTHS LATER
DANA
“Hey, babe, do you know where the roasting forks are?”
I looked up from emptying a packet of graham crackers on a platter to find Emily beaming at me, her hair falling in waves from under her beanie, nose and cheeks pink from setting up outside.
She reached out, grabbed a piece of chocolate off the platter and popped it in her mouth, a cheeky smile on her face.
I pulled her close for a kiss. She smelled of wood smoke, the taste of chocolate fresh on her lips.
“Mmm,” I hummed, wrapping my arms around her waist.
The alarm on my phone sounded, and I reluctantly disentangled myself so I could stop the beeping. As I turned it off, I saw the time. Our friends would be arriving any minute for our lasagna-and-s’mores night. More kisses would have to wait.
I turned around and opened the bottom drawer under the counter, pulling out the roasting forks.
“Here you are. Thanks, cuteness.” I handed them to Emily. “I’d better check on the lasagna.”
I opened the oven, a blast of mouthwatering hot air hitting me.
The top of the lasagna was golden brown and bubbling.
I grinned. We’d spent the last ten months trying to perfect our lasagna game.
While we hadn’t yet made one that rivaled Emily’s parents’, perhaps we would get lucky tonight.
In any event, it would still be delicious.
You couldn’t go wrong with pasta, meat sauce and béchamel.
I grabbed the oven mitts and pulled the lasagna out, setting it on the stove top.
“Can I do anything else to help?” Lucia asked, appearing in the door frame with blankets from the linen closet piled in a wicker basket. The fire was strong, but temperatures had dropped significantly now it was October, and I didn’t want anyone to be uncomfortably cold.
“Thank you! If you have time, would you mind checking where Freddie is?”
Three months ago, Emily and I had received a call from the animal shelter in Beacon, letting us know they’d received our application and inviting us over to meet their dogs.
We’d fallen in love with Freddie immediately, a scruffy fifteen-month-old Anatolian Shepherd-Golden Retriever mix.
He was affectionate, loved hanging out with me while I worked on the farm—although very sensibly stayed a safe distance away from me when I chopped wood—and generally got along well with the other animals, except the chickens who he seemed to have a personal vendetta against. He rarely wandered off, but he was still a puppy so I liked to keep a close eye on him.
The last thing I wanted was for him to have a run-in with our resident porcupine, who, after a break over the warmer months, had shown up last week to nibble at one of the fir trees despite all the deterrents I’d put in place.
We’d reached an uneasy truce for now, but Freddie being spiked by quills would undermine all that.
A knock on the door sounded, followed by a familiar thud and then a patter of canine footsteps racing through the living room.
“Never mind,” I said with a grin. “He must have been on our bed. In that case, I think we’re all good to go.”
I stepped into the living room to see Freddie wagging his tail next to the front door.
I gave him an affectionate back rub as I opened the door.
Roz and Olivia were standing on our doorstep holding a salad bowl and some sodas, bundled up in beanies, their warmest coats and gloves in accordance with our instructions.
George, Hannah, Blake, and Jenny were just pulling up in Blake’s car.
They tumbled out laden with George’s freshly baked sourdough loaves, wine, and a cheese platter.
Once bags and offerings were offloaded and greetings exchanged, everyone piled lasagna, bread, and salad on their plates, grabbed their drink of choice, and then stepped outside to the fire pit in the backyard.
Before taking a seat on one of the chairs circling the pit, I threw two more logs on the fire, watching as they popped, sending sparks flying and then were quickly encased in licking flames.
“What a gorgeous night.” Hannah looked up at the sky. “You can see the stars so much more clearly out on the farm.”
“The fire is spectacular as well,” Jenny said, her face lit by its golden glow, holding out her hands in front of the fire.
As the flames danced and crackled, we started to eat.
“This lasagna is incredible,” George said. “Can I get the recipe? This would be perfect for the winter menu at the café.”
“I’ll text it to you.” Emily grinned.
I’d be dropping in to visit George and Hannah at Novel Gossip even more frequently if they put the lasagna on the menu. Freddie sniffed around my feet, clearly hoping for some meat sauce. He’d also grown very fond of lasagna.
“You’ve already had dinner, Mister,” I said, reaching down to pet his head.
“Thank god my morning sickness has gone away now,” Olivia said, patting her mouth with a napkin. “Not being able to enjoy this would be devastating.”
Roz squeezed Olivia’s leg, and my heart expanded for my friends. After two attempts at IVF, Olivia had gotten pregnant. I was thrilled for them.
“How are you feeling about filming starting next week?” Hannah asked Emily before taking a sip of wine.
“I’m really excited,” Emily said. “The script is so good. You guys are going to love it! Dana’s been running lines with me, and even she approves.”
“Oooooh, is there going to be a Grumpy Waitress cameo?” Jenny asked, peering at me over the flames.
“Not if I can help it,” I said, rubbing Emily’s leg.
While I’d gotten a lot better at reading lines with Emily with all the practice I’d had recently, I was very happy to leave the actual performance to the expert.
At least the holiday movie script was easier to read than the script for the miniseries Emily had filmed earlier this year.
She’d played a harried chef and owner of a Manhattan restaurant who would do anything to retain its Michelin stars, and I’d struggled to keep up with the speed of the dialogue.
While the miniseries only had moderate success, Emily had been incredible.
Although I was more than a little biased.
“Well, I’m excited about getting to be an extra again!” Olivia said. “And it’ll be so cool to see Sapphire Blooms on TV.”
Emily’s character in Charles’ queer holiday movie was a florist, which meant she’d been hanging out a lot with Olivia at Sapphire Blooms lately, learning about flower arrangements and then coming home and peppering me with more questions about flowers.
I loved my job because it was so varied—one day, you were sowing seeds and delivering baby goats, the next harvesting apples and researching how to stem a fruit-moth infestation—but being an actor and being immersed in so many different worlds seemed pretty incredible too.
“Has Charles confirmed the wedding scene will be filmed in the event space?” Emily asked, turning to Roz and Olivia.
“Yes, he sent through the paperwork last week,” Roz said.
Emily grinned. “Oh excellent! That should be great publicity for the venue.”
“Although, I’m not sure you guys need it. It feels like every other client I get wants to book it for their wedding.” Jenny shoveled lasagna onto her fork. “Will you extend the museum to cover Charles’ movie as well?”
Roz tilted her head. “I hadn’t thought about the museum, but that’s a good idea.”
“Well, I’m more than happy to help once filming ends,” Emily said. “I’ll be free until January.”
I leaned over and wrapped my arm around her.
After Christmas, Emily would be flying to LA to film a historical drama about feuding beauty empires for three months.
I would miss her terribly, but I’d visit her at least one weekend every month and she was planning to fly back a few times as well.
Now that I had the internet, we could at least have video calls.
Any sadness I felt at the thought of her leaving was well and truly balanced out by how happy I was for her.
The film wasn’t a blockbuster like Clique, but it had a talented cast and director, and when we met up with Charles and Mihira in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, Charles had mentioned there was some good industry buzz about it.
I smiled at the memory. It had been great catching up with Mihira.
Ever since she’d landed a role in a new HBO drama earlier this year, we’d hardly seen her due to her filming schedule.
At least if Charles’ psychological thriller finally got off the ground, Emily and Mihira would get to spend more time together.
Olivia and George helped themselves to seconds as the discussion shifted to plans for George and Hannah’s upcoming Halloween party.
Once everyone had finished eating, Emily and I cleared their plates and brought out the ingredients for s’mores, setting them out on a wood table safely out of Freddie’s reach.
“Speaking of monsters, I saw that the prosecutors had added some new charges against Phillip,” George said.
“I’m sure he’ll plead not guilty to those as well, but at least they’re strengthening their case against him,” Emily replied. “I spoke to Cat the other day, and the trial is still scheduled for early December.”
“Phillip being thrown in jail would be the best Christmas present the universe could give me,” I muttered.
I was relieved Emily hadn’t been asked to give testimony in the trial. Having to relive it all over again, after everything she went through last year, would have been awful.
“Have you heard anything about Austin?” Olivia asked, as she walked over to the s’mores station.
“HolLove has officially dropped him, and Mihira heard on the grapevine that he’s working at a hardware store,” Emily said.
Olivia picked up two graham crackers. “Hopefully he’s learned his lesson and doesn’t try to creep on to any customers.”
No criminal charges had been filed against Austin, but him being vanquished from Hollywood was at least something.
The conversation lulled as we roasted s’mores over the edge of the fire.
I held back a groan as I took a bite of the warm, gooey concoction, transported for a moment back to the night of the snowstorm, when Emily and I had made s’mores in the living room and then slept together for the first time.
My core throbbed at the memory. Would I ever be able to eat s’mores without getting turned on?
I hoped not. I finished my s’more and let out a happy exhale.
“Do you feel like playing us something?” Emily asked, patting my leg. “I wouldn’t mind some music.”
“Okay.” I left behind the smell of toasted s’mores and fire to get my guitar from the living room.
I’d played as a kid, but hadn’t for years, but ever since I’d become an aunt to little Sebastian, I’d had the urge to pick it up again.
I’d only played it for him once so far—when Kelsey and Jake brought him to visit the farm last month—and he hadn’t seemed particularly impressed, but his lack of enthusiasm hadn’t stopped me from persisting.
Now that Roz had installed internet to the cabin, I could watch tutorials on YouTube, which helped.
And even if Sebastian never came around to my songs, perhaps Roz and Olivia’s impending arrival would.
I glanced at Emily. And maybe, if we were lucky one day, our own kids too.
I was taking things slowly with rebuilding my relationship with Jake and Kelsey, but we’d gotten along fine at my parents’ wedding anniversary earlier this year and caught up twice since then—including Sebastian’s farm visit—and I had a feeling that things would only continue to improve.
I sang “Ring of Fire” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” while my friends toasted s’mores over the glowing coals and Freddie snuggled at my feet.
Smoke went up in silver wisps into the night sky.
My voice was a bit gravelly, but Emily told me she liked it.
I finished with “Sweet Caroline”, everyone joining in much to my delight.
I handed the guitar over to Lucia. Since she’d come back from her trip to South America and dropped to working four days a week, she’d started to write her own songs.
I was impressed at how talented she was.
What were the chances of having a gorgeous voice, the ability to compose songs, and write striking lyrics?
Emily had been encouraging her to do an open mic night, but Lucia wanted to wait until she’d written enough songs she was happy with.
“Okay, this is a new song I’ve been working on, inspired by the farm.” Lucia started to sing about a farm that changed visibly throughout the year, but stayed the same at its heart, embracing the local community and creating memories for every season.
As Lucia sang, I threw some more wood on the fire, sending the flames shooting higher.
As the fire popped and crackled and the flames danced, Emily rested her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her closer.
I let out a deep breath. This was my happy place.