Epilogue
Kas
10 years later:
“No running between the tables!” I yell through the diner as my two little terrors race to get to their Pop-Pop.
“I know I don”t hear you yelling at my grandbabies in my place, boyo,” Tony says, sticking his head out of the kitchen and smiling wide as he sees Devi and Toni, our two daughters, race back to them.
“Pop-Pop!” They both scream as he slings open the door to the kitchen and bends to envelop them in his big arms.
Charli and I got married a year after she moved into our tiny apartment. I returned to school that semester, and Charli got to go to art school. She’s now more famous than she ever dreamed she could be for her amazing artwork. She thought it might bring her parents around, but after four years of no contact or effort from them, she let it go. She had Tony and Barb, and that”s all we needed. We found out about her first pregnancy three months before graduation. It was the best gift I could ever ask for.
Since the moment we found out we were expecting, Tony and Barb have done everything to make sure our lives more comfortable. They’ve spoiled our kids with everything they possibly could. They even named a pancake dish after Toni and a waffle meal after Devi. The girls were beyond themselves when they found out.
We paid off the diner for the couple. I told them they could sell it, travel, or just retire and spend the rest of their lives in their paid-off house. Tony told us Palmetto Point was the place where they fell in love, the place where they risked it all, and they couldn”t leave it. As for the diner, it”s their heart and soul, so there is no way they are getting rid of it.
We moved back to town after graduating, and Tony has become the dad neither of us ever had and, honestly, more. I don”t know what we would have done without him and Barb over the years.
“Where’s my grandson?” Tony asks, still holding both the girls and heading to the back. He built an extension for all the grandkids onto the back of the kitchen. We have our own little dining room back here just so he can cook and watch the kids. It served as a nursery over the years as well.
“With Aunty Al, Frankie, Harper, and mom. They took the boys to the park and are going to head this way for lunch. The other guys are headed this way with more of our half-sized crew.” I chuckle. We’ve grown over the years but remained a strong, steady family.
“All my grandkids in my kitchen today? What are you waiting for, boy? Get that table set. I’ve got a feast to cook.” He smiles wide, turning to the stove and getting to work.
Not long after I get the table set, I hear the diner bell ring, and the women”s laughter follows through. Smiling, I turn and take off for my family. I stop dead in my tracks, almost getting whacked by the swinging door, as I see Charli spinning around in her new sundress. Standing right in front of that corner booth. I can still see my three best friends and me sitting around that old table, fighting over hash browns. That day is burned into my memory, when Beck said that would be our summer. I should have believed him. I never would have believed that summer, that day, I would meet that girl, and it would change my life forever.
My fairy, my forever girl of the summer.
The End