Epilogue
RUBY
Hudson cried during the ceremony, and I won a hundred bucks from Miles, Luca, and my dad.
They misjudged him, but not me.
Sadie had shared enough during our girls’ nights and his opinions on this day—I knew my brother was going to shed at least one tear.
What I didn’t expect was for it to be the moment the doors opened and Sadie appeared. I thought he’d at least wait until they were holding hands at the altar.
“What are you going to do with your money?” Declan asks, handing me a glass of wine.
I smirk and then pull the money from where I’d tucked it into my bralette. My maid of honor dress doesn't have pockets, so I had to improvise.
“I’m not sure yet. Maybe take you and the kids to a fancy dinner.”
“I would never let you pay for that.”
“You can and you will if it’s what I want.”
He chuckles.
“You’re not wrong about that.” He slinks his free hand around my body, pulling me in for a kiss. “I live to make you happy.”
“Same.”
His lips meet mine, and I melt into him.
Kissing Declan never gets old.
His hand smooths over the back of my dress, falling dangerously close to my butt.
I laugh into the kiss, and he pulls away.
A throat clears next to us, and Sandy, from the kids’ school, glares at us just before she leans into Cami and starts talking.
“New rumor alert,” Declan whispers into my ear.
I kiss him again, slipping some tongue for dramatics.
“Let them talk.”
After I left Chicago, Max and I were home for no more than a week before Declan and Susie were back.
A couple of weeks after that, we were all moving into Declan’s house, and now the wedding of the summer is finally here.
Then Declan found out about the deal Barton offered me. It wasn’t like I tried to hide it, but I didn’t think it was something that needed to be discussed, since there was nothing we could do about it.
Except that when I refused to take money from Declan, he contacted everyone—and I mean everyone—that he knows and told them to consider working with me. Then he called Colt, who did the same.
Needless to say that if work continues the way it is, I’ll have that loan and the stupid interest added paid off in less than a year.
If you had asked me at the start of this summer if I thought I’d fall madly in love with Declan Young and watch him become friends with Max’s father, I would have laughed.
But it turns out, Declan and Susie were the missing pieces that my crazy family needed.
“Okay, okay, we get it,” Linc says, pulling up a chair at the table right behind us. “You’re in love, too. No need to show it off in front of all of us.”
Declan and I pull apart, still lacing our hands, and I frown at Linc.
“That dating app isn’t working out, huh?”
He grunts.
“I know there are single women in Lovers, but none of them interest me, and the two I met in Wind Valley weren’t ... we didn’t jive.”
“Probably because you said jive,” I say and Declan laughs. “Is that an older man thing?”
Linc points a finger at me. “Declan isn’t that much younger than me, Ruby.”
“She wasn’t talking about me,” Declan adds.
Linc just sighs. “It’s not as easy as I thought it would be.”
I reach out and rub his shoulder. “Love comes when you least expect it. At least it did for me.”
He nods. “That’s the thing though. I feel like I have to have some dramatic backstory to my life that I’m trying to overcome to find love.
All the great love stories have it, but what about us average Joes, huh?
We deserve a love story, too, even though our lives are good, happy. We just want someone to share it with.”
I stick out my bottom lip. I want that for him, too.
“No woman wants a man who has his shit together and is confident with the direction his life is going. They want the man who needs to be fixed just as much as they want to fix themselves. I think I’m doomed,” he adds and then gets up to leave.
“I hope he finds someone someday,” I say, snuggling in under Declan’s arm. “I mean, look at you. You don’t have some elaborate backstory, and you found love.”
“Yeah, with the woman who lived next door and hated me because I’m just so damn cool and smart and the town favorite.”
I roll my eyes. “Who is Linc’s enemy? Maybe that’s the direction he needs to go.”
Declan rubs his chin.
“Ah, yeah, well, I think Linc is too nice to have enemies.”
“Bummer. I’ll have to keep thinking. It must be something about weddings and all the love in the air,” I say with a laugh.
A slow song comes on, and Declan pulls me onto the dance floor.
“If we want to keep up this chat about couples,”—Declan nods to the side of the room—“tell me about that.” He points to where Gavin Richford and Brooke are standing in the corner.
I smile. “That’s Gavin.”
Declan pinches my side playfully.
“I know who he is. Dutton has been trying to recruit him to the basketball team. But he seems to be standing pretty close to Brooke.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s nothing. Brooke has zero interest in the Richford family.”
“Except when it comes to Grace.”
“Of course, since she’s her friend.”
“The Richfords just have the two boys and the two girls, right? I interact with Dutton mostly, and Grace when the group is together, but the others, I’ve never really spoken to.”
I nod.
“Yep, Dutton, Grace, Gavin, and Wren, but Wren doesn’t live here. She’s still away at college, living in an off-campus apartment, so she hardly even comes home in the summer.”
“And are the others all part of the lodge here?”
“Do you really not know the answers to these questions? You did grow up here.”
“I probably should, but I don’t ask that many when it’s just us guys. And as you know, I was a little too busy being the best at everything to be social.”
Again, I roll my eyes, but this time he kisses me.
“You should know these things. You’re officially a small-town guy again.”
“Just fill me in.”
“Okay, so Dutton is the oldest, and he was always in trouble growing up. He had that real bad boy image going for him during high school, but he left for college and moved back after he graduated. Classic small-town boy move.”
“I knew that much, Ruby.”
“Fine. Then there is Grace. She also did the college thing but doubled up on classes to come back and run the Lodge. Did you know their dad is about to retire and he’s going to have to pick between Grace and Dutton?”
“Is Grace as competitive as Dutton?”
“Very. Then there is Gavin, who I’m surprised is here, because he’s a single dad and goes nowhere without his daughter. Then there is Wren—she was an oopsie baby.”
“How do you know all of this?” Declan asks.
“I like to ask questions,” I answer with a shrug. “Girls’ nights are never short of discussion.”
“Do you think people ask these kinds of questions about us?”
I volley my head. “Probably.”
The song changes to something faster, and the kids run out to us on the dance floor. Susie immediately goes to dance with Declan and Max with me. The bride and groom take a spot next to us, and then Miles, Quinn, Luca, Shay, and my dad appear.
Soon, all our friends are on the floor, and everyone is dancing and singing to the words.
Declan’s eyes catch mine over the kids, and he mouths, I love you.
I love you, too, I mouth back and then can’t help but smile.
This is my life now, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.