Epilogue #2
“Totally, but are you sure?” Drew asks with a frown. “You don’t want to maybe be alone tonight and then see everyone tomorrow?”
Oliver laughs, clapping Drew on the shoulder.
“That’s not what we do here, my guy. Tyler is lucky our grandma didn’t insist on staying out here for the actual proposal, and I had to shut Asher down when he started making noises about recording the whole thing in person.
No one in this family does anything alone. It’s always a family affair.”
“I didn’t think families like this actually existed,” Drew says, something in his voice feeling a lot like sadness. “It’s nice, the way you all are together.”
“You mean the way we are,” I say, tossing an arm around Drew and channeling my very best Rachel Parker to put a smile back on my friend’s face.
“You’re one of my besties, which means you have a permanent place on the very tangled and convoluted Parker/Hansley/Wright/Sullivan/Simpson/Wyles family tree.
And tonight, that includes waiting inside while I ask the love of my life to marry me and then celebrating with us.
You’re important to Sophie and me. We need you here with us. ”
“Thanks,” Drew says quietly, his voice a little thick. Then, in a split second, he snaps out of it, lips tipping up in a smirk. “Assuming she says yes.”
I scoff. “Fuck entirely off with that. I love Sophie with my entire heart and soul, and she loves me just the same. We are written in the goddamn stars, and in about twenty minutes, we’re going to belong to each other forever.”
With those words, every single nerve I have vanishes, and I’m counting down the minutes until I get to see my girl.
“Tyler?” I grin when my favorite voice on earth filters into the backyard. Bouncing up from the blanket, I jog over to the gate, throwing it open and wrapping my arms around Sophie, pressing my mouth to hers.
“Fuck, I missed you,” I murmur against her lips, tangling my fingers in her curls.
Sophie laughs, wrapping her arms around my waist. “We woke up together and then I was at your game. I know you saw me in the stands because when you threw your first touchdown you pointed to me, made heart hands, and yelled I love you Sophie Sullivan so loud I think the entire stadium heard you.”
Grinning wider, I kiss her nose. “Don’t forget about how I told every reporter in the stadium at my press conference after the game that I’m the happiest guy in the world because you own me, heart and soul.”
She snorts, hopping up and wrapping her legs around my waist. “How could I possibly forget? Your coach looked like he was two seconds away from spontaneously combusting at your little press performance. I’m pretty sure he would have rather you stuck to football.”
Wrapping one arm around her waist, I tangle my other hand back into her hair.
“That would be boring. He doesn’t understand that I want to love you out loud.
Everyone needs to know Tyler Hansley is off the market because he is owned entirely by his gorgeous, brilliant, absolutely ethereal bestie who takes his breath away. ”
“Ethereal is new,” Sophie says, kissing my forehead in the way I love.
I shrug, leaning into her lips, breathing her in. “I’m workshopping new adjectives to describe you. Gorgeous and beautiful, while true, are not strong enough words to accurately portray your perfection.”
Sophie laughs, hugging me tightly. “You are my favorite person on earth.”
“And you’re mine,” I murmur, pressing my lips to her neck.
“So, you want to tell me why I’m here?” she says, easing back.
“I was on the way home from dinner with the girls and Caitlin told me we needed to make a detour here. When I tried to go into the house, she shoved me down the driveway and told me you needed me back here. So what’s with the subterfuge? ”
Grinning, so ready for this and everything that comes after, I set her down, taking her hand in mine and leading her into the backyard.
She stops short when she sees the setup, looking from our striped blanket back to me. “What’s happening right now?”
Pulling her to the blanket, I tug her down with me. “We didn’t get to have birthday night in our favorite place this year, so I thought we needed a redo.”
“I don’t know, I think birthday night this year was kind of perfect,” she says with a smile, then looks up. “I see you went extra heavy on the twinkle lights, but why is there only one cupcake box?”
Ignoring the cupcake box question, I flick her bracelets and link my finger with hers. “You love twinkle lights, and I want to give you the absolute most of everything you love.”
“I love you.” She looks at me, eyes dancing with fun.
“And I love that you did this, but we could have a birthday night redo anytime. It didn’t have to be hours after your first game of the season when you’re probably exhausted and sore.
I was planning a takeout night and thought we could do A Cinderella Story for movie night.
The star quarterback, anonymous online pen pals who fall in love.
” She shrugs with a grin. “Felt appropriate.”
“Tomorrow,” I say immediately. “We’re definitely watching that tomorrow. But I couldn’t do a birthday night redo anytime. It had to be tonight because I couldn’t wait one more single second.”
“For what?” she asks, confused.
“For this.” Reaching behind me, I grab the cupcake box and flip open the top, turning it to face her.
The second she sees the chocolate cupcake, ring stuck in the peanut butter frosting instead of a candle, her breath hitches, her finger tightening around mine.
With my free hand, I slide a finger under her chin, tipping her head up so her eyes meet mine.
And when they do, butterflies explode in my stomach, my entire body coming alive because the look in her eyes?
I’m going to remember it for as long as I live.
The surprise. The happiness. The slight disbelief.
The love. God, the love. It pours out of her and right into me, and I could live for the rest of my days on this feeling alone.
Setting the box aside, I take her other hand in mine.
We’re both cross-legged, our knees touching, the exact way we’ve sat on this blanket a hundred times before, and the symmetry of it is pure perfection.
This is the best moment of my life. “I could give you a million words to explain how I feel about you, but I don’t need that many.
You’re my best friend, Soph. My most important person.
You’ve lit up my world for as long as I can remember with sunshine and color and the most beautiful kind of chaos.
It took me some time to understand what I feel for you is the deepest, most perfect kind of love, but I wouldn’t change one single second of the absolute miracle that is us.
Our story. Our lives have changed over and over again for as long as we’ve known each other, but through every age and every stage, my one constant has been you.
I love you, Sophie. More than I can possibly put into words.
I am my happiest when I’m with you, and I want nothing more than to make you happy for the rest of my days. ”
Letting one of Sophie’s hands go, I pick up the cupcake box, holding it between us, and look up into her tear-filled eyes.
“Marry me, Sophie, because no one will ever love you like I do. Make a family with me because my love for you is so enormous it needs more places to go. Grow old with me and be with me forever because, Soph, even when I didn’t know it yet, it’s always been you. ”
My voice breaks on the last word, tears spilling down my cheeks, and Sophie launches herself at me, curling into my lap and wrapping her arms around me, her tears falling onto my neck.
“Yes,” she whispers, and then she laughs and it’s the most beautiful sound.
“I love you, I love you, I love you. Absolutely, one hundred percent, fucking yes.”
“Fuck yeah!” I say, peppering kisses all over her neck and face until she’s laughing hysterically and we’re tangled together, not a single inch of space between us.
And for a second, the time between then and now collapses, and I see all the different versions of us sitting right here in this place.
We’re eight, sharing secrets under the twinkle lights and hoping our parents don’t realize we snuck out.
We’re twelve, and when I refuse to postpone birthday night because I have the flu, Sophie shows up with chicken noodle soup, tissues, and Tylenol to go with the cupcakes.
We’re fifteen, the year Sophie first got her heart broken by a boy, and I hold her while she cries.
We’re eighteen, making promises always to come back to this place.
We’re twenty-two, and we spend hours talking about what team might draft me, and where I’m going to land.
We’re twenty-five, and a storm starts as soon as we open the cupcake boxes, but we don’t move, laughing hysterically as the rain pours down on us both.
And now. Together on an old striped blanket spread over this most sacred stretch of grass, a ring sparkling between us and lights twinkling above, promising to love each other forever.
Sophie and Tyler. Best friends forever. Loves of a lifetime.
Just the way it was always supposed to be.
I pull the ring out of the cupcake and am about to put it on her finger when I realize the entire thing is covered in peanut butter frosting.
“I think maybe I didn’t think this all the way through,” I say, looking up at her.
“The ring in cake thing always looks so fucking romantic, and it is until you realize you have a ring full of frosting and nothing to wipe it off with.”
Sophie gives me a wicked grin, plucking the ring from my fingers. “I’ll take care of that,” she says, holding it by the diamond, her tongue flicking out to lick off the frosting before sucking it into her mouth to make sure she gets every drop.
“Holy fucking shit,” I mutter, every drop of blood in my body draining to my cock, a situation that does not improve when Sophie glides her tongue along her bottom lip and lets out a sexy little hum.
“Delicious,” she says. Then she winks at me. Fucking winks and drops the ring back into my hand.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I warn, shifting in my seat but grinning too because we take ourselves wherever we go, into every single one of our moments, big and small, and I love that about us.
“Oh, I’m counting on it. Now, I think you were in the middle of a thing.
” She grins and holds her left hand out to me, and I grin back, sliding the ring onto her finger and bending to kiss the skin right above the band.
The diamond sparkles between us under the twinkle lights, the most beautiful promise, a life together about to begin.
Reaching out, I pull Sophie onto my lap, covering her mouth with mine.
The kiss is long and slow, tongues tangling and hands roving.
Moans and whimpers and breaths mingling, hearts beating perfectly in sync.
“You should know that our entire family is in that house waiting to celebrate with us,” I murmur into her mouth.
“And we’re going to do exactly that. But after all the congratulations are done, I’m taking you upstairs and fucking you in my bedroom right here because there’s no possible way I can wait until we get home.
You’ll have to keep those moans quiet, Sal.
Wouldn’t want all our most important people to know how much you love my cock. ”
“Subterfuge,” Sophie says with a smirk. “I dig it, Harry.” She glances down at her hand and back up at me, her smirk turning into a full-blown grin. “We’re getting married.”
Those three words send warmth cascading through me. “We sure are, Soph. I’m going to marry the absolute shit out of you.”
Sophie tosses her curls behind her back and links her arms around my neck, leaning in to kiss me. “I’m going to be such a hot wife.”
When she says wife, my cock jerks between us and Sophie snorts, collapsing into giggles. And with so much laughter and hearts full of love, we start our forever together.
And nothing has ever been as perfect as this.