Epilogue
Mia
six months later
“Man, it’s kind of cold today,” I say to Juniper as I pull on my sweater. “I feel like I need a coat and a scarf and gloves.”
“It’s not that cold, Mia. I suppose it’s cold for Coconut Beach. That’s because we’re in wintertime. We don’t have snow though.”
“That’s true,” I say. “Get in any new books this morning?”
“Yeah, I’m about to start unpacking them and putting them on the shelves. You want to help?”
“Sounds good. I think Wendy, Silvie, and Summer are going to go to yoga, and they asked me if I wanted to come.”
“And you’re not taking up yoga now, are you?”
“No. I may have a fiancé now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve completely lost my mind. I will never be into yoga.”
She starts laughing as I grab a box of books and start putting them on the shelves outside of our bookmobile.
Even though we’re no longer in the summer, the weather is still nice. It’s much cooler, but the snowbirds have hit town, and they love to shop at our bookmobile. I look out at the water and smile to myself.
I’m so glad Luke decided that he wanted to move back to Coconut Beach.
Ultimately, I loved him enough to go wherever he wanted to go, and if he had decided he didn’t want to be in Coconut Beach, I would’ve gone with him wherever he wanted to go.
But this is where we met, where we fell in love, and this is where we are going to raise our kids.
“So, how long is Luke going to be surfing for? I thought he was bringing us lunch.” Juniper looks at her watch, and I start laughing.
“It’s not like I can call him. He’s in the ocean.”
“I know, and I’m so happy for you. You guys are so in love.” Juniper’s eyes glaze over. “I’ve never seen two people more ridiculously in love in my life.”
“Yeah, well, I’m trying not to throw it in your face or anything, Juni.”
“You don’t. Don’t make me slap you.” She laughs. “Joking. I’m joking. I would never slap you, but I’m happy that you’re happy. And also, I kind of saw this coming a long time ago.”
“What do you mean, you saw this coming? Are you psychic or something?”
“No, but you forget that I met you guys at a time in life where I was able to see that Luke had a thing for you, and you were always going on about him and about how great he was, and I was like, These two are going to end up together. They just don’t know it yet.”
“Did you really think that?”
She nods slowly. “Why do you think you never found a serious boyfriend and you went after tourists and surfers and never really dated or did anything with them? Because it was always Luke. It was always Luke, Mia. You just didn’t realize it yet, but you guys were practically in a relationship anyway.
You were always on the phone and chatting, and it was like he lived here even though he was in New York.
But it’s so much better that he’s here now. You love him.”
“I do.”
“Did I hear my name?”
A low growl sounds next to me, and I turn to see Luke standing there in his wetsuit. He’s already started to peel it down. I run over to him and jump into his arms.
“Shoots, you’re so wet,” I say as I get ocean water all over my sweater and jeans.
“Well, you knew I just got out of the water,” he says as he spins me around and gives me a big kiss. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey, handsome. How are the waves?” I ask him.
“Pretty gnarly.” He grins. “It was fun. You know, you’ve got to let me show you how to surf sometime.”
“Yeah, when I’m one hundred percent guaranteed to not encounter any sharks, I will let you take me out to surf.”
“So, that’s never then?”
“Yeah, that’s never.”
“Okay then. Hey, Juniper.” He holds up a hand. “I would give you a hug as well, but I don’t want to get you wet.”
“Thank you because I don’t really want to get all salty wet either.” She grins. “So, we’re all going to play board games this weekend?”
“Yeah. I invited Rafe, Wendy and Carter, Summer and Dayton, Silvie and Cal, and we’re all going to play charades and whatever other board games I can get. I think it’ll be fun. We’re going to grill out steaks and some burgers, and Mia said she’s going to make a potato salad and an apple pie.”
“Mia, you’re cooking?” Juniper looks shocked.
“What? So, I’m a little domesticated now. I do it for my man.”
“Really?” Luke tilts his head to the side. “You’re making potato salad and apple pie for me, even though I don’t really like potato salad and I requested twice-baked potatoes?”
I laugh loudly then. “Hey, you’ll like this potato salad. I promise.”
He kisses me on the tip of the nose. “I like and love everything you make, so I’m sure you’re right.”
“Oh my gosh. Gag me with a knife,” Juniper says, laughing loudly. “Why are you two so sickly-sweet?”
“Maybe because we’re in love.”
“I guess so. Remind me when I fall in love to not act like this,” she says, smiling at me. “That is, if I ever fall in love because it seems like there’s no man on this island who is mature enough to date a woman like me.”
“I think there’s got to be at least one,” I say. “Is there anyone that you fancy or have your eye on?”
“Not at all,” she says, shaking her head quickly. “Not at all. There’s no one.”
“Wow. That was kind of a fast response.” I narrow my eyes. “You mean, there’s no one you’ve ever seen at Cocktails & Chaos that you thought, Wow, he’s cute?”
“Nope, not at all.”
“Really? What about that dude who was talking to us? What was his name? Matt?”
“Who’s Matt?” Luke says, frowning slightly.
I laugh as I see the jealousy in his expression. “He wasn’t interested in me. He was trying to chat up Juniper. I flashed him this absolutely gorgeous diamond ring that my fiancé put on my finger.” I grin at him. “And he was not interested.”
“I’m not interested in Matt. We were just talking, and he was going on and on about comic books.” Juniper gives me a look. “And you know I am not interested in comic books or men who are interested in comic books.”
“I know”—I laugh—“but maybe give him a shot.”
“Give who a shot?”
I look behind me, and I’m surprised to see Rafe standing there.
“Oh, hey, bro. How’s it going?” I head over to him and give him a quick hug.
“Why are you dripping with water?” he says as he brushes some drops off of him.
“It’s my fault. I’m sorry.” Luke holds up his hand, and Rafe just laughs.
“I should have known. So, what were you talking about just now?”
“Oh, I was just talking about this hot guy who’s into Juniper, and I was telling her that perhaps he’ll be the love of her life.”
“Oh.” Rafe frowns. “And who is this exactly?”
“His name is Matt.”
“His name is Matthew,” Juniper says, clarifying like there’s some sort of big difference.
“Matt, Matthew—same difference. And he was totally trying to bang our girl. He was all over her, and she was like, I don’t know. Really?”
“Mia, I was not saying—”
“I know you weren’t saying, but you did have a high-pitched voice. Anyway, I was trying to convince her that maybe she should invite him to game night this weekend.”
Rafe looks at Luke. “But don’t we have an even set of numbers right now? And if we’re going to play group games, we’d rather have an even set of numbers and not odds. So, I don’t think that’s a good idea. And plus, you don’t know this guy. He could turn out to be a serial killer or a psychopath.”
“And I’m not going to invite him anyway,” Juniper says quickly. “So, it’s okay.”
“Well, that’s good then. That’s settled.” Rafe folds his arms. “Anyway, I was just dropping by to see how everyone was doing.”
“Really? You never drop by to see how we’re doing.” I gaze at my brother. “What’s up with the shirt that you’re wearing? It looks like it’s brand-new and formfitting, and my brother does not wear formfitting shirts.”
“Nothing. I’m just headed back to the vet clinic, and I decided to drop by to say hello.”
“Well, hello.”
Something about his story doesn’t make sense, but I’m not even going to question him.
If he’s come to check up on me and find out if it’s going well with Luke, I’m not going to give him the answers that he seeks.
He’s my brother, and I love him, and I love that he cares about me, but he does not need to be in my business.
“Luke and I are doing well, if that’s what you came to ask me.”
“Huh?” Rafe stares at me with confusion in his expression. “What are you talking about?”
“You came to see how Luke and I were doing, right? Because you think we got engaged too quickly and because you’re being the overprotective big brother.”
“No, I’m not concerned about you and Luke getting engaged after three months of dating.” He rolls his eyes. “Which, by the way, lying to your family and pretending you’d been dating for a year was kind of messed up, Mia.”
“You know why we did it.” I shrug. “Plus that’s old news.”
“I know why you did it, but you didn’t have to lie to me.”
“I’m sorry, but I knew you would’ve told the parents, who would’ve told all the busybodies, and everyone on the island would’ve known we were fake dating, and then it wouldn’t have fooled Rex, and that was the whole point.”
“Whatever. Anyway, I should get going, but—”
“One second, Rafe.”
“Yes?”
“If you didn’t come to check up on me and Luke, then why did you drop by?”
“I wanted to see if you had any James Patterson books,” he says quickly. “But I’ll come back later.”
He looks over at Juniper. “I like your earrings, Juniper.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Are they new?”
“No.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll be off. And don’t invite that Matt or Matthew guy.” He looks at me. “We don’t want the numbers to be odd—remember that?”
“Yes, bro. See ya.”
As my brother heads out, I say to Luke and Juniper, “Ugh, he’s so annoying. He totally came to check up on Luke and me. Like, get a life and get a girlfriend.” I giggle.
I look over at Juniper, who has a dreamy expression on her face as she watches Rafe walk away. Once again, I’m reminded of moments from the summer when they acted oddly around each other.
Does Rafe have a thing for Juniper, or does Juniper have a thing for Rafe?