Epilogue
Wren
Eighteen Months Later
My best friend is terrible at keeping secrets.
Not because she’s incapable of keeping them, but because I know her all too well and know every last one of her nervous tells, including the one she’s doing now.
Since the second she picked me up, I don’t think she’s stopped talking.
“Harlow,” I say, turning toward her in the car. “What’s going on?”
“Huh?” She quickly looks my way before moving her eyes back to the road. “Nothing’s going on. We’re going to dinner, remember?”
“Then why haven’t you stopped talking long enough to take a full breath in the last fifteen minutes?”
Harlow winces. “Because I had a late coffee?”
“Mhmm. Likely story from the girl who can drink an espresso at nine and be snoring on the couch with her boyfriend by ten.”
“Sometimes I don’t like you.”
I brush her off. “Oh please, you love me.”
She sighs, stopping at a red light. “This is true. I love you a lot. You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”
“The rest of my life?” I laugh, leaning back into my seat.
“Well, yeah.” She shrugs. “If I die first, I’ll come back and haunt you as your own personal ghost.”
We both burst into a fit of laughter, but she’s not wrong.
I look out my window, happy to be back in California for a vacation during Kai and Grayson’s offseason. It worked out that Grayson and Harlow were also coming home for the same week, so we’re heading to dinner while the boys visit their old teammates at PCU.
It’s been a year and a half of Kai playing for the Seattle Stormbreakers, and this last season was my first living there full-time. I still came home for a long weekend here and there when Kai was on the road, but the majority of my time was spent in Seattle.
Harlow finished out her final year of college and just moved in with Grayson a couple of months ago. I won’t lie. I’m beyond excited to have my best friend living in the same city as me again.
Plus, it’s basically a built-in game partner. She also lets me style her, so win-win.
I’ve been playing more with photography over the last year, and I have to admit, it’s a lot more fun when you’re not tying your future to it. When you can just be in the present, capturing moments that others want to remember forever.
Outside of that, I’ve been volunteering at a few different places. The local women's shelter, a foster agency, as well as our local soup kitchen.
Kai tags along when he can, which I appreciate more than he knows.
He’s also made it a point to be at every doctor’s appointment that he can. Every specialist appointment, every test, every time I need him, he’s there.
He took care of me after my first surgery to remove two larger cysts from my ovaries, and was also there for the mental breakdown I had a couple of weeks ago, when I was told I’d need additional surgery to remove some adhesions from my uterus.
He’s never gone back on his word, continuing to prove to me that he’s in this with me, my partner, my equal. Never once making me question my worth.
Harlow makes another turn, and I realize we’re on her parents’ road.
I furrow my brow. “I thought we were going to the Chinese place you liked?”
“We are.” She nods her head enthusiastically. “I just…forgot something.”
“Like I said, girlfriend,” I tease. “Terrible at secrets. Also a terrible liar.”
Luckily for Harlow, we pull into her parents’ drive right as the final words leave my lips.
She turns to me, her eyes glossy with sudden unshed tears.
Harlow takes my hands in hers. “You know I love you, right?”
I nod, confused by her sudden change in mood.
“Good. You’ve always been more than a best friend to me, Wren. You’ve always been just like a sister.” She sniffs slightly. “Now, let’s go. There’s someone waiting for you.”
Kai
“They’re here!” Grayson comes running around the corner of my parents’ house.
I let out a breath. “Think Harlow kept her in the dark?”
My best friend chuckles. “Don’t get your hopes up too high. You know as well as I do your sister is shit at keeping secrets.”
I join him in a quiet laugh. He’s not wrong, but there’s no one I’d rather have bring Wren here than Harlow.
I scan the yard, making sure everything is in its place, even though I have zero time to fix anything now. It’s as perfect as it’s going to get.
Grayson notices, placing his hands on my shoulders. “You’ve got this, man. This is perfect. She’s going to love it, and hopefully she says yes.”
I snort. “I’m not worried about that last part at all. I know she will.”
He pats my shoulder before heading toward the house. “I know. Good luck!”
I stand there for a moment, taking a deep, calming breath.
This is it. This is the moment.
I’m about to ask the woman of my dreams to let me stand by her side for the rest of our lives.
I’ve known she was my world since middle school, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to get here. For a while, I thought I lost her for good. Lucky for me, by some miracle, I didn’t.
My heart skips a beat as Wren comes through the sliding door at the back of my parents’ house.
I wanted to ask her here because this is the first spot where I knew, without a doubt, that I was in love with my sister’s best friend.
She walks onto the patio, her hands going to her mouth, eyes wide and shining. Seeing her emotions hitting her already has my own eyes going misty.
She follows the path of candles toward where I’m standing next to the large tree where the swing I’ve pushed her on countless times hangs beside me, a blanket at my feet, twinkle lights strung through the tree branches around me, illuminating the space.
Wren never wanted a huge proposal. Even though she hasn’t talked about it since high school, I still remember everything she ever said, all the pictures she ever showed me. She wanted something intimate and meaningful in a place that meant a lot to both of us.
I clear my throat, looking at the ground before bringing my gaze back to hers. “Hi, Freckles.”
She laughs. “Hi, Kai.”
I reach out my hands, taking hers in mine as soon as she’s close enough, running my thumbs over her knuckles.
“I love you. More than I’ve ever loved anything.
You make me want to be a better person, every single day that we’re together.
You’re everything and more than I’ve ever dreamed of.
You’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re the love of my life.
And I can’t imagine a single day without you. ”
Tears escape her eyes, mine not far behind.
“I want to be the reason you smile. I want to be the person you come home to. The one you share the good and the bad days with. I want to reach every goal I’ve ever set, but only with you next to me.
The only future I can picture is the one with you in it.
I want to spend the rest of my life with you, as my wife, if you’ll have me. ”
Grabbing the ring box out of my back pocket, I drop to one knee, my heart racing as I get ready to ask the most important question of my life.
The one I’ve dreamed of asking her for so long, hoping I’d get the opportunity.
I take her hand in mine before opening the box, needing the contact to calm myself enough to get the words out.
“Wrenley Mae Calloway, will you marry me?”
She nods, bending down and kissing me. She pulls away just slightly, leaning her forehead against mine, giving me the answer I’ve been dying to hear. “Yes. A million times yes.”
I lost her once. I’ll spend forever making sure I never have to know what losing her twice feels like.
THE END