Epilogue
HOLLIS
Six months later
Six months of living with Juno, and I still got a kick out of watching her boss me around in my own house.
Our house. She’d corrected me on that enough times that it finally stuck.
“The platter goes on the island, not the counter,” she said, relocating the cheese board I’d set down in the wrong spot. “People gravitate to the island. It’s science.”
“People are going to eat whatever is put out no matter where it sits.”
“It’s flow, Hollis. Party flow.” She pointed at me with a celery stick. “Behave.”
I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against me, celery and all. “I can never behave myself around you.”
She kissed me, then squirmed free. “Now move. Your family descends in twenty minutes and I need everything perfect.”
“It’s my family. They love us no matter where the cheese plate sits.”
Juno had nothing to prove to my family. They’d met her a dozen times by now. My mother had taken one look at the way I orbited her and declared, “Finally.”
They loved her. Everyone loved her. Today was the first time we were hosting the whole clan at once, though, and Juno had been in full event-mode since Tuesday.
The doorbell rang at four on the dot. Juno’s eyes widened in panic.
“Relax,” I said. “It’s a party. Fun. No stress.”
What followed was a tidal wave of Blackwells.
Mom came through first, all elegance and cheek kisses, Tiana Blackwell still stopping traffic at an age she’d murder any tabloid for printing.
Dad was right behind her, Max Blackwell carrying two bottles of wine and that power that clung to him as one of the biggest movers and shakers in the movie business.
“The house looks incredible,” Mom said, pulling Juno into a hug. “It needed a woman’s touch.”
Callum and Victoria arrived next, and I swore Victoria got more beautiful every time I saw her.
The pregnancy was showing now, a neat little bump under her sundress that she kept resting her hand on without seeming to notice she was doing it.
Callum hovered exactly one step behind. I would have made fun of him, but I knew I did the same with Juno.
Drew and Kensey rolled in with Jeremy and Beau in tow. Cleo swept in behind them, already on her phone apologizing to someone about a fabric snag or something.
Micah arrived last, carrying his small camera. He nodded once at me. The plan was in place.
Within twenty minutes, the house had achieved critical Blackwell mass. Music played. Mom held court on the deck with a glass of wine. Juno moved through the crowd making sure everyone had full glasses and plates of appetizers.
Every time our eyes met, I felt it. That thing Micah had caught on camera all those months ago. It hadn’t faded. If anything, it had only increased. We were close to the level of couple telepathy I had witnessed between my married brothers and their wives.
I found Callum and Cleo by the outdoor bar, deep in conversation, and wedged myself in with fresh drinks.
“Everyone wants the full experience now,” Cleo said. “It’s not just weddings anymore. It’s proposals, vow renewals, anniversary weekends. People want the production. I’ve had to hire three assistants and I still can’t keep up with dress demands.”
“The events team is booked out eight months,” Callum said.
It was good to hear the event business was going well. Callum, Cleo, and their friend Mandy had worked really hard on it.
Victoria appeared at Callum’s side with a plate filled with crackers and dips. She took a sip of sparkling water. Callum had been drinking sparkling water in solidarity. It was cute.
“How are you feeling?” Juno asked, joining us with a tray of bruschetta.
“Like I’m growing a tiny dictator who hates everything I eat,” Victoria said cheerfully. “Crackers are safe. No fish. No eggs. No anything. A very picky baby.” She rubbed her bump. “This baby is going to be an only child if the food thing continues.”
I drifted over to where Drew, Kensey, and Jeremy were talking.
“I put the family money in this new tech venture,” Drew said. “It’s going to be huge.”
The evening continued with Juno’s many appetizers a huge hit. I’d never been the host of a family get-together. Sometimes we had cookouts but usually that was just me and a few brothers. Never the whole family. I had moved from one of the bachelors into the almost married crowd.
I stood at the railing and took it in. My ridiculous, loud, oversized family sprawled across my deck, fed and happy. Juno laughed at something Cleo was showing her on her phone. My mother refilled Victoria’s sparkling water without being asked. My father talked to Micah about some new project.
This was the moment.
My heart kicked. I’d been planning this all week, and now that it was here, I was nervous in a way I hadn’t been since Burgergate.
I caught Micah’s eye across the deck and nodded. He nodded back and slipped inside.
I picked up a fork and tapped it against my glass. The sound cut through the chatter, and one by one, heads turned.
“Everyone,” I said. “Can I get you all inside for a minute? I want to show you something.”
“Ominous,” Beau said.
I held out my hand to Juno, who gave me a puzzled look but took it.
Everyone filed into the living room, claiming couches and chairs. Callum quickly got a pillow for Victoria. Juno stood beside me near the massive TV mounted on the wall, her hand still in mine. She had no idea what was coming.
“Okay,” I said. “Some of you know this story, but I’m going to tell it anyway, because it’s my party and I can.”
“Ohh, a secret!” Cleo giggled.
“Almost a year ago, Micah directed a commercial for B Well. The one with Jack Montana.” I looked at my brother. “Which, by the way, thank you again. That commercial changed everything.”
“You’re welcome,” Micah said. He had his camera in his hand, hanging at his side.
“Here’s what most people don’t know,” I continued. “That day, Micah shot more than one version. There was the one with Jack that we ended up using. There was one of me and Jack together that never saw the light of day, thankfully, because we looked like idiots.”
“Accurate,” Micah said.
“But there was a third version.” I felt Juno go still beside me. “Micah caught some footage that day that wasn’t part of any plan. It wasn’t staged. It was just a moment happening off to the side of the set that his camera happened to catch.”
I looked at Juno. She watched me, her head tilted slightly, still not understanding.
“What moment?” she asked quietly.
I turned back to the TV and picked up the remote. “This one.”
The screen lit up.
And there we were. Almost a year younger, standing off to the side of Sound Stage Twelve, thinking the whole world was looking at Jack Montana.
The footage played exactly as I remembered it.
Me handing Juno a smoothie bottle Her, rolling her eyes at me with that look that was all sass and spice.
The laugh. The toast. The way she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and challenged me with her eyes.
And the way I looked at her.
The room had gone completely quiet.
On screen, I leaned in toward her, and there it was—captured forever in soft light and high definition—the expression I hadn’t even known I was capable of. Like the massive sound stage had shrunk down to one woman in a pink blouse telling me to fuck off in the sexiest way possible.
I heard Mom make a small sound. Victoria’s hand went to her mouth.
I looked at Juno.
She was watching the screen with her lips slightly parted. I watched her eyes fill. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she didn’t bother wiping it away.
The screen faded to black.
“That’s beautiful,” Kensey breathed.
“I’m so jealous,” Cleo murmured. “That is the sweetest thing ever.”
“Oh, my hormones,” Victoria groaned. Callum was up in a flash and grabbed a box of tissues for his wife.
“Micah thought this was the right choice for the commercial,” I said. “And he was right. As a piece of marketing, it would have worked. People had already fallen in love with us in that makeup video. This would have been even bigger.”
“So why didn’t you use it?” she whispered.
I glanced at Micah, who gave me the smallest nod.
“Because when I watched it, I realized two things. The first was that you’d already been through hell online because of me.
You’d told me you never wanted to open your mouth on camera again.
This was a private moment between two people who didn’t know they were being watched.
I wasn’t going to take that from you and hand it to the internet to chew on. Some things shouldn’t be content.”
“Even though it would have sold a million smoothies,” Drew said, and there was no teasing in his voice at all. It sounded like respect.
“Even though.”
Juno was crying in earnest now, silent tears, not even trying to hide them. Mom was openly dabbing her eyes with a napkin. Victoria had her face pressed into Callum’s shoulder. My father had his arm around my mother and was looking at me with an expression of pride.
“What’s the second thing?” Juno asked.
I smiled at her.
“The second thing I realized when I watched this footage was that I was looking at the rest of my life.” I squeezed her hands.
“I didn’t have the words for it yet. We weren’t even together.
We were dancing around each other and pretending it was all professional.
But the camera caught it before either of us could say it.
When I saw myself looking at you like that, I knew.
You were special. You were different. You were the one. ”
Beau let out a whistle. “Damn, Hollis.”
Kensey had both hands over her heart.
Micah was filming again but with my permission this time.
I let go of one of her hands and reached into my pocket. I watched the exact moment understanding hit her. Her breath caught. Her free hand flew to her mouth.
I dropped to one knee.
The room erupted. Cleo squealed. Kensey grabbed Drew’s arm. My mother inhaled sharply.
“Hollis,” Juno whispered.
I pulled out the ring. I’d spent three weeks picking it out. A round diamond on a thin platinum band, classic and elegant, because Juno didn’t need flashy. She was the flash.
“Juno Young.” My voice came out steady, even though my body trembled. “The first day we met, you called my life’s work rat piss in front of the world.”
Laughter rippled through the room. Juno let out a watery laugh of her own, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“I should have walked away from you that day. Instead, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And that’s been the story of us ever since. You challenge everything I say. You call me out when I’m being an idiot. And I can’t get enough of you.”
I looked back up at Juno. “But here’s what you don’t know.
All those months ago, when Micah showed me this footage, I sat in his theater and saw myself looking at you like this, and I panicked.
Because the guy on that screen wasn’t restless.
He wasn’t looking for the exit. He was looking at his whole future.
” I squeezed her hand. “You made a home out of my house. You made a partner out of a guy who swore he’d only ever disappoint you.
And every morning I wake up next to you, I can’t believe I got this lucky. ”
I took another breath.
“Juno Young. You are the best thing that ever happened to me.” I held the ring up between us. “Marry me. Let me wake up to you for the rest of my life.”
For one endless second, she just stared at me. Then she nodded.
“Yes,” she said, laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes, obviously, yes.”
I slid the ring onto her finger with shaking hands. She pulled me up and kissed me while my entire family lost their minds around us.
Micah lowered his camera, grinning at me over the top of it. “Got it,” he said. “Every second.”
“Good,” I said, pulling Juno against me. “This one we’re allowed to share.”
She laughed into my chest, then held her hand out to look at the ring, her eyes shining.
“Welcome to the family, Juno,” my mother said, sweeping in to hug her.
Juno looked at me over my mother’s shoulder, and there it was. That look. The one the camera caught a year ago before either of us had the words.
The rest of my life, looking right back at me.
***