Epilogue
“Why is this city so packed?” Julie groaned as the cab took another turn to avoid traffic.
“Welcome to London.” Zoe brushed a piece of fluff off of Julie’s mustard suit. “We’ll be fine.”
“Fine?” Julie exclaimed. “The ceremony started fifteen minutes ago! We’re literally missing it!”
Zoe just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, until comprehension dawned on Julie. “You lied to me about what time the ceremony starts.”
“I did.”
“And I fell for it again.”
“Thank goodness you did. I don’t know how I’ll get you anywhere on time once that trick stops working on you,” Zoe said with a grin.
“So we have…?”
Zoe glanced at her watch. “45 minutes, for what should be another 20 minutes of driving.”
Julie nodded and relaxed, leaning back in her seat.
She looked out the window at the bustle of the city - the streets packed with cars, the pavement filled with people rushing everywhere.
Somehow it made Brussels feel like a backwater in comparison.
She tried to imagine Zoe as one of those people in the crowd, briskly going about her business.
It felt strange to think that that had been her life - it was hard for Julie to picture Zoe anywhere else than Brussels now.
Zoe had settled in incredibly quickly. She’d needed less than three weeks back in London to wrap up all the loose ends of her old life - putting the show on indefinite hiatus, selling her house, and firing Harry, among other things.
When Julie had asked how she’d managed to do it all in such a short period of time, Zoe’s answer was simple - it needed to get done before Nicki’s notice period was up.
Then, contractless, houseless, and assistant-less, she’d arrived back in Brussels and dived into her new life with relish.
Zoe and Julie had both agreed that it was ridiculous for Zoe to get her own place in Brussels and pretend that they were two strangers dating.
Zoe had quickly moved into Julie’s apartment and started her new project from there: her own restaurant, serving her favourite food from curry to boulettes sauce tomates to ravioli.
And Belgian fries, cooked to perfection every time.
Julie had been almost scared by how professional Zoe was and how many connections she had.
After just a few weeks, she’d found a location.
A couple months later and she was ready to open.
Julie had helped with the style and decoration and only realised after she’d finished that she’d decorated it exactly like she would have decorated their home.
A mix of antique and new furniture gave the restaurant a chic quirkiness.
One wall was lined with white shelves where bottles of oil, hot sauce and other condiments were alongside cookbooks and plants.
The other wall was painted a nice mint green, which complimented the darker green of the counter.
Working on this with Zoe had only made her fall a little bit more in love with her everyday.
Yasmine had been thrilled to get both her best friends back in Brussels after all this time.
When Julie and Zoe had announced to her that they were now in a relationship, Yasmine had just stared at them for a moment, and then laughed.
And laughed. And continued to laugh for so long that Julie had taken out her watch and started timing it.
After five minutes and twenty-seven seconds, Yasmine had gasped for air long enough that Julie could tell her that the next time she could see that there was romantic tension between her and another woman, Yasmine should say so and save her the ten-year wait, which had set Yasmine off all over again, and earned her a glare from Zoe.
Yasmine had come out of her wedding ordeal relatively unscathed, in the end.
For all the times that Adam had been unavailable during their relationship, he had been an absolute class act about keeping his heartbreak, and Yasmine’s name, out of the press and off social media, even lending her his PR team to deal with the fallout.
He’d told her he was doing it out of his unending love for Yasmine, but Julie suspected he’d learned some very hard lessons about showing up when it mattered, and this was his way of apologising.
Regardless of the reason, though, Yasmine had been grateful to get back to her life fairly quickly, and she was still making a name for herself as one of Belgium’s top journalists.
David hadn’t entirely disappeared from the picture, although Yas had been clear about needing to take some time for herself.
Lately, though, Julie had noticed his name coming up more often, and she suspected that things were finally starting to get serious between them.
She wouldn’t mind that - he seemed like a good guy, and Julie just wanted Yasmine to be happy in the end.
If he could make that happen, she would be onboard.
The cab stopped without warning.
“We’re here.” Zoe paid the driver and thanked him then took Julie’s hand and led her out of the car.
They stood in front of the gates of a garden, their fingers still intertwined. Nicki stood just inside, talking to some other guests, but when she saw Julie and Zoe, she hurried over to welcome them in. “You made it!’ She exclaimed, hugging them both.
“Of course we did!” Zoe laughed. “ We wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”
Julie took a step back and admired Nicki’s cream jumpsuit. “You look absolutely stunning.”
“Never underestimate the power of a great outfit, am I right?” Nicki winked.
Zoe had been amazed and delighted when Julie had finally told her about Nicki’s role in bringing them together that fateful day a year earlier.
It made it even clearer to her that Nicki was still someone she needed in her life.
With her connections in the television world, and a reference so glowing it made Nicki blush, Zoe had had no problems whatsoever setting Nicki up with a much more interesting, but much less stressful, job as a production assistant.
Nicki had always loved when they were filming Zoe’s show, and now she could be on set every day.
The change had also meant that Zoe and Nicki could now be something much better than assistant and employer - they could be friends.
While they’d both had incredibly busy years between opening a new restaurant and planning a wedding, Zoe made a point of grabbing a drink with her whenever she was in the UK, and Nicki had even come to Belgium for a long weekend.
To the surprise of no one, Nicki and Julie immediately got along like a house on fire, and Zoe had been thrilled at how naturally the three of them could hang out.
When the invitation had arrived in the mail, Julie had declared herself to be Zoe’s personal assistant for the day, and filled out the RSVP on behalf of them both.
They chatted for a moment longer, before Nicki excused herself. “I’d better dash - it wouldn’t do to be late for my own wedding! I’ll see you afterward.”
Zoe squeezed her shoulder. “See you when you’re Alma’s wife!” Nicki’s smile at that was almost painfully huge, then she hurried off.
Julie took Zoe’s hand and paused for a moment before they went to take their seats.
“Somehow I think this wedding isn’t going to be quite as much of a disaster as the last one we attended,” she said with a grin. “For starters, neither Nicki nor Alma seem the type to leave each other at the altar.”
Zoe laughed and hit Julie playfully with her purse. “Don’t even say it!”
“There are plenty of other good signs as well,” Julie went on thoughtfully. “I like that I didn’t have to plan it, and that you don’t have to cook. It’s nice to just be guests. Also nice that it’s a one-day commitment.”
“I also like that there’s no documentary team,” Zoe added. “And no weird scavenger hunt.”
“No weird scavenger hunt that we know of ,” Julie corrected her. “You never know what can happen at a lesbian wedding reception. But even if there is, I like this wedding better, because I don’t have to find a hiding place if I want to do this.”
She turned to Zoe and kissed her deeply.