Epilogue
Janelle
One year later
“S top, stop, you’re gonna mess up my outfit,” I whine but it turns into a whimper when Rome bites down on my shoulder blade.
“Mhm, I see no problem with that,” he mumbles, his tongue flicking across the top of my breasts.
“Romeeee, I’m gonna be late!” I shout. Maybe being a little later won’t be too bad. Being on time can’t be better than the feeling of Rome’s lips on me. No. Get your ass moving. I wiggle in his hold a bit more, groaning with displeasure.
He releases me with a groan, putting my blazer back in place. “Fine, I guess I’ll be supportive of your dreams and shit and let you go,” he teases.
I wipe the lipstick that I got on his lips off as I chuckle. “Your kindness will be rewarded later, I promise.”
He kisses me again, getting more of my lipstick on him. “You got this.”
“I love you,” I say.
“I love you, too.”
How surreal is it that I freely exchange I love you’s with this man?
The first time we said it was so unceremonious.
He’d said it while walking me to my car after I’d spent the night at his place, as if we had been saying it for years.
When I looked at him like he’d lost it, he just said he was tired of not speaking what was in his heart.
He leapt. Because that’s what he does. Rome is a leaper and that used to terrify me.
But after finding my parachute, I’ve discovered that I’m a leaper too.
He hands me a cup of coffee and I walk out to my car.
It’s been a little over a year since that trip to Tulum and Rome and I have made the most of it.
When we came back to Baltimore, he delivered on that first date taking me to an A.R. Washington book signing at Bookmarked and Busy and he’s delivered countless dates since then.
I thought that we would struggle to make time for each other with our busy careers, but it’s truly been an easy adjustment.
Rome sets his own schedule so he’s able to make time.
I’ve even been able to travel with him a few times for conferences and interviews.
I still work long hours at the private practice, but I’ve learned to use my time off appropriately.
Also, once I transition to the health center full time, I’ll have even more time.
Labor of Love is official. I was shocked to learn that the building I wanted for it, Rome already owned, so after a hard-fought battle with him to actually let me pay for it we got to work on the necessary renovations.
Today, I’m using my day off to have a meeting at the building with my new office manager, Tamara, and the board of doctors I personally chose to work with me.
In one month, we’ll be open for business.
Six months after we started dating, Rome and I moved in together. Evie has a key to our place, but she’s taken to calling first because she said a girl can only see her best friend’s ass but so many times before she’s permanently traumatized.
When I get to the Labor of Love building, I see that I have a text from Amerie.
Ri: Want to get lunch tomorrow?
Honestly, the hardest part about being with Rome is navigating our relationship with Amerie and Arnold.
Rome and Arnold are still best friends and they’re back to spending a lot of time together. Rome is once again a regular attendee of Arnold’s game nights. Amerie and I aren’t there in our relationship, but she’s trying.
We’re taking baby steps in mending what was broken. I’ve gone with her to a few of her therapy sessions, which have been a big help, but I’m still not in a place where I can say I fully trust her. I could see us getting there one day, though.
My mom and I have settled into a new normal.
We see each other on holidays and birthdays and that’s about it.
I know it pains my dad to have us be so distant with each other, but I’ve accepted that sometimes being selfish is a good thing.
I love my mom but she’s not good for me and I’m not willing to give her access to my life anymore; not after she refused to change her ways once we came home.
I can’t force her to change. I can only change the way I deal with her.
Ri still wants a relationship with her, and I don’t begrudge her that.
All I ask is that if she wants to maintain a relationship with me that she respects my boundaries when it comes to Mom. So far, she’s done that.
I text her back that I’m not sure about lunch just yet and then I pocket my phone and head inside.
Later, Rome and I cook dinner together and when we’re done eating we get a FaceTime call from Jalen and Kam.
“Killa Kam! What’s up, my guy?” Rome answers.
“Hi, Uncle Rome! Hi, Janelle!” He waves excitedly into the camera, and I return it tenfold.
“Hey, Kam, how are you? Watch any new movies lately?”
“There’s this new indie slasher movie I wanna see. You wanna watch it with me?”
“Of course. Let’s take Pops with us,” I say.
He pulls his fist down in a “ yes ” motion.
Jalen takes the phone out of his hand. “I feel like this is a movie he shouldn’t be watching?” he questions.
“Probably not. But you know Pops is gonna show it to him one way or the other.”
“Y’all are gonna pay for all the therapy he’s gonna need.”
“Umm, no I won’t because you’re a billionaire but I got you on the moral support.”
He laughs and hands the phone back to Kam. “Say good night,” I hear him say in the background.
“Good night! Oh wait! Uncle Rome, did you do it?!”
Rome’s eyes widen and Kam’s soon follow. “Uh, no. Not yet.”
“Oops.”
Jalen grabs the phone and I hear him say he’s sorry before he hangs up.
“Did you do what?”
He scratches the back of his neck. “I, um, I created a new game. He was just wondering if I showed it to you.”
“Oh, you did? That’s cool. I didn’t realize you were working on a new game.”
“Yeah. Actually, I want you to beta test it for me.”
My eyes bulge out of my head. “Rome, you know I don’t like scary games.”
“She watches horror movies but hates scary games. Make it make sense.”
“Horror movies I get to sit back and watch everyone survive or die. In games, I actually have to participate. No thank you! Would you choose to put yourself in the middle of a horror movie?”
He shrugs with a laugh. “It might be fun.” I roll my eyes, making him laugh harder. “Okay, fine, no horror games for you. Lucky for you, this isn’t a horror game. I tried my hand at something new. It’s a dating sim.”
“A dating sim? You made a dating sim?” I’ve gotten him fully invested into reading smut.
We went to A.R. Washington’s party for the release of the third book in her series and we both got signed copies.
He’s watched me play other dating sims games like College Craze, so I know he would never refuse to make one of his own.
I just wouldn’t expect this to be the type of game he’d take the time to design himself.
“Yes, so will you test it for me? I need the eyes of a smut reader.”
“Don’t count yourself out, Mr. Filth Pusher himself.” Our new favorite thing is re-creating the spicy scenes we read about. Some of them have been sexy as hell. Some of them, we’ve discovered, are physically impossible.
“You want me to test it now?”
“Yep. Come on.”
He leads me to his home office and sets the PC up for me. When the game loads up, I see that he’s titled it Only for the Week. I turn to him with a smug smile. “Cute.”
I press start on the game and I’m taken to a character creation screen. I make the character look exactly like me, which is easier than it usually is in other games, and I name her Janelle as well.
You’re supposed to be able to choose from a plethora of love interests in the game but the only option appears to be a character named Rome who looks exactly like Rome. I cut my eyes to him. “You better change that when you release the game. I’m not about to have thousands of women dating you.”
He chuckles and kisses my forehead. “That’s just for you. I didn’t feel like uploading all the other character options just yet.”
“Mhmm, I’m watching you.”
I turn back to the screen and Rome disappears behind me.
I become engulfed in the game. It’s so realistic.
My character and Rome’s character go on a lot of dates, some of them being exact replicas of dates he and I have taken in real life.
Saying and doing things to build your characters’ bond earns you points and those points lead to achievements.
When I hit certain achievements, it provides cut scenes showing our characters moving to the next phase of our relationship.
The cut scene for our characters moving in together showed them dancing in the living room, surrounded by her boxes, which is exactly what we did the night I moved into his place.
“Damn, this game is moving so fast. I kinda wanna slow it down a little bit. Or is the point to get people to play it through several times trying to get different achievements or different partners?”
He doesn’t answer my question but I’m too enraptured to care.
I hit another achievement, prompting another cut scene.
This one looks different from the others though.
Instead of playing like a movie, it shows the Rome character getting on one knee in their house and then the title screen pops back up.
Part of the title falls away, though, and changes so that it reads Only Forever instead.
A menu screen pops up that reads “Do you want to continue?” with yes or no options underneath.
I click yes but nothing happens. The Rome character just remains on bended knee with a smile on his face and a ring in his hand.
“Wait, what? Is it over? Why didn’t it continue when I clicked yes?” I tap the screen a bunch of times, hoping to make something happen but it doesn’t change.
“Because it hasn’t happened yet,” I hear him say behind me.
“What?”
I spin around to look at him but damn near fall over when I see him in the same position the Rome character was in the game. He’s on one knee, holding a ring box out to me, with a smile on his face.
“I said that part of the game hasn’t happened yet, J.
But I was hoping we could write it together.
I love you more than I ever thought possible.
I know our relationship has been a bit of a whirlwind, but you once said that when your soul finds its tether that ‘ too fast ’ doesn’t exist. I’ve known you were my soul’s tether since the day we met.
So, I’m asking you, Janelle Lashaun Cross. Will you marry me?”
Sometimes, I think about the fact that I almost let Rome walk away from me. What would my life have been if I had only given him that one week? Then moments like this remind me that I’ll never have to know.
I drop to my knees in front of him and take his face in mine. “You are the one person I trust the most with my yeses. So, of course, I’ll give you this one too.”
The End