EPILOGUE
Finn
“Summer, stop eating. They’re for the party.” I slap the cookie out of her hand. She puts me into a chokehold.
“I’m hungry,” she complains as she squeezes the life from me. “I haven’t eaten for three hours.”
“Here.” Declan shoves a deli paper bag in her direction. “I figured it’d be a while before we got any actual food in this joint, and I knew you’d be starving. I mean, who holds a party in a restaurant that isn’t even officially open for business?”
Summer leans closer to the bag, dragging me along, the oxygen draining from my brain.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Declan nods. “Ham and Swiss on pumpernickel. I had them add both mayo and that Dijon shit you like.”
“Is it real mayo, though? Because I hate that other—”
“Yes. It’s the real stuff.” Declan shakes the deli bag in front of her face. “You want it or what? I’ll eat it if you don’t want it.”
“Did you get me a pickle?”
I start clawing at Summer’s forearm. I don’t want to hurt the girl, but I’d prefer not to be in a coma for my engagement party.
“Yes. A giant-ass, penis-shaped pickle.”
“Mmm-mmm good.” She releases my throat and snatches the bag.
I bend over and gulp down air.
“You could’ve let the girl have a couple cookies, Finn.” Cal looks at me with disdain. “It’s not going to make any difference.”
“It’s my engagement party,” I gasp. “It has to be perfect.”
Special K grunts. “Isn’t Emma enough? The girl’s a damn Ninja, bro.
No need for a Ninja and a party.”“Don’t be such grumpy-butts.
” Emma steps out of the kitchen and wipes her hands on her apron.
“Victoria and I will be done in ten minutes. Declan and Summer, what are you eating? Go see if Phyllis needs help with anything. And Special K, I’m a woman, not a Ninja.
” She pops up on her toes and leaves a kiss on K’s cheek.
He looks like a lovesick puppy.
“Get your own damn Ninja,” I snap at him, clutching my throat.
“I can’t believe Victoria’s in the kitchen,” Cal says to Emma. “Is she, you know, cooking and shit?”
“She’s doing quite well,” Emma says. “It was just a grease fire.”
Evander takes a seat at a booth and adjusts his cufflinks as he grumbles to himself. “There’s enough crepe paper in here to choke a T-rex, and enough baked goods and dips to clog the arteries of every person in this county.”
Aunt Phyllis slaps his head, and he immediately tries to repair his hair helmet.
“Jasmine and I still have crepe streamers to hang, and you’re gonna help us, Evander.”
Emma seems to pick up on my control freak-out, and she kisses me softly. “Our family is here, so the party is already perfect. We don’t need more than that.”
“But I have that photographer coming. No one can eat anything until we get the pre-party food pics taken for your social media account.”
Special K sighs. “My balls, Finn. They’re contracting up into my abdomen just listening to you.”
“Everything’s fine!” Victoria’s panicked voice calls out from the kitchen just before she pokes her head through the doorway. She’s got something in her hair. Her shirt is ripped in three places. “The refrigerator’s still working, so no worries!”
“What do you mean it’s still working?” Cal asks.
“The knife that got wedged in the door isn’t affecting the temperature at all.”
Cal helps Victoria to a booth. “This party needs to start right now,” he says to me through gritted teeth. “Before a kitchen tragedy strikes.”
Victoria huffs. “I’m a very capable woman.”
Cal nods. “Absolutely. You are wildly gifted in more ways than one woman has a right to be, and none of them have anything to do with cooking.”
“Done!” Jasmine cries. “Aunt Phyllis and I finished decorating.”
I pick her up, spin her around, and put her down again. She looks adorable in her new dress and the little blue butterfly hair barrette she’s got clipped into her curls, the one that belonged to Amy. “The decorations are spectacular, Pinkie.”
I hate to admit it, but Evander’s right—there’s a crap ton of crepe paper in here.
Emma pops open a bottle of champagne, and Special K opens a second. Evander fills everyone’s champagne flutes. “Let’s start with a toast!” Emma says.
I wrap my arm around her waist. “To love,” I say.
“To family,” Phyllis says.
“To me getting ahold of those bacon-wrapped hors de oeuvres over there,” my dad says.
“To all the wonderful women in this family,” Cal adds, kissing Victoria.
“To happy endings!” my beautiful Emma says.
Summer clears her throat and raises her glass higher. “But most of all… to Evander!”
We all stare at Summer in confusion.
“Ooh, she’s right,” Victoria says. “You’re next in line for ring shopping, Evander.”
“Yeah. No.”
“Rings seem to have a way of appearing on fingers in this family,” Jamie tells him. “I think Summer’s onto something.”
Evander adjusts his tie and chuckles. “Dad, I realize very few things in life are a one-hundred percent guarantee, but this is one of them. I’m a player. Always will be. I’ll never be looking for a ring or a wedding venue or any of that shizzle.”
“That’s okay,” Declan says. “You can elope at the last minute—Lord knows you’ll have a suit to wear to the ceremony.”
Everyone laughs except Evander, who is not amused. “Not this boy.”
“I thought that too, little brother.” I set down my champagne glass and pull Emma close to my left side and Jasmine to my right. “And when I least expected it, the most wonderful thing happened.”
Jasmine smiles up at me. “What happened, Dad?”
“Loved walked in.”
THE End
Continue to read the first three chapters of Evander and Phoebe’s story, GRUMPY’S Secret CRUSH!