EPILOGUE
Rayne
This marks the official first day of my new life.
“Cade!” I squeal, running across the bridge he installed over the marshland.
“Cade, the payment went through. It’s really in my account.
He even wrote ‘thanks Kelly and good luck with the campground’ in the message box.
He actually knew what it was for. Still got my name wrong but it’s close enough. ”
He drops his tools to the observation deck he’s building in the cove in order to wrap his arms around me. “Rayne, I am so happy for you. The campground’s yours. I can’t wait to see all the things you do with this place. And yes, by see I mean I’ll be there helping with all of them.”
“Oh phew, I was worried I’d have to build things on my own.
This dock would be upside down. You should’ve seen the furniture I had to build, there were dresser drawers on the couch and mattresses on the buffet island.
I can’t be trusted. Cade, this will pay all of it off, I even flubbed the numbers a little so it’ll put a tiny dent in my student loans. ”
“With all the new things you’ve got going on here, I wouldn’t worry about it, we’ll have those loans paid off in no time.”
I can’t help it, whenever he calls us a we, I smile so hard I’m not able to speak.
Cade is the quintessential dream man, and he’s all mine.
Once he found out there was a dilapidated boardwalk out to a private dock in our cove, he started rebuilding it, despite his time being gobbled up by the new Wildwood Adventures ropes course he’s building.
The other day he had an extra guy on site and sent him here.
It was Unlazy Rick, so not a whole lot got done, but he’s beginning to pick up his pace.
He only nailed his glove to the beam once, that I know of.
Our first night of the summer concert series, something they haven’t done since I left for college, is next week and Cade’s hoping to get it done by then.
It’s all coming together. The campground. My life. The pieces of my heart I didn’t know were broken, but living a life that isn’t yours will slowly do that over time, whether you notice it or not.
For the first time in a long time, all is right with the world. As cheesy as it is to say, not to mention pathetic for a woman who’s always prided herself on being independent, my world revolves around Cade.
It’s all good though, his revolves around me, so we’re essentially one of those binary star systems like the one Luke Skywalker’s from, the one they said scientifically couldn’t exist but it turns out it really can. That’s us. And it really does exist, me and my Dragon are living proof.
Now how do we break the news to his family?