Epilogue Rose
Two years later
“Do you want to eat outside or inside?” Wes asks, casually draping his arm on my shoulders as I scoot around the veggies in a pan that I’m cooking for dinner.
“Outside, of course.” He shrugs, then leans down and gives me a soft kiss. I tilt right back into him, wrapping myself up in his arms. A sigh of contentment escapes my lips as I look around the home we’ve created together.
After a quick peck to my nose, Wes disentangles himself and opens the door to our front porch. After his accident, we made living together permanent. He officially moved in a few weeks later. A few months after that, his mom was in for a visit and revealed that she still had a plot of land in her name from when they had lived here before. She generously gave it to us to use as we wanted and we ended up building a small cabin on it together. It’s gorgeous, surrounded by trees, and has a large porch where we can have bonfires and enjoy the stars every night.
Grabbing the veggies, I head outside as well, stopping on the way to give Wilfred a piece of pepper. He squeaks happily at me, then returns to his fluttering about his enclosure. “Oh, good boy!” I fluff his feathers a little before heading outside.
Wes stands at our railing, looking out into the woods. We have a sliver of a view of the lake—it helps being up on one of the overlooking cliffs, our view goes for miles. The winds are rough in the winter, but everything just feels bigger up here.
I watch him for a minute, just drinking in the sight of him. His muscles flex under his t-shirt and I can see how strong he’s gotten working at the park and here, at our home. He is gorgeous and I love how he loves me . He turns and I set down our food, moving over to stand with him.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and curl into him. The breeze kisses my skin and blows my hair around us both. “You stole my shirt,” he whispers down at me. I know I give him so much grief over these flannels, but I love them too.
“They’re just so soft and cozy.” I smile up at him. “And they smell like you.”
“What do I smell like?”
“Home. And just . . . you.”
He looks like he wants to ask me more, but our dinner guests have arrived and I forgot to grab the tea from inside. I dash in before everyone else comes. Chloe and Erick are first and hand Wes a bottle of wine. Then comes Elle and her guy, Kate, and even Joe showed up.
As I scoot in next to Wes on the bench, I look out over our little family of friends and at Wes.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you too, Mrs. Flannel. Now, let’s eat.”