Epilogue
Ifeel the slobber from Ginny’s tongue on my nose, which unfortunately wakes me up from one of the best dreams I’ve probably ever had. I am too scared to say it outloud for fear of jinxing it away. I want it to happen in real life someday and hopefully Aidan does, too.
I walked over to the windows and open the blackout curtains that Aidan installed for me when I moved in, and take in the sight of skyscrapers and tons of cars and people down on the street.
Yep, that’s right. We moved in together.
Aidan is still in the hunt for a new assistant. He is so stubborn about choosing someone he can trust, especially since the person he trusted most in the world is now his steady girlfriend of almost a year. Aidan decided that he wanted to take a hiatus for a few months and be back in New York until he was ready to return to work in L.A. He has been getting non-stop offers after his last film and honestly, since we started dating the press hasn’t shut up about it.
Butterflies flutter in my stomach and I smile a huge smile at the thought of how long Aidan and I have been together, and the fact that it is starting to snow outside. Today is Thanksgiving and the official start of the Christmas season. Everything seems possible and magical and I am here for it. I am in such a bliss bubble–I never want it to pop. Even though it has been the craziest year of my life, dating the hottest guy on the planet and having my life offered up on a silver platter to the public to gobble up at their leisure, it”s all been worth it because the man who is making me breakfast right now, is the best human being I’ve ever met.
“C’mon Ginny. Let’s go eat. I’m sure he’ll give you a piece of bacon. He always does.”
I don’t bother changing out of my pajamas, which consist of Aidan’s oversized UConn shirt that I wore when I first spent the night here, pajama bottoms, much to Aidan’s dismay, and cozy socks. I make my way down the hallway to the kitchen, where to my delight, Aidan is flipping bacon and sipping coffee. From the TV I hear Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker announce the performers and upcoming balloons to look out for in the parade. I can see the small flurries descend upon them through the screen. Aidan remembered how much I love watching the parade, relaxing with coffee and cozying up on the couch. I told him this fun fact on one of our real dates a few months ago.
This whole scenario is a sight I never want to forget. It is getting banked as a core memory.
Ginny jumps on her hind legs and places her paws on the granite countertops. As I predicted, Aidan takes a piece of bacon that is already cooling on the plate next to him and gives it to Ginny. I know this man too well. In so many new ways that I never thought possible.
I stand there admiring the man who tells me he loves me multiple times a day, every single day. Every single one of those I Love Yous ruin me in the best way. In the way that I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost this person in my life. In the way that makes my heart ache. In the way that makes me fall even more madly in love with him. And if that seems cliche, I don’t care. I know I was made for loving this magnetic force of a man. A man who put aside his pride and helped out his dying father when he needed it, and although Aidan turned out not to be a match, it was a first step toward healing that relationship for him. A man who, I might add, is cooking me my favorite breakfast in light-gray sweatpants and a fitted heather blue shirt, which will no doubt bring out those teal eyes.
I grab one of the many throw blankets I brought into this apartment to make it more homey. Aidan has the candle department down, a little fun fact I like to tease him about on the regular, but that I secretly love. I plop onto the massive couch…the very one that we slept together on for the first time. Ginny jumps up and curls next to me, so close I can’t really move my feet. “Umph,” I let out.
Aidan finally turns around and smiles. “Good morning, babe! Between the TV volume and the sizzling bacon, I didn’t even hear you walk into the room. Coffee?”
I snort. “Um, of course. I actually take offense that you asked me that question.” I pet Ginny’s side, causing her to pant with her tongue hanging out dubiously and in utter bliss. I feel Aidan’s soft lips come into contact with my forehead and my insides melt. Handing me the coffee, Aidan says, “Morning, beautiful. Happy Thanksgiving.”
I smile just like Ginny, dubiously and gleefully. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
And as I predicted, his shirt does bring out his eyes. Remembering that the bun on top of my head is probably all over the place and I am literally in oversized pajamas that are drowning my entire body, I suddenly feel self-conscious. “If you think I look beautiful now, you must think I look like a pure goddess when I am actually ready for the day.” I shake my head and sip the heavenly coffee. “Seriously, Aidan. How can you think I look beautiful right now? I have no makeup on. My hair is probably full of knots. I have mismatched clothes on. Shall I continue?”
“Haley Swann, you are always beautiful. In all your forms. You’re beautiful when your hair is a ratty mess. When you are in oversized, mismatched pajamas. All the time.” I smirk a little. He really must love me. “Actually, I have a solution if you really feel insecure in those pajamas.”
I raise one eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Shoot.”
“Not wear anything at all. That is my number-one preference.” Aidan heads back toward the kitchen, winking back at me, grinning that devilish grin of his. It is truly lethal.
“Well unlike some people, I don’t have a perfectly sculpted body where I can just walk around without anyone judging me.”
“Oh Hales, you definitely can’t see what I see, which is a damn shame if you ask me. You don’t realize how gorgeous you are.”
No matter how many times Aidan has told me that I am beautiful, or rather gorgeous, I still can’t process in my brain that this is real life. That someone like Aidan –an absolute dreamboat in every possible definition of the word – can find someone like me on the same level as him. Before I can protest his claim, my phone dings. Apparently when we were out running errands like any normal couple, some paparazzi took it upon themselves to snap photos of us holding hands and walking around Bryant Park.
That’s another aspect of our relationship I don’t think I will ever get used to. Always being in the spotlight. Always being under a microscope. Always exposed to the world’s scrutiny. “Aidan, have you seen this?”
Aidan doesn’t answer me right away and when I look over at him, he is staring down at his phone, distracted by whatever is on his screen. He is probably looking at the picture of us and realizing how far out of my league he is. I get extra nervous because I feel like there is a sense of momentary disconnect between us. There’s something about Aidan’s demeanor that is off, I just can’t figure out what it is. My heart starts racing and not in the giddy way it has been for the past year; right now, it is racing out of panic.
“Aidan?”
“Hmm?” he responds, finally breaking his attention from the small screen on the countertop. He clicks the side button to blackout his screen. Why is he acting so weird? “Oh, no I haven’t seen the picture.”
So he wasn’t looking at the picture. Then what is making him so frazzled? He leans over from the back of the couch and we both look at my phone together and read the caption underneath the photo of us:
“Aidan Stone and girlfriend Haley Swann spotted in Bryant Park looking extra cozy together. The couple has been a steady item since last winter.”
“Hmm…” Aidan says as he straightens back up. His hands are lodged in his pockets and he has the smallest inkling of a furrowed brow. He starts walking around the couch toward where I am sitting. “I think there is something wrong with that caption though.”
“What?” I zoom in on the caption so I can read it closely and don’t spot anything wrong with it. It is actually a good picture and caption about the two of us. No judgment. Just facts. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Everything is spelled right.”
“Are you sure?” Aidan motions for Ginny to get off the couch and he sits right next to me. How does this man feel like a furnace in a short-sleeve shirt in the winter? I am struggling to feel warm and I am underneath the softest, warmest blanket we own.
“Aidan, I’m sure. I am the writer, I should know.”
“Interesting because I could’ve sworn that it says girlfriend.”
“Yeah…so? How is that wrong?” I am so confused right now. We’ve been boyfriend and girlfriend for a while now, especially when I count the time we were fake dating. Why is that word wrong?
“Hold on, I think I might have something that might fix it.” Aidan adjusts slightly, reaches into his back pocket, and pulls out his wallet. He opens his it and retrieves a napkin from one of the compartments.
And not just any napkin.
The napkin.
There is no way he kept it all this time. I would’ve thought at some point, it would have fallen out, gotten destroyed, got torn to shreds after our four-month hiatus. Any option would have been more believable than what I am witnessing right now.
He hands it to me. “I added a little addendum to our contract, Ms. Swann.”
How is this happening right now?
“You kept this? For a year and a half, you’ve had this with you every day?”
He nods and gestures to look at the napkin. The only change I notice is that Aidan crossed out the word “not” that followed the word “absolutely” as it pertained to our condition about sex. I let out an exhale and laugh. “Seriously Aidan? I think we’ve already unofficially made this amendment, but thank you for pointing this out.”
“Oh I made that change a long time ago, you goof.” He winks at me, satisfied with himself. “Turn it over.”
The jingling of bells and cheers fill the background as Santa is making his appearance along 34th street. I turn over the wrinkled-up napkin and see the words:
Marry Aidan.
My mouth turns dry and my pulse starts racing. Time stands still and all I can hear is Ginny panting as her tongue is hanging out of her mouth, almost as if she is also anxiously awaiting my answer. The sound of the parade is fading away and suddenly it’s just us. In our living room. With one lingering question – well more like, request – hanging in the balance. I look up at Aidan and finally say, “What?”
He scoots a little closer to me on the couch and gestures toward my phone. “I think the word that they misspelled in that caption was girlfriend. I think, well I hope, that what it’s really supposed to say is fiancée.”
I keep blinking at an uncontrollable rate. I am in such a state of shock that I can’t form any other word except, “What?” I feel like I am back in Samantha’s office the day that Aidan suggested we essentially start a romantic relationship out of the blue. This certainly is out of the blue.
Aidan continues, “I know that I may have been acting weird earlier. Both our moms texted me Happy Thanksgiving and asked if I had proposed yet. Anna and Rachel have also been blowing up my phone incessantly. I didn’t want you to see.”
The air feels like it has been knocked out of me. In the best way. In the absolute best way. I’ve never seen Aidan so flustered. Nervous. I thought I was the one who spewed out the word vomit. It seems like right now the roles have reversed. Then he pulls out a little black box from his pocket as if out of thin air. I inhale sharply. My body starts tingling all over from the excitement of the contents of that little black box. If I thought I knew what breathlessness felt like, I was sorely mistaken. He lifts the top half of the box, revealing the most gorgeous ring I’ve ever seen: a solitaire cushion-cut diamond set in a thin rose-gold band. It is classic, stunning and perfect. Just like the man of my dreams who is kneeling in front of me.
Aidan grabs my left hand and holds it in his. “It’s an absolute privilege to love you, Haley Swann. You’re the best thing I’ve ever had and I know I was made for loving you. Completely. Unconditionally. And if I had an infinite amount of days like today, the everyday where you wake up with your hair a mess, dressed in oversized shirts, preferably mine, and a smile so pure and gorgeous, I would die a happy man. You are like coming home and I’ve never had that before.”
I usually am the one who can’t stop talking, and now it is Aidan’s turn to get flustered. I have to put this poor, devastatingly handsome and amazing man out of his misery. I place my finger to his lips, causing them to pucker slightly.
He chuckles, running his hand through his hair. “Sorry I’m so nervous. You aren’t saying anything and oh my God this is too much, just like when I had you agree to fake-date me except this is worse because we are actually together and you’re freaking out. Oh gosh Haley please don’t break up with me, I should have talked to you about it first. I mean I did ask your mom and Anna for their blessing…yes, I asked Anna too because I figured she would probably kill me if I didn’t…anyway you can seriously say no. I will love you no matter what, you know that right?”
I know exactly what to do. Without saying anything I take the napkin from his hand, stand up and make my way toward the junk drawer in the kitchen. I pull it open and get out a black pen. I scribble on the napkin and return the pen, then walk over to Aidan and hand him the napkin.
He looks down at the napkin and sees what I wrote:
YES!
“Yeah?” He lets out a sigh of relief.
“Yes. Of course!”
Smiling, Aidan takes the ring out of the box and slides it onto my finger. It fits perfectly.
I love that he proposed in the comfort of our own home, while it is snowing, in my favorite city in the world, as bacon sizzled in the kitchen. This moment is perfect, just like Aidan. Just like us.
I take his face in my hands and kiss him like it is for the last time. That’s how I am going to kiss him for always because tomorrow there is no guarantee and when you love someone, truly love someone, you want them to know just how much every day. He sits back on the couch and pulls me on top of his lap so that I am straddling him. His hands slide underneath my shirt. His hands are so hot to the touch in comparison to my cold skin. He lit a fire inside of me the day I met him, and I am convinced it will never diminish as long as he is mine. And now he is going to be mine forever. My hands are running through his hair and his lips are just as hungry as mine. I pull back just for a moment and say, “You know something?”
Breathless, Aidan responds, “What’s that?”
“I am truly the luckiest girl in the world. You destroyed all my walls, Aidan. You found your way into my heart and took up permanent residence. I can’t imagine living my life with anyone else.”
Aidan stands up, carrying me with him. “See, that’s where you are wrong, Hales.”
I can feel the crinkle on my nose start to form. He pushes our breakfast back on the stove and moves the bacon on top of the toaster oven to deter Ginny from inhaling it in one bite. Before I can challenge him, Aidan continues as he carries me toward our bedroom, “I’m the luckiest man in the world. You are my world. There’s no contesting that.”
He lays me down on the bed and hovers over me. “Haley, will you forgive me?”
Uh oh. For what?
“For what?” I say as calmly as humanly possible.
“For not talking to you about this proposal either.” His dimples are on full display. My heart leaps out of relief. “I suck at communicating with you about any proposal you are directly involved in.”
I playfully push against his rock-hard chest with my left hand, and that is when I notice how truly gorgeous my ring is. He knocked it out of the park, like he does in all aspects of his life. He needs to take off this shirt immediately if he knows what’s good for him. I decide to play along, “I think I can forgive you. On one condition.”
“Oh yeah what’s that, fiancée?” he says in the sultriest voice I’ve ever heard come out of his mouth. I will never tire of hearing him say that word… until he replaces it with a new word. Wife. He plays with the tendrils surrounding my face and brushes them behind my ears, a practice I am gladly allowing him to perfect.
“That this proposal has no expiration date.” I bite my lip and wait for his response, slightly tugging at the bottom of his shirt. “Other than our wedding date, of course.”
Aidan finally takes off his shirt and leans down to kiss me. A kiss that almost sends me into oblivion. “Deal.”