Epilogue
One month later…
The Drunken Rooster had seen its share of bad decisions—but tonight, Bridlewood was here to celebrate the best one yet.
Fairy lights twinkled overhead, the smell of vanilla vodka and espresso liqueur mixed with the faint tang of spilled champagne, and the whole town of Bridlewood seemed to have squeezed inside to celebrate.
Vivi leaned against the bar, appletini in hand—a celebratory drink for her special day—and watched her new company's logo, Sweet Tea & Swipe Right, glow proudly on the banner behind the counter.
Her mom, Gloria, sidled up next to her, eyes shining.
"I have to say, I never thought I'd see the day," she said, voice thick with pride.
"You went out on your own, built something for yourself, and you're not building your life around anyone else's expectations.
You spearheaded an entire renovation that now helps support a ranch.
" She squeezed Vivi's hand. "You broke the cycle. "
Vivi felt her chest tighten with a happy ache that spread all the way through her ribs.
"Thanks, Mom," she said softly. "I couldn't have done it without you pushing me. Challenging me. Even when I was furious about being exiled to the country."
Her mom laughed and it was so warm that made a room feel like home. "Well, someone had to make sure you didn't marry into misery."
Vivi took a sip of her drink and looked up just as Spud walked in holding the hand of a woman whose confident smile and easy charm made the room feel instantly brighter.
"Vivi! Ma'am!" Spud called, tipping his hat with exaggerated midwestern ceremony. "You won't believe who I brought."
Vivi raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"
"My new lady friend," Spud announced, puffing up considerably. "Miss Franchesca Maddox.”
“You’re Virgil’s aunt?” Vivi gasped.
“In the flesh,” Franchesca said.
“Ain't she a sight?" Spud's grin widened like he'd been waiting for exactly that reaction. "Now, Miss Franchesca, I've got a story that's going to embarrass just about everyone in this room. I was—"
"Spud," Vivi said. "That's an inside thought—"
Franchesca’s laugh cut Vivi off. "Don't you dare stop him. I'm going to need every single detail."
Spud's eyes lit up with mischievous pride and he launched in, accent thick and theatrical.
"So there I was, waist-deep in the stream, convinced I could wrestle a catfish bigger than a calf.
Only the current was stronger than the waistband of my shorts.
My pals were waiting to snap the picture.
But when I stood up, the current swirled around me, and between trying to keep my balance and hold onto the fish, I lost hold of my pants entirely.
Down they went. Rosco caught a photo of me and the fish, both of us hanging out for God and everyone to see.
I've got the picture if anyone wants proof. "
The bar erupted in laughter, and Vivi laughed right along with them. Between Spud’s ridiculous story and the look on her mom’s face, her cheeks actually hurt from smiling.
She took a sip of her martini and looked around the room. God, when had this happened? She’d come to Bridlewood knowing exactly no one, and now she couldn’t make it ten feet without somebody waving her over, stealing her chair, or sticking their nose into her business.
Apparently, these were her people now. Then her eyes found Boone.
He was standing just off to the side of the crowd, not quite part of the noise, watching her. Not the room—her—with a look on his face that still made something turn over in her chest every single time, like he was looking at something he'd decided was his and was content to just let that be true.
She held his gaze for a moment, and he smiled a slow, private smile just for her. She looked away before she did something embarrassing, like cry at her own party.
He didn't give her long to recover. She heard the familiar, unhurried click of his boots on the wooden floor steady.
"You know," he said, that slow grin pulling at his mouth, "I think it's about time you gave me that dance you've owed me since the night you laid that sex trap and then ran out of the bar like your chaps were on fire. "
Vivi laughed, shaking her head. "I don't remember owing you a dance."
"Sure you do." He reached for her hand. "You promised me and I'm holding you to it."
He led her to the small dance floor at the center of the Drunken Rooster, where the rest of the celebration softened into a warm blur of lights and music.
His hands settled at her waist and hers found their way around his neck.
They began to sway, slow and unhurried to the rhythm of two people who had found their way back to each other and weren't in any rush to be anywhere else.
His forehead dropped to rest just above hers. His eyes were soft and full of something that was her undoing.
"Boots." His voice came out low, stripped of its usual ease, like he'd been holding this version of it in reserve.
"I am so damn proud of you. Of the choices you made, the life you've built for yourself on your own terms." He paused, the muscle in his throat working.
"And I couldn't imagine my life with anyone else.
You're it. You've always been it. I was just too much of a stubborn prick to say it sooner. "
Vivi's eyes stung at his confession and she blinked hard, because she absolutely refused to cry in the middle of the Drunken Rooster in front of half of Bridlewood.
He pressed a kiss to her temple, then rested his forehead against hers. "You don't have to say anything back," he murmured. "Just feel it. We've got the rest of our lives to say everything else."
In that moment, swaying together in the middle of the Drunken Rooster, with sunflowers tucked into corners and the entire town cheering in the background, Vivi knew she was exactly where she belonged.
Boone, standing close, holding her like she was his entire world, made everything sweeter—like the ending of a story she never wanted to stop reading.