Epilogue #2
He gave me a look. “Warren. We know each other now.”
Mama Brooks touched his arm. “See? She has manners. Leave that girl alone.”
Lennox opened both arms. “And apparently no affection remains for the younger Brooks.”
“You walked in talking.”
“I hadn’t said anything.”
“Your face did.”
He stared at me, then looked at Mama Brooks. “She been around Landon too long.”
Mama Brooks laughed. “Where’s my butter pecan?”
“Already waiting.”
“With real pecans?”
I pressed one hand to my chest. “Would I disrespect you on opening day?”
“Success changes people. I needed reassurance.”
From the community table, Nana called across the room.
“If she skimped on your pecans, tell me. I’ll handle her.”
Everybody turned.
Mama Brooks looked toward Nana.
Nana lifted her spoon in greeting.
I closed my eyes. “Nana, please don’t threaten me in front of my boyfriend’s mother.”
Mama Brooks laughed. “Oh, I like her.”
Nana pointed toward an empty chair. “Get your ice cream and come sit down.”
Warren looked at me. “We’ve been summoned.”
“It appears so.”
Lennox started toward the table.
“Cookies and cream first,” I called.
He stopped. “You remembered?”
“Unfortunately.”
“See? Family.”
“You are not my family yet.”
Lennox slowly looked toward Mama Brooks.
Mama Brooks looked at me.
A smile appeared.
“Oh, baby. You might wanna be careful with that sentence.”
Heat climbed my neck.
Warren laughed.
Nana called from across the room, “Leave that girl alone before Landon gets here.”
“Where is Landon?” Mama Brooks asked.
“Still at Langston. He said he’d be here before lunch ended.”
Mama Brooks accepted her butter pecan from Jasmine. “That boy been checking the time since breakfast.”
“Mama.”
Landon’s voice came from behind her.
I turned.
He stood just inside the doorway holding flowers in one hand, a familiar white chocolatier box beneath his arm, and a Sable & Spine bag hanging from two fingers.
Mama Brooks smiled without turning around. “See?”
Landon kissed her cheek as he passed. “Good afternoon to you too.”
Warren laughed.
Lennox immediately reached toward the chocolate box.
Landon moved it out of reach. “Get your own.”
“Family don’t mean shit today.”
“Apparently not.”
Then Landon looked at me.
Everything else became background.
Months hadn’t changed that.
If anything, my body recognized him faster now.
His face softened.
I was already moving.
I crossed the shop, rounded the end of the counter, and wrapped my arms around his neck before he could put anything down. His free arm came around my waist.
I kissed him.
His mouth.
Right there in front of customers, staff, Nana, his parents, my sister, God, and anybody else who had purchased admission through waffle cones.
His laugh met me when I pulled away.
“Hershey.”
“You’re late.”
“I’m eleven minutes early.”
“Same thing.”
“That’s mathematically offensive.” I smiled. “Missed me?”
“Terribly.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself in public.”
A grin spread across his face. “I support clarification.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He kissed me again, softer this time.
“Congratulations, my love.”
The teasing fell away.
I looked at the flowers. Lilies mixed with greenery and smaller white blooms, arranged simply enough that the gesture stayed more important than the presentation.
“You remembered.”
“I pay attention.”
“I know.”
Those two words carried history now.
Then he raised the white box. “Chocolate-covered strawberries.”
“You remembered those too.”
“I continue to pay attention.”
“And the bookstore?”
He lifted the bag. “Before you interrogate me, there ain’t a hidden message in this one. I saw something and thought of you.”
“That sounds suspicious.”
“That sounds like trauma from a bookmark.”
“That bookmark was emotional manipulation.”
“That bookmark was literature.”
“It had an agenda.”
“It had cardstock.”
I laughed and took the bag.
Inside was the hardcover edition of a novel I had mentioned wanting several weeks earlier, along with a deep-brown leather book sleeve stamped with my initials.
No message hidden between the pages.
No lesson.
Just something he had seen and remembered.
I looked up.
“You like it?”
“I love it.”
“Good.”
“And I love you.”
His entire face changed.
Still.
Months later.
Every time.
“See.”
“What?”
“That right there.”
“You’ve heard it before.”
“Don’t matter.”
“You want me to stop?”
His arm tightened around my waist. “Try it and see what happen.”
I laughed. “That sounded threatening.”
“Devastation, baby. Nothing criminal.”
“Good clarification.”
“I’m committed to ethical romance.”
“That degree getting abused again?”
“Regularly.”
Behind him, Mama Brooks made a sound.
“Lord, y’all flirt a lot.”
Landon glanced over. “You ain’t got somewhere to sit?”
“With my ice cream.”
“Sounds productive.”
Mama Brooks walked toward Nana, where Warren and Lennox had already joined her.
For a few seconds, I simply watched.
My Nana sat at one table laughing with Landon’s parents, while Lennox attempted to convince all three of them that cookies and cream represented maturity rather than a failure of imagination.
Nana disagreed on principle. Mama Brooks agreed with Nana largely because annoying Lennox appeared to be one of her favorite recreational activities.
Warren stayed out of it until Lennox tried to recruit him, then betrayed his son immediately.
Willow Run.
Self Ridge.
Self Springs.
Nobody competing.
Nobody disappearing.
Just people I loved sharing a table.
I looked back at Landon.
He had been watching me watch them.
He didn’t explain the moment.
He didn’t need to.
I slipped my hand into his.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“You ask too many questions.”
“That is rich coming from you.”
I led him through the swinging doors toward the prep area. Staff passed us carrying waffle cones and bakery trays, too busy to care that I had dragged my man into the back during opening hours.
I opened the freezer.
Behind the catering tubs and backup inventory sat one pint with a handwritten sticker across the lid.
For Landon. Still not for sale.
His laugh came low.
“Hershey.”
I took it out and handed it to him.
His thumb moved slowly across the word still before he looked at me.
“You kept making it.”
“Of course I did.”
He examined the pint. “You changed something.”
“Taste it.”
I handed him a spoon.
Landon opened the container and took a bite. Concentration replaced the teasing in his face before he had fully swallowed.
“More salt in the caramel. Peach pieces smaller too.”
I smiled. “Better distribution.” He took another bite. “Well?”
“Damn.”
“That descriptive?”
“It covered the immediate response.”
I laughed.
His attention moved from the pint back to me.
“You still paying attention.”
The words reached differently than the joke surrounding them.
“Always.”
Landon held my eyes for a moment, then set the pint on the counter long enough to place one hand at my waist.
“Come here.”
“I’m already here.”
“Closer.” I stepped into him. His lips touched my forehead. “Thank you, love.”
“You’re welcome.”
He picked the pint up again and took another bite.
I watched him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You looking at me eat ice cream like you waiting on a peer review.”
“I’m observing customer satisfaction.”
“One customer.”
I smiled. “Exactly.”
His eyes warmed.
“Still not for sale?”
“Still.”
“Good.”
That was all.
He didn’t need to ask whether it remained his.
He knew.
I liked that he knew.
The pint went back into the freezer before Landon’s hands returned to my waist.
“You proud of me?” I asked.
The question slipped free before I could reconsider it.
He looked over my face.
“Very. And I was proud before these doors opened.”
That one stayed.
My fingers curled against the front of his shirt.
“I know.”
“Good.”
“No speech?”
“Nah.”
“No explanation of my emotional development?”
“Absolutely not.”
I laughed. “So what did you come back here for?”
“To celebrate my woman, eat my private ice cream, and determine whether she letting me take her home when this day over.”
“That order intentional?”
“Very.”
I kissed him before he could add anything else.
The Brookses stayed until early afternoon. Nana stayed much longer.
Apparently once she and Ms. Greene discovered they both believed children required books, discipline, and adults willing to feed them properly, the two women entered an alliance nobody else had authorized.
By the time Nana finally gathered her purse, she and Ms. Greene had already discussed three possible reading themes and disagreed over whether children should receive juice before or after story time.
Landon walked Nana toward the door.
I stayed several feet away, pretending I had no interest in whatever conversation they intended to have.
Nana stopped before the entrance.
“You still making that drive?”
Landon looked toward me before answering. “Every chance I get.”
Nana nodded once. “Good.”
“That all I get?”
“You want a certificate?”
His laugh filled the front of the shop. “No, ma’am.”
“Then go find my baby.”
“Gladly.”
She touched his arm once before walking toward me.
I hugged her.
“You like him.”
“I liked him before today.”
“You barely knew him before today.”
“I know enough.”
“Which is?”
Nana looked toward Landon before returning her attention to me. “He looks at you before he answers questions about you.” I became still. She kissed my cheek. “That’ll do for now.”
Then she walked outside.
I watched until she reached her car.
When I turned around, Landon stood behind me.
“How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough.”
“You nosy.”
“Observant.”
I rolled my eyes.
He kissed my forehead. “Come on, love. You got customers.”
“Look at you sending me back to work.”
“I got range.”
“Much better.”
His brows lifted. “Better than what?”
“Nothing.”
I laughed and headed toward the counter.
By closing, the grand-opening rush had finally surrendered.