Epilogue
Rose
“It’s really adorable how excited you are about this,” Winnie says, tilting her head to examine me with a smile.
I roll my eyes but can’t deny it. I am excited. And apparently not hiding it very well.
“Oh, hush,” Val says, swatting at her. “Let her be excited. Your very first meeting is a big deal.”
Finally, I’ve been asked to join the Ladies Literary and Libation Society. I guess I shouldn’t really use the word finally, since some Sheeters never get an invite. Receiving an embossed invitation with gold foil lettering for the December meeting was like an early Christmas present.
Not the best present I’ll receive this year, but a close second.
Shivering a little in the cold air, I shove my hands a little deeper into my coat pockets as we make our way down the sidewalk.
I met Val at Winnie’s loft so we could walk the four blocks to the gorgeous old library building together.
I didn’t want to go to my first meeting alone.
And in the past few months, these women have become almost like daughters to me.
I was actually shocked to learn that Winnie, Val, and Lindy all lost their mothers.
For Val, it’s a figurative loss, though she insists she didn’t lose much when her mom took off almost twenty years ago.
I don’t presume to actually fill this role for them, but I’ve been happy to stand in the gap, being as involved in their lives as they’ll let me be.
And whenever Chelsea comes to visit, the four of them go out and get up to the kind of small-town trouble a mother would rather not know the specifics of.
“Where’s Lindy?” I ask.
Winnie laughs. “I think what you really want to know is how soon you can get your hands on Evie.”
“Guilty. She is bringing Evie, right?”
“Yes,” Val says. “She left Jo with Kitty Bishop’s daughter, since the boys are playing poker at Wolf’s.”
It’s really Tank’s bachelor party, though he wouldn’t let them call it that.
“Negative connotations and all that,” he told me.
“The whole premise behind it seems to be like a pre-marriage Mardi Gras: live it up all you can before you have to limit yourself. Marrying you, Rose, is the living it up part. This is just a normal night with the guys before we tie the knot.”
I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I flat-out refused when the Emilys and Chelsea tried to convince me to have some kind of bachelorette party.
“Not necessary,” I told them, standing firm when they tried to tell me it wasn’t about necessity but celebrating.
“The only celebrating I want to do is with Tank on our honeymoon.”
We’ll be leaving on a cruise out of Galveston the day after Christmas. Which will also be the day after our wedding.
After some back and forth about dates, Tank and I decided that Christmas Day made the most sense since our families will already be gathered together.
We didn’t want to add one more event to a busy calendar month, but we also didn’t want to wait.
When we brought the idea up with our children, it was met with a resounding yes.
I was afraid Lindy might not want Evie’s first Christmas to be overshadowed by our wedding, but she assured me that seeing us get married would be the best holiday ever.
There’s something so magical and wonderful about Christmas, and I feel the same about getting a second chance at love.
I simply can’t wait.
As the three of us near the library steps, I glance up at the lights twinkling overhead and the streetlamps wrapped in greenery.
As one of his mayoral decrees, Wolf Waters insisted that fresh mistletoe be hung in front of every single business and over each doorway.
I think his marriage to Kyoko has only highlighted his romantic side.
The night he won the election, he joked that he was going to start promoting the town by claiming people who come visit will find themselves married within the year. It’s honestly not so far off. There does seem to be something in the air in Sheet Cake.
We’ll have no shortage of weddings in the coming months with Collin and Molly, Chevy and Val, and Deacon and Kalli all working to set dates without being right on top of each other.
Tank joked that they should have a triple wedding in the town’s gazebo, and I think Chevy actually thought this might be a practical way to handle it.
“Here we go,” Val says, as we reach the top of the library steps. She grabs one of the heavy doorknobs, and Winnie beats me to the other.
“After you,” Winnie says.
I’m not going to protest. My nose and the tips of my ears are freezing, and not for the first time, I remind myself that in a little over a week, I’ll be with Tank sailing over the warm waters of the western Caribbean.
The thought is so distracting that it takes me a moment to realize what I’ve walked into.
I may not have ever attended before, but this is clearly no ordinary LLLS meeting.
The library’s lights are off and the large space is lit by electric candles on the curved staircase, the circulation desk, and the tops of bookshelves.
But there are also strings of pink lights stretching across the room and pink and silver balloons.
And every single woman in town, it seems, is standing inside, grinning at me.
Winnie and Val come up from behind, one on either side of me.
Val drops her head on my shoulder. “Rose, welcome to your very first Ladies Literary and Libation Society meeting, which also happens to be a wedding shower for you.”
Chelsea pops up from behind where Lynn Louise is perched on the circulation desk. She beams at me, and a moment later, I notice the Emilys off to the side with Lindy and Evie.
“I can’t believe this!” I say, torn between feeling elated and embarrassed that so much attention is focused on me.
But Lynn Louise doesn’t give me time to overthink it. She bangs her gavel on the circulation desk and raises her voice. “Welcome to a very special meeting of the Ladies Literary and Libation and”—she pauses and gives me a mischievous grin—“Lingerie Society!”
“What?” I ask as Winnie and Val usher me into the library, where I can see they’ve set up a special chair strung with pink roses. Chelsea and the Emilys intercept me, and we hug quickly because Eula Martin waves her hands to hurry us along.
“You said we couldn’t throw you a bachelorette party,” Winnie says. “But you didn’t say anything about a shower.”
“A lingerie shower,” Chelsea adds with a giggle, putting a glass of pink champagne in my hand. “And I’m going to enjoy this even if I have to scrub any mental images of my mother actually wearing any of the lingerie for Tank.”
Lynn Louise, clearly not one for wasting time, bangs her gavel again. “Let’s call this meeting to order!” she shouts, and all around the room, my friends and family and the women of Sheet Cake raise their champagne glasses, calling back, “Order is served!”
a little over a week later
Squinting, I lean over the balcony, trying to figure out what I just saw skimming over the blue water below. It almost looked like a bug, but we’re staying on Deck 15, which means whatever’s down there is probably much bigger than it appears.
A flash of movement, and there it is again. This time, I see three thin, silver bodies emerge almost in unison, skimming over the top of the water before dipping below once more. I gasp.
“Theo!” I call through the open balcony door. “You’ve got to get out here—I think I just saw flying fish!”
His voice is muffled through the bathroom door. “Be right out!”
I rest my arms on the wooden railing and drop my chin onto them, training my eyes on the water below.
Now that I’ve spotted them, I see flying fish everywhere.
Sometimes one, other times in groups of twos or threes.
Once, six of them appear together. They really do look tiny, and I make a mental note to look up how big they actually are later.
We decided not to get the Wi-Fi package so we could enjoy this seven-day cruise totally uninterrupted.
I had no idea how addicted to my phone I was until now.
The first day of cruising, both Tank and I laughed at how often we reflexively reached for what is, for now, pretty much limited to a fancy camera and the cruise app for ordering food and drinks.
I don’t even bother trying to take a picture of the flying fish. If I can barely see them, they won’t show up in a photo. Which makes me simply enjoy this moment, relishing in the warm air, the sun on my face and arms, and the sight of nothing but blue, blue water.
I only wish Tank were out here with me.
He disappeared into the bathroom a few minutes ago, and I don’t really want to bug him.
We both showered this morning—not together considering the shower is barely large enough for one—and there are only so many other reasons someone would spend time in there.
This is new enough for us that talking about bathroom business is still not common.
We spent our very first night together after a Christmas morning wedding, officiated by none other than Wolf Waters, who surprised us with another fun fact: he’s been ordained to perform weddings in Texas for years.
Did we expect him to perform the wedding in a full Santa suit? No.
And while I might have said this would take away from the sanctity of a wedding ceremony had he thought to ask (which he definitely did not), somehow, it only made the occasion more joyous and festive.
When the weather turned warmer, climbing up to almost seventy, Tank and I decided to hold the ceremony right on Pat and Lindy’s back porch underneath some mistletoe someone hung there moments before.
Which meant in addition to our family and friends—including the Emilys as well as Val, Chevy, Kyoko, Kalli, and Deacon—we had the two dogs running around as well as James and Winnie’s one-eyed orange cat.
(Yes, the same one who stole one of my cupcakes in October!)
A Santa-clad mayor marrying us seemed completely appropriate.