Epilogue
FOUR MONTHS LATER
TRAVIS
He was late, and that was unacceptable.
Rachel was expecting him for dinner, but he’d gotten caught up with a supplier at the office.
Finally off the phone, he grabbed his wallet and his keys and headed out the door.
“Travis,” his mother called.
He tried the box-breathing thing Rachel had showed him. It never really seemed to work.
“Try this for me, sweetie.” She lifted a toaster tart to his mouth.
He shook his head. “I’m late. Gotta get to Rachel.”
“One bite. Tell me what you think.” Evelyn tried again, holding the pastry only millimeters from his mouth. “It’s for the airline.”
“Seriously, I’ll try it later.”
“When is the last time you ate?” she asked, following him as he moved to the elevator, still holding the tart to his mouth.
“Lunch, Mama.” He pressed the button to call the elevator.
“You go too long between meals.” She did not move the pastry from in front of his mouth.
“There’s a correlation between sugary treats and the pleasure center of the brain.
One bite produces oxytocin, dopamine, and raises your serotonin levels.
I think if you ate the product we produce more often, you’d be a much happier man. ”
He was a very happy man, thank you.
She didn’t move the pastry from his mouth. Fine.
He took a bite. Then he gagged.
Her newest Puffle Yum creation was not good. At all.
Pastry dough with some kind of cream filling that held a ridiculously unappealing mouthfeel. The mini chocolate chips in the filling were not helping matters at all.
“What is in that?” he asked, barely able to swallow the concoction.
“Cinnamon toast with chocolate cannoli filling,” she said with pride, as though this were a good thing. “The perfect pie for the sky.”
Travis did not believe in putting cannoli in a pop-up toaster. He had some standards. He also had dinner plans with Rachel.
“Let’s rethink this one.” He gave the remaining tart a glare before stepping into the elevator.
He beat foot out of the office. Then he hit every construction zone in downtown Denver while wishing he had grabbed a bottle of water to delete the taste of the toaster tart from his tongue.
He had texted Rachel before he left the office, but she didn’t respond.
Not that he expected her to, given that she’d made a new habit of keeping her phone away from the dinner table.
Rachel now preferred to give her full focus to whatever it was she was doing.
This new philosophy of hers worked out well for him, quite often. Especially when they were together in her bedroom.
“Rachel?” he called from the front door of her house, toeing off his shoes.
Usually, her house was filled to the brim with noise, and kids, and dogs when he arrived. Tonight it was quiet. Lately, Brady had been the first to barrel into him because they’d been going flying on the weekends.
Brady was a natural.
Rachel had warmed to the flying. She said something about how Brady had found his “thing” and she would embrace it.
The look on the kid’s face was all smiles when he talked about his favorite airplanes—to anyone who would listen.
Embracing her son’s adoration of aviation did not, however, mean going up in the single engines herself.
Yet. Travis still held hope. Probably misplaced hope, given Rachel’s unwavering thoughts on the subject.
Gavin even tagged along at the airport sometimes to see what all the fuss was about with Brady’s new extracurricular activity. Now, he would actually get in the planes. He got a kick out of it when Brady showed him the ropes.
And he hadn’t missed any of Kellan’s games that season, at all.
Dare Travis say that for the first time his family was… normal? Totally, obnoxiously normal.
“Over here,” Rachel called from the dining room.
“Sorry I’m late, I got caught up and lost track of…”
He came around the corner to the dining room and paused. Rachel had set the table with her good dishes—and only for two. With candles. And they were lit. The boys must not have been on the premises, because there was no way she would’ve put fire right in front of them.
“Hey.” She fidgeted with the fork beside one of the plates.
She was all decked out in a little back slip of a dress that made him want to immediately peel it off so he could get a glimpse of what lay underneath.
She’d tucked her hair up into a mess of curls that he guessed took her forever to create, because her hair was definitely not of the curled variety. Most of all, she seemed…nervous.
“What’s going on?” He moved to her and kissed her firmly on the mouth.
She melted against him like she always did when he kissed her.
“I…” She heaved a deep breath. “Okay, so I have a little gift for you. I don’t want it to be a huge deal.
You don’t even have to accept it. But the boys and I talked, and we all decided that it made sense.
They spent all morning helping me clean out the garage.
” The words spilled from her lips and made no sense at all.
“Rach.” He placed his hands against her shoulders. “What are you talking about?”
She handed him a small wrapped box from the middle of the table.
“This is for you. It’s not just from me, though.
It’s from all of us, but they’re not here because Gavin took the boys to your parents’ house so you and I could have the night alone.
He said something about your mom and cannoli. I stopped listening at that point.”
A night alone with Rachel was a rare treat. A night alone with Rachel made him plot what they’d do next.
Spoiler, it probably wouldn’t involve food.
Then again, maybe it might…
“Does that mean we get to have a sleepover?” he asked, hoping his eyes held the glimmer of excitement he felt in his bones.
Rachel nodded toward the box. “Open the box.”
He ripped off the paper and held up a garage door opener. He raised his eyebrows.
“There’s now room in the garage for your car. And there’s this—” She handed him a large framed sign that matched the others she’d made for the house.
Turning it over, he studied the craftmanship. The vinyl words she’d added to the cream background read, The Perfect Blend: Travis, Rachel, Kellan, Brady.
“It’s for the entryway. So everyone knows you live here, too.” She was wringing her hands again.
His pulse started pounding in his ears. Did she mean…?
“If you want to live here, too,” she added quickly.
He stood in stunned quiet. She wanted this?
Yes, of course, he wanted this, but he hadn’t been certain that she wanted this.
“Ask me again,” she whispered, knocking him out of his funk.
Travis’s heart did a ka-thump that he was pretty sure wasn’t healthy.
“Rachel.” Her name on his lips came with a heavy dose of southern that he wasn’t able to filter out, even if he’d wanted to. He stared at the sign she’d made like she’d crafted it from gold and diamonds instead of reclaimed wood and vinyl.
“I’m ready now,” she continued.
She didn’t look ready. She looked nervous as all hell, what with the way she worried her bottom lip and continued to wring her hands.
Then she crossed her arms at her middle, and that was unacceptable.
She didn’t have to hold herself up alone anymore. They held each other up now.
Until that moment it’d been an unspoken agreement, but it seemed like it was time to make it more formal.
He stepped into her personal space, slowly, because it felt like she might run. And if she ran, it wasn’t because she wanted to, it was because she put herself out there to him and Rachel was not used to making herself vulnerable like this.
Tilting her face up with a fingertip under her chin, he asked, “Marry me, Rach?”
A heavy teardrop fell from her eye. “Yes.”
So that’s what it felt like to hear a yes. His heart squeezed tight and gravity felt lighter. Pretty damn amazing.
He pulled her close for a hug, holding her while she held him.
“What else do you need from me?” Travis asked, holding her tight against his chest.
“Just you,” she said against his shirt, without hesitation.
“Okay.” He closed his eyes a little.
She smiled and looped her arms around his neck, bringing her lips right to his. “What do you need from me?”
“Just you,” he said, just as quickly as she’d said it.
“Okay.” She gave a small laugh and snuggled closer.
“I think I love you a little, Trav,” she said against his collarbone.
He moved his hand to the back of her head, holding her close. “I think I love you a whole lot, Rach.”
Then he kissed her, to illustrate exactly how much. And it was perfection.