Epilogue
Three months later
Dell woke to the smell of bacon, coffee, and something sweet but a little bit burnt. She sat up in bed and noted the space
beside her was empty. With a sniff of the morning air, she knew precisely what was happening. A loud clang shooting up the
stairs confirmed her suspicion.
“Cole? Are you burning down my kitchen?” she called with a smile.
There was another clang, a pained hiss, and a few swear words before the sound of Cole’s footsteps coming up the stairs. He
rounded the corner into her bedroom carrying a tray balanced with whatever he’d concocted downstairs.
“No. I’m bringing you breakfast in bed,” he said with a lazy smile. His shaggy hair was still mussed from sleep. He wore a
rumpled Cal T-shirt and a pair of low-slung sweatpants clinging in all the right places.
Dell bit her lip at the sight. And the food.
“Is this part of your continued effort to get me to—and this is a direct quote—chill out on weekends?” she asked as he brought the tray to her bedside.
“Am I that obvious?”
“As transparent as a ghost,” she said with a sly grin.
He set the tray down and leaned in to kiss her cheek. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled his mouth to hers.
“I will happily stay in bed all day if you stay with me,” she purred in a low voice.
Heat flashed in his dark eyes. “I see my scheming is paying off. But we can’t stay in bed all day. Lunch with your parents,
remember?”
“Right,” Dell said, genuinely happy to be spending time with her family instead of working. Cole had helped her realize the
importance, given he knew what it was like to lose his loved ones. Her parents already loved him, and she knew in her heart
it was because she loved him. He wasn’t a box to check but rather someone she truly wanted to build a life with, and her parents couldn’t ask
for anything more for her.
She hungrily watched him round to his side of the bed and slide back beneath the sheets. She nibbled on a piece of bacon with
a smile.
They’d fallen into an easy rhythm since that day on the ski slope. For as long as they could stand it, they feigned taking
it slow for the sake of everyone else in their lives who would reasonably have difficulty understanding the truth. Jason was
the only person who knew the whole story. Dell had to tell someone, and the safest someone was the person who’d believed her from the start. She’d also casually planted the seed of Jason becoming
her business partner, and found a business school brochure on his desk a week later.
Now, she was happily cartwheeling through the bliss of getting to know Cole and already being in love with him. And touching him. And introducing him to her family and friends. And cooking for him. And laying her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat.
One of his many talents was getting her to actually slow down. And with him, she wanted to go slow. She wanted every day to last an eternity simply to have more time with him. He’d awoken a peaceful calm in her,
and Sundays in bed had become her favorite thing.
She finished her piece of bacon and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Thank you for breakfast.”
“You bet,” he said, and reached for his tablet on the nightstand—an actual earthly tablet, not one provided by the Afterlife
Administration.
“No working,” she scolded when she saw him open his email.
“I’m not. I’m just seeing if there’s anything urgent.”
“Urgent in the land of English literature on a Sunday morning?”
He shot her a smirk that she wanted to kiss off his face. “You never know.”
Dell shrugged and picked up her fork to cut a bite of pancake. Cole had sliced strawberries into little fans on top. “Nice
presentation.”
“I learned from the best,” he said, and scrolled his tablet screen.
She’d given him a few cooking lessons over the past few months, but most of them ended up in seductively feeding each other
ingredients until the meal was forsaken and/or burned.
Dell’s phone rang from her nightstand. When she reached for it, Cole clucked his tongue in disapproval.
“No working,” he parroted.
“It’s my brothers,” she said, and pulled the phone away when he tried to reach for it. He surrendered and stole a piece of bacon off her plate instead. “Hello?” Dell answered.
“Turn on the news,” Alex greeted. She knew it was Alex because she’d taken great care over the past months to memorize the
slight difference in her brothers’ voices. Alex’s was pitched a tad lower.
“Why? What’s up?” she responded, and reached for the TV’s remote. “Good morning by the way.”
“Good morning. Looks like your tip on the mayor’s finances paid off,” Alex said. The grin in his voice was audible.
Dell’s heart leaped. “Wait, really?” She jabbed at the remote to find a local news station and threw Cole an excited glance.
“What is it?” he asked.
“The mayor. Alex says there’s something on the news about her finances.”
Cole sat up, suddenly alert.
When they’d come back to life, as much as she’d wanted to, Dell couldn’t outright accuse the mayor and Tommy of conspiracy
to murder her, because she and Tommy had only recently met. Instead, Dell had planted the seed with her brothers to use their
resources to look into the mayor’s finances.
Now, Dell looked at her TV to see a reporter standing outside city hall, and Evelyn being marched down the front steps alongside
Tommy in handcuffs. The reporter narrated. “We’re coming to you live from city hall, where it has been discovered that Mayor
Moratto has been embezzling city money. You can see behind me both she and her son, Thomas Moratto, a member of her staff,
being escorted out of the building in police custody. Both mother and son will face charges for financial fraud.”
“And murder,” Dell muttered.
Cole shot her a look.
“What was that?” Alex asked over the phone.
“Nothing,” she quickly covered. “But I’m glad to see justice being served. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Of course. I’m still curious how you knew they were up to no good.”
“Call it a hunch,” she said as her face burned. “I’ve got to go. Cole made me breakfast in bed.”
“Good guy,” Alex said like he was nodding in approval.
“He is. Tell Andy hi,” Dell said, knowing her other brother was most likely in earshot of their conversation.
“I will. Happy Sunday, sis.”
“Bye.” She ended the call and tossed her phone on the bed with a sigh. “Well, glad to see that worked out and there aren’t
two conspiring murderers out there on the loose.”
“Mm-hmm,” Cole said like he was distracted.
“What is it?” she asked when she saw him looking at his tablet with a curious bend to his brow.
“Um. It’s an email.”
The tone of his voice set off an uneasy tingle in her belly.
“Oh? There really is an English lit emergency going on?” She scooted closer to read.
“No. It’s from . . . Beatrice.”
The name felt like a meteor crash-landing on their peaceful bed.
“What?!” Dell shrieked, truly shocked. “How is that even possible?” Her heart was suddenly thundering. Every day since they’d escaped,
the small fear they’d be somehow zapped back to the afterlife crouched in the back of her mind. If Beatrice was emailing Cole
now, the message could not be a good one.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Cole said, and gently took her shaking arm. “It’s not bad. Here, look.” He turned the tablet so she could read.
Mr. Lewis,
I am breaching protocol by contacting you, but the number of breaches associated with you are too high to count anymore, so
what is one more? Your and Ms. Rodgers’s unsanctioned exit is punishable by permanent return. However, you finally demonstrated
the type of initiative and courage I’d been hoping to foster when you were under my supervision as an employee. It would be
hypocritical of me not to respect your decision, despite it being entirely against protocol. After much internal discussion,
and in exchange for your discretion, I am granting you permission to remain on earth for the rest of your natural life. As
for Ms. Rodgers, she is truly remarkable, as evidenced by her life on earth and ability to facilitate a successful reverse-transition.
I doubt I can convince either of you to come back, but should she want a position with the administration, we could always
use someone of her exceptional talent.
Until we meet again,
Beatrice
Dell blinked at the message after reading it twice. “They’re offering me a job?” she said with a laugh.
“Apparently. Please don’t take it,” Cole said. His grin was full of the same relief Dell was feeling.
She couldn’t even fathom how this email made its way to Cole’s inbox, but she’d stopped trying to make sense of things she
knew she’d never understand. All that mattered was what the message said.
“So, we’re in the clear, then?” she asked.
“Sounds like it. They probably just don’t want to deal with the paperwork—”
He couldn’t finish his sentence before Dell tackled him against the pillows. Everything on her breakfast tray jumped when
she bumped it with her knee. She didn’t care if she spilled coffee and syrup all over her bed. They were free. The worry their days together were numbered dissolved as she pressed her mouth to Cole’s.
“I love you, and I’m glad you don’t follow rules anymore,” she said.
“I love you, and I’m glad I accidentally transitioned you.”
“Well, now you have the rest of our lives to make it up to me.”
“I am happy to start right now,” he said, and pulled her against his chest.
She squeezed herself to him and looked up. His dreamy brown eyes caught her gaze like she’d tossed it to him.
As happened every time she looked at him, the rest of the world faded away, and it was just the two of them. Brought together
and torn apart, only to be reunited once more. This time on the path that was always meant to be.