Epilogue
EPILOGUE
JORDAN
November
At the loud crash and Jo’s muttered, “Shit,” I stroll through a maze of half-unpacked boxes into the bedroom.
Our bedroom.
That makes me smile almost as much as the sight in front of me. Jo stands with her back to me and her arms crossed, her foot tapping out an irritated rhythm.
“I told you that you didn’t need to pack the hangers, Jo Jo.”
She spins around, narrowing her eyes at me. I know it’s wrong to smile in this moment but fuck, I just love every damn inch of her, right down to her high, messy ponytail, flannel pants, Game of Bones sweatshirt, and exasperated scowl.
“Well, what was I supposed to do with them?” she asks, glaring at the overturned packing box and the black plastic hangers covering the bedroom floor as if they personally wronged her. “Hangers are the stupidest things on the planet. They’re big and shaped weird, making them impossible to reasonably fit into a garbage bag to throw away, and it seemed strange to just leave them in the closet in my old house. But now we have those fancy padded hangers Elliot brought over, so all I have is a box full of inferior hangers, except I don’t even have that because the box broke and, well—” She gestures to the floor.
My smile spreads because irritated, rambling Jo is my favorite Jo. I’m in front of her in two strides, framing her face with my hands and pressing my mouth to hers. The kiss sends a bolt of lust through me, and I groan when she stands up on her tiptoes, sweeping her tongue into my mouth to tangle with mine. It’s always this way with us, and I hope it never changes. I know in my bones that it won’t.
“I love you,” I say against her lips. “I’ll take care of disposing of the hateful hangers. Besides, if Elliot sees a plastic hanger, he’ll start lecturing us about how closets owned by adults require adult hangers.”
Jo laughs, wrapping her arms around me and laying her head on my chest. “He really does have a lot of opinions on organization, which is good because I have none.”
“You and me both,” I say, leaning my head against hers and breathing in her cupcake scent, feeling every single part of me settle. It’s been six weeks since the morning I showed up at her apartment, and I still feel like there is no amount of her that will ever be enough. It might have something to do with the fact that we spent most of those six weeks apart while I had to be in Boston for work, and she took care of some final things at the museum and got ready to move. It felt like forever, but as of last night, we are both officially here for good, and everything in me is lighter at the thought of making this place ours. “I ordered pizza,” I murmur against her hair. “I have no clue where any kitchen stuff is, and I don’t feel like finding it tonight when I could be spending the night wrapped around you instead.”
Jo kisses my chest and leans back, grinning at me. “You are the perfect man. You got the dipping sauces, right?”
I scoff, leaning in to kiss her again. “Like I would forget your pizza crust dipping sauces.”
“Like I said, the perfect man.” Jo grins at me, pulls away, and saunters out of the bedroom. “I’m setting up a blanket fort in the living room,” she says over her shoulder. “I feel like the first night in our new house deserves an epic blanket fort.”
“Jo Jo, you are the perfect girl.”
“Oh, I know,” she calls, and thirty seconds later, I hear the sound of a box being cut open and her rummaging around. Our stuff is mostly everywhere, and at this point, it’ll probably take weeks to get everything unpacked and organized, but I couldn’t care less. Because Jo is here and so am I, and we’re making this life together, and nothing will ever be better than that. Besides, if we wait long enough to unpack, Elliot will probably just do it for us, and I can really get behind that.
“Uh, Jordan?”
Jo’s voice is confused, and I head into the living room to find her. When I get there, she’s standing, frozen in front of an open box, staring at a single piece of paper in her hand.
“What’s up, Hurricane?”
Jo whirls around, holding up the piece of paper. “Why does this letter say you made a five-million-dollar donation to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, earmarked for the kids’ programs I created?”
I smile and shrug, sauntering towards her. “Because I did.”
Jo opens her mouth and closes it, eyes bouncing from the paper to me and back again. I can see her brain working like she’s trying to decide what question to ask first. I wait her out. This wasn’t exactly how I anticipated her finding out about this, but I’m a more go-with-the-flow kind of guy these days, so I’m rolling with it.
“Why?” is all she manages, still staring at me wide-eyed.
I tug her towards the couch that sits right in the middle of the room waiting for us to find its permanent location and pull her down with me so she’s sitting sideways on my lap. I brush her hair back from her face and keep my eyes on her. “Because I can.”
Jo turns so she’s straddling me. “You have five million dollars?”
Shrugging, I settle my hands on her hips. “I have a lot more than that. Remember the estate planning I told you I was meeting with Molly about?”
Jo nods, putting the letter down on the couch and linking her hands around my neck.
“It had to do with a trust Allie and I were in the process of setting up. No one knows this except for Molly, but Allie invented something before she died. It’s a kind of patch made with stem cells that can heal the hearts of kids suffering from a certain kind of heart failure, eliminating the need for a heart transplant.”
“Holy shit, J,” Jo breathes. “That’s incredible. So freaking badass. And it works?”
I nod, the awe in Jo’s eyes for Allie’s brilliance sending warmth straight through me. “It does. Allie filed the patent for it, and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh bought it from her. She put the proceeds of the sale into the trust Molly set up, and when she died, the trust passed to me. It’s…kind of an insane amount of money. More than I would ever need. I have it because Allie dedicated her life to healing kids, and I wanted to do something with some of the money that would honor that.”
“So you donated it to the museum?” Jo’s voice is thick with the unshed tears in her eyes as I see her putting the pieces together.
I swipe my thumb along her cheek, wiping away a tear that escapes. “I donated it to your programs. What you created is incredibly special, Jo. You gave thousands of kids a safe place to learn and grow and explore. You made the museum accessible to kids who would otherwise never have the opportunity to step through those doors, and you made science fun. Some of those kids will become doctors who will make the next lifesaving discovery, and they’ll do it because you showed them they could. Six weeks ago, you told me your only hesitation about leaving the museum was that you wouldn’t be there to quarterback the enormous fundraising effort it takes to keep the programs running. Now you don’t have to worry about it, and you can focus on all the amazing work you’re doing now.”
“But…” Jo shakes her head. “That’s five years of operating expenses.”
I smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I know. I worked with the museum to structure the donation. This is just the first part of it. The museum shouldn’t have to fundraise for the operating expenses for your programs ever again.”
Jo closes her eyes, tears spilling over, clinging to her dark lashes. She has never looked more beautiful. “I love you so fucking much, J. You are the best person I have ever known. I can’t believe you did this.”
I wipe away more of her tears. “I love you more than you could possibly imagine. Jo Jo, some people don’t even get one great love of their life. I’m lucky enough to have two. Two brilliant, badass women who have done incredible things in their careers. It feels exactly right to use this money I have because of what Allie created to fund what you created with your brilliant, creative badassery. I think Allie would approve.”
“Damn right she would,” Jo says, leaning in and kissing me softly. “Let’s tell her next time we go see her.”
I smile, thinking of the trips we’ve taken together to visit Allie. The way Jo always gives me some time at Allie’s grave by myself before she joins me. The way we sit there together for a while talking about everything and nothing. The way Jo asks me to give her time alone with Allie before we leave. For girl talk, J , she always says. I never ask her what she talks to Allie about during those moments, and she never tells me. It’s for them and them alone. Maybe it should feel weird to go visit Allie with Jo, but it never does. It feels exactly, perfectly right.
“Definitely,” I say, taking Jo’s mouth in a longer, slower kiss that has lust shooting straight to my dick. Jo rocks over me, gasping into my mouth.
“How much time until the pizza gets here?” she asks, voice drenched in arousal.
I grip her hips, moving her over me, trailing my lips down her jaw, flicking my tongue over the spot behind her ear that makes her gasp again. “Enough time for me to get you off at least once. Twice if we really commit.”
“I am so committed,” Jo practically moans as she drops her hands to my hips, trailing her fingers under my shirt and tilting her head to give me better access to her neck.
She’s just about to tug my shirt over my head when the front door of the apartment flies open, dumping a proverbial bucket of cold water over us.
“Hey, neighbors,” Elliot says, barreling in with Noah and Cooper behind him.
“Shit,” I say against Jo’s neck. “Why did we think this was a good living situation?”
Jo laughs quietly. “Something something we really love your brothers?”
“Not right this minute I don’t,” I mutter, pressing another kiss to Jo’s soft skin, trying to ignore the fact that half my family is currently in my living room. “Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll just go away.”
“Jordan, honey, kiss the girl on your own time.”
“This was my own time,” I mumble, even as I smile at the sound of my grandmother’s voice. Glancing up, my smile spreads. She’s standing with her hands on her hips and a gleam in her eye as she looks at Jo and me wrapped together. Her gray curls are wild, and she’s wearing purple glasses and a brightly colored caftan despite the fact that it’s November and freezing outside.
“Cece!” Jo squeals, jumping off my lap and straight into my grandmother’s arms. They met a few weeks ago when Jo came up to Boston for a weekend and, surprising absolutely no one, they became fast friends.
“Cockblocked by your own grandma,” Noah says, plopping down on the couch and swinging an arm around me. “Super sucks to be you right now.”
Elliot drops pizza boxes down on the coffee table. “Thanks for ordering dinner.”
“I didn’t order it for you,” I say, giving him an unimpressed look, even though I actually did order two extra pizzas, assuming there was no way all my brothers would stay away on our first night here. After seeing them only sporadically for so long, and never in Boston, I can’t bring myself to be anything but happy about them being here right now, even though I make a mental note to lock the door more often.
It's a brother thing.
“Look at you,” Cooper says, massive smile on his face. “You’re practically beaming.”
I shrug, flipping open one of the pizza boxes and grabbing a slice. “What’s not to be happy about?”
Elliot hands me a real plate that must have come from his apartment because I haven’t found ours yet in the zillion boxes. “You’re a grown ass man, Jordan. Use a fucking plate.” He sits down on my other side, grabbing his own slice. “It’s really good to see you happy. And here.”
“Isn’t it?” Jo asks, grinning as she plops back in my lap and takes the plate Elliot hands her. “I think Boston looks good on Jordan.”
I wrap an arm around her waist and tug her back against me. “Boston looks good on both of us.”
“It sure does,” Cece says, perching on one of the packing boxes. “Have I told you how ecstatic I am to have both of you here? I love seeing all my boys in one place. Your grandfather is so happy you all found your way back here.”
“How do you know?” Noah asks, winking at Jo, and I roll my eyes because I know exactly why he asked the question and what’s coming.
Cece smiles serenely. “Well, he told me just this morning. His spirit paid me a visit while I was having my breakfast, and we had a lovely chat.”
Jo leans forward, and I can feel her grin without seeing it. “I’m glad he’s happy. This feels like such a happy place to live. I love it here already.”
I tighten my arm around Jo because I know she’s not just saying that to placate Cece. She really feels it, and I do too.
Cece nods seriously. “The house loves you, too, Jo. You were meant to be right here, right now.”
Cece’s gaze drifts around the living room, and all of a sudden, she jumps up, a broad smile on her face. “Oh, my god, is this the famous Dippy?” She walks over to Dippy’s habitat sitting on an end table we haven’t figured out what to do with yet. The fish tank that houses our plastic dinosaur is bigger than it used to be. Jo decided since we were getting an upgrade in the form of a Back Bay brownstone, he deserved an upgrade too. His new tank has a ceramic replica of the Carnegie Museum that Jo had made, along with souvenirs from our Summer of Fun.
“The one and only,” Jo says, glancing over at the tank with a smile. Today, Dippy is wearing a scarf covered in Paul Revere hats to celebrate our move to Boston.
Cece reaches into the tank and pats him on his little plastic head. “I’m so happy to meet the little guy who’s been wearing all the scarves I made.”
Jo sits straight up, and I wince as the secret I’ve been keeping since April reverberates around the living room. “What do you mean, the scarves you made?”
Cece shrugs, the sparkle in her eye telling me she knows exactly what she’s doing right now. “Back in April, Jordan started asking me to make him tiny scarves. I like to make clothes when I get the chance, and I love a bit of whimsy, so when he explained what the scarves were for, of course, I agreed. I’ve sent him more every few weeks since then. Our Dippy has a very impressive wardrobe, if I do say so myself.”
Jo turns slowly on my lap until she’s looking at me, and when she speaks, her voice is low, laced with a bit of disbelief. “You were getting all of Dippy’s scarves from your grandma?”
I nod, grinning sheepishly. “Tying those scarves around his neck and taking a picture every morning was the first real fun I had had in so long, and it made you happy. Even all the way back in the spring, when I didn’t understand what it meant, I wanted to do whatever I could to make you happy. I think we were always going to end up right here, Jo. You and me, together.”
Jo’s eyes go soft, and she leans forward, pressing her forehead to mine. “Holy shit, J. How are you even real?”
Noah lets out a low whistle. “Seriously, Jordan. That is simp level behavior.”
Cooper slaps him across the back of the head. “Don’t be an asshole. That’s peak romance.”
“Sure is,” Elliot says, reaching for another piece of pizza, a hint of wistfulness in his voice that Jo must hear too because she sits up and turns to Elliot.
“Any luck with the girl from the plane?”
El just shakes his head. “Nope. I think it’s time to face the fact that I’ll never find her and chalk the plane up to a moment in time, never to be repeated.”
Cece shakes her head. “Elliot Wyles, I’m disappointed in you. Have a little faith, honey. The universe has amazing things in store for you.” She glances at us, spending an extra moment on each of my brothers. “For all of you. I know it for sure.”
My brothers all start talking at once, and impressively, Cece holds separate conversations with all three of them, all at the same time. All of their noise fades to the background when I spin Jo back around on my lap to face me, brushing my hand down her jaw, her neck, over her collarbone, not able to get enough of touching her. So happy that she’s here and she’s mine. Jo’s eyes gleam with understanding as she brushes my hair back from my forehead and settles her hand on my cheek.
“I love you so much, J. We are going to make such a good life here.”
I lean in and kiss her deeply, caring not at all that my brothers are scattered all over our living room. “You’re with me, so it’s already a good life. The very, very best life, and it’s only going to get better from here. I love you, Hurricane. Forever.”
“Forever,” Jo whispers, laying her head on my shoulder. I press a kiss to the top of her head, love rushing through me, and I know, without a doubt, that just like Cece said, we are exactly, perfectly, right where we are supposed to be.
THE END
Want more of Jordan and Jo? Get their bonus epilogue here .