“It’s not that I’ll never want anything from there,” she said, dropping the wide-open hint to see his response.
He pulled her against him, kissed her hard enough to make her forget where she was. “The only thing I’m scared of anymore is being without you. I’m not running. One day, I’ll give you exactly what you want from there or anywhere else you choose.”
Tears burned her eyes. Needing to lighten the mood, she gestured toward the dome-covered dishes. “Well then? What’s the surprise?”
He held her chair for her, lifted the dome. A small heart-shaped chocolate cake sat in the center. In cursive, H.S. + W.J. was written on its top. She laughed then noticed the laminated page beneath the cake. Lifting it by the base, she set it aside and picked up what looked like a glossy magazine insert.
“What is this?” she mused, looking at it, her smile growing with every second. It was a quiz. Like one of the ones Fiona’s magazines published.
Wes sat beside her. “I already took it.”
He had—he’d circled his answers for each question. The title was, “Are You in Love?”
There were ten questions, each asking about varying situations that were personal to Wes and Hailey.
She laughed at number three: Would you give her your last piece of chocolate? He’d circled Without a doubt. Number five asked: Are you willing to be vulnerable if it means proving how much you care? Again, he’d answered Without a doubt.
When she got to the end, there were three options for answers:
□?You might as well walk around with a shirt that says, “Yes, I’m in love”
□?You are so in love you’re walking around with cartoon hearts in your eyes
□?You are utterly, absolutely, fully and completely, irreversibly and forever in love.
She looked at Wes through her tears. “Those are some options.”
“Read the one I got,” he said, pointing to what he’d circled based on his answers.
Clearing her throat, determined not to cry, she read, “You are utterly, absolutely, fully and completely, irreversibly and forever in love. While this could be scary to someone like you, you are smart enough to know that storms can be weathered together, that everything is better with Hailey at your side, that she’s more than a friend, she’s the person who sees you, makes you see yourself and pushes you for more. You’re in the ‘first person I want to talk to every day and last person I want to talk to every night’ kind of love. This kind of love is not to be taken lightly. It’s real and it’s not going anywhere.”
The page shook in her hand as a few more tears escaped. “Did Fiona help you with this?”
He nodded. “Yes. She helped me and made it sound a lot better than I could. For future reference, she’s a harsh editor. But every bit of it, of all of them actually, is true. I love you, Hailey. I’m sorry it took me so long to say it back.”
She threw her arms around him, hugged him tightly as she kissed his neck. “I love you, too. And you know me well enough to know I’m a big fan of the phrase ‘better late than never.’”
With his arms wrapped around her, the music still on the same song, and the lights dancing in the early dusk, Hailey no longer wondered what happily ever after looked like. It would look like whatever they made it, together.
Epilogue
August the following year
Hailey bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t cry. Everly looked like a princess in her white gown. With a sweetheart neckline, the elegantly classic shape of the A-line skirt, and the custom-made, silver, sparkly Converse, Everly belonged in a magazine titled Wedding Day Perfection. Her hair was pulled back off her face with thin tendrils softly falling.
“Is it weird I’m more nervous about walking down the aisle than I am about getting married?” She stared in the beveled mirror while Stacey, in a gorgeous navy body-hugging dress, double-checked Everly’s back snaps.
“No. You hate being on display. Just remember that the only people in the room that matter are you and Chris. Your dad—if he can stop crying—will hold you up if you feel faint. Count the steps like we practiced.”
Everly nodded repeatedly. When she turned, spread her arms wide as if to say, “Well?” Hailey and Grace gripped each other’s hands.
“You’re perfection, Evs.” Grace, whose dress was similar but not identical to Stacey’s, said, a linen handkerchief clutched in her other hand.
“There are not enough words to adequately describe how incredible you look,” Hailey added.
Everly huffed out a breath, put a hand to her stomach. “Okay. I can do this.” Then her face broke into a grin that made her eyes shine brighter than the sun or the moon. “I get to do this. I get to marry Chris.”
Stacey waved a hand in front of her face. “Argh. Stop. No tears. I will not cry.”
Everly nudged her friend with her hip. “You’ll break by the end.”
Stacey handed out champagne flutes so they could toast the bride. When they finished, Hailey gave each of them a quick hug so she could slip out, get to her seat. She was excited to see Wes in his tux. The small wedding was mostly family, with just a few friends.
Hailey had only briefly met Wes’s sister that morning when she’d flown in with Wes’s mom. A smile stretched her lips. His mom was cool. There were other words to describe her: funny, elegant, genuine, but cool captured it all. Hailey had learned within a half hour of meeting her landlord last year that if she hadn’t wanted to buy the shops, she wouldn’t have. Not even for one of her sons. She also learned the woman had a keen business sense of her own.
She and Hailey were investing, together, in Leo, who would run By the Cup’s food truck. This new venture was one more thrilling piece of her life that, some days, didn’t feel real.
Heading down the hall, she heard the murmurs from the beautiful space where the wedding was being held. She stopped short when she turned the corner and nearly ran into Wes.
“Hey,” she said, smoothing her hands over his black tux. “You look wonderful. Not as good as the bride but pretty damn good.”
He chuckled, pulled her closer. “Back at you. Though, I haven’t seen the bride.” He leaned back, his gaze moving up and down. The heat in his eyes made her grateful she’d splurged on something new he’d never seen. She’d hidden it at the back of their closet. “I’ll peek at her out of respect but I’m pretty sure my eyes will be glued to this dress all night.”
“Shouldn’t you be with Chris? Is he nervous?”
Wes kissed her softly. “He’s not. He’s been ready to marry her since they met. Sometimes you just know.”
She laughed as his fingers came to the chain at her neck. He played with it, lifting it in his fingers.
“And sometimes it takes a bit to figure it out,” she said, grinning at him.
The antique-style baguette engagement ring he’d given her that morning was on the chain. He ran his finger over it before tucking it back under the high reverse V-neck collar of her gown.
“I may take a while to catch on but I’d say it’s worked out okay,” he said, kissing her again. “My mother and Ari are only staying through the weekend. I’d like for us to tell them together. We can tell everyone else after Everly and Chris are back from their honeymoon.”
She nodded, still exhilarated that he’d asked her to marry him. He was the firstborn but he’d be the last to marry. Noah and Grace had surprised everyone six months earlier with a big party at their house which turned out to be a wedding. Grace’s pseudo father, Morty, had officiated, just as she’d done for him the year before.
“Whatever you want,” Hailey whispered.
Wes pulled her close, pressed his forehead to hers because he seemed to need the connection. “I have everything I never knew I wanted.”
“I knew I wanted these things but I didn’t know how much finding the right person, finding you, would fill all the spaces in my heart and my life. I guess what I really dreamed about was finding someone to love me every bit as much as I love them.”
“Here’s to dreams coming true,” he said against her lips.
She smiled into the kiss. Life rarely followed a straight path, but the curves and unexpected detours had a way of leading to the exact right place. Wes took his place between Chris, who had anticipation written all over his face, and Noah, who had that easygoing grin. Hailey’s heart did a happy dance, and she was more grateful than she ever could have imagined being for the bumps and hiccups that had led her here. To him. To all of them.