Learning how much Russ likes to touch me when there aren’t any rules prohibiting it has been my favorite discovery of coming back to Maple Hills.
My brain is frazzled trying to suppress my natural instinct to overshare and, despite being a somewhat confident person, the pressure to make sure the people Russ loves so much like me is a lot.
The homewarming—or housecoming, whichever one it is—party is less of a party and more of a chilled day hanging out together. It’s needed after a dramatic couple of days and I love seeing Russ ease me into it all.
I take a break from the action to video call Emilia and Poppy in the backyard. They’re both big fans of my tent and can’t believe I convinced Russ to sleep in it with me. I’m pretty sure Russ would sew a tent from scratch if he thought it’d make me happy.
The back door opens and JJ appears, spotting me on a deck chair on my own. He ambles over, hands in his pockets and sits down beside across from me. “Pops and Emilia send their love,” I say as he sits.
“I saw Emilia’s story. They look like they’re having fun.”
“This feels very formal,” I say awkwardly, shuffling on my seat. Shielding my eyes from the sunlight, I try hard to focus on JJ’s very serious face. “Are you about to give me a lecture? A pep talk? Life advice?” Oh God, the rambling is back.
“A thank you. This is the happiest I’ve seen Russ in the two years I’ve known him.”
The butterflies that live in my stomach dance around happily. “He makes me happy too. Thank you for teaching him to fake being confident long enough for him to talk to me that night.”
“Thank you for letting him see himself the way we see him.”
“This got really fucking deep,” I say. “I think I prefer you making me do Jenga dares.”
“Yeah, it was a bit unnecessarily emotional wasn’t it. I’m trying this mature thing out, don’t think it’s going to stick.” He stands, holding out his hand to me to stand too. “Are you interested in being introduced to drunk Hungry Hippos?”
Walking back into the house, JJ announces he wants to play the new game and disappears to find what he needs. Walking into the kitchen, I spot Russ getting two glasses out of the cupboard. “Stop, thief.” He puts the glasses on the counter, turning to lean against it with his arms folded across his chest.
“I’m the thief?”
“You look familiar. Have you burgled here before?”
He reaches out and pulls me closer, nudging my chin up with his hand, kissing me in a way that makes my knees go weak. I don’t need to search for validation or attention, because I have everything I need right here with this man.
“Tell me a secret, Callaghan.” He brushes my hair out of my face, staring at me like I’m the only thing he sees in this world.
He doesn’t even hesitate. “I’m falling in love with you, Aurora.”
Ten million butterflies. “I’m falling in love with you too.”
Epilogue
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Aurora holds her stomach, groaning dramatically. I drape my arm across her shoulders, tugging her closer until I can kiss the top of her head. I’ve spent the last six weeks reassuring her, and now I’m just giving her affection because she doesn’t listen to me anyway. “This was a horrible idea. Why did you let me do this?”
“What happened to ‘Aurora Callaghan doesn’t have bad ideas’ and ‘When have I ever been wrong?’ or—”
“Okay, okay,” she says. “You’ve made your point.” Aurora moves in front of me, leaning back against my chest, as we both stare up at the Happy Endings sign above the bookstore door. “What if nobody wants to buy books from me because I’m not a family business?”
“We are a family business. I’ll write it on the window with a Sharpie if you want me to.”
“I’m not sure you, me, and the animals count as a family business.”
Pressing my lips to her neck, I drown in the sweet smell of her perfume. I hate how hard her pulse is hammering. Nervous Rory is the version of my wife I see the least, but buying the old bookstore in Meadow Springs has given her lots of things to be nervous about.
“I feel like that type of claim is going to land us in front of the Committee of Commitments to Town Improvements and Other Important Announcements.”
“Mrs. Brown has been dying to get us back there after she lost the name-change vote,” I reply.
Apparently, Happy Endings sounds like an erotic massage parlor, and will only invite misfits and deviants to the town. I wanted to argue that a misfit and a deviant bought the store, but Jenna stressed that the MSCCTIOIA was not a place for jokes.
When Jenna took over Honey Acres from her mom two years ago, the committee of chaos and nonsense demanded she do a business presentation, despite the fact they’ve known her since she was born and she’s been on the committee for the last fifteen years. She made a few jokes about said history to lighten the mood, which, surprisingly, did quite the opposite.
Rory sighs heavily. “I do plan to promote sin; she wasn’t totally wrong.”
“Wait until she hears about the hot tub delivery,” I say, gently pushing her in the direction of her new business.
Moving to Meadow Springs wasn’t a difficult decision; it’s always been special to us, especially after working three summers at Honey Acres together. What can I say? It really is like a great tea-cozy museum.
Aurora was tired of her job in the sales team at a small publishing house, and desperate to get out of the city. Then I received a promotion at the engineering firm I work for, and the new remote role only requires me to travel a couple of times a month, so we started packing our boxes to start our new life.
After Jenna sold us the land and haunted house where we had our first date, we spent the last eighteen months turning it into our dream home. The amount of land has given Aurora big ideas for all the animals we can now rescue.
Even though I said no to getting a puppy when Aurora told me Fish was having another unplanned litter—in my defense, we were fresh out of college—I came home from a work trip one day and found not one, but two golden balls of fur in my living room, appropriately named Tuna and Flounder. She immediately blamed Anastasia, who had apparently talked her into it, after getting their sibling, Bunny.
Since then I’ve said no to but still ended up owning: Neville, a rescue border collie with a penchant for daytime television; Mary-Kate and Ashley, two black cats that, even though it’s been three years since we rescued them, I still cannot tell apart; and our latest adoption, Beryl, a pig that can’t decide if it’s a dog or a cat, but definitely knows it’s not a pig.
Aurora really wanted them all here today for the opening of her bookstore, but I suggested that unleashing three dogs, two cats, and a pig onto her new neighbors maybe wasn’t the best idea. She countered that they behaved at our wedding, to which I argued that I’m not sure Jenna officiating on our back deck while Emilia sipped on a margarita can be considered a wedding. Thankfully, I won that argument.
The bell jingles above our heads as we walk through the freshly painted door, and the store that was once dark and musty is now bright and revived. “I know I’ve said it a million times, but your dad really knocked it outta the park with these,” she says, trailing her hand across the new wooden bookshelves.
I nod, humming in agreement. Dad has worked nonstop for weeks to make sure this entire place looks exactly how Rory wants it. He drew her sketch upon sketch, produced sample upon sample, and at one point, I’m pretty sure they made a digital vision board together.