I wrap my arms around his neck and settle into his embrace as he flashes his cocky, handsome smile. Maybe my stilettos and I could handle the walk, but I don’t want to. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than in Reeve’s arms.
As we turn down a narrow street, Reeve nods toward a black awning,Somerset Grillprinted in faded red letters.
“Talk about fate,” he says, stopping in front of the building.
I peer through the window, past the neon signs advertising beer and pizza. It’s all battered wooden tables and booths thatlook sticky even from here. “Looks like something we could afford.”
“We should check it out after dinner.”
“I don’t know about that. Our Somerset is where it all started for us. What if we walk into this Somerset and, I don’t know, get sucked into some alternate universe?”
He nods, playing along. “Yeah, that’d be weird. Like a universe where you’re really sweet and obedient? That might be the end of us.”
“Or a universe where you’re humble? Where you can pass a mirror without stopping to stare for ten minutes?”
“And then you wouldn’t be in love with me.” Reeve grins. “That’s not a world I could live in. Maybe we should walk on by before we get sucked into its sick, twisted force field.”
As he continues down the street, I turn into him and breathe him in. Nothing makes me feel as sure as the scent of him does. “You know what? I’m not scared of that place. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but I’d track you down even in some sick, twisted universe.”
“Well, yeah, but would you love me?”
“Forever.”
“Even in a universe where I was modest and couldn’t throw a football for shit?”
“Even there.”
“Even in a universe where we live forever and you have to sit around and listen to my same jokes century after century?”
“Then I’d love you forever. Just like in this universe.”
epilogue
JADE
Four Years Later
“You just hadto wear a Shafer shirt, didn’t you?” I tease Reeve as he pulls open the passenger door of the Bronco for me and smooths down the front of his washed-out red football T-shirt from senior year—practically vintage at this point.
“Hey, I could wear a mask and a garbage bag and I’d still be begged for autographs all night long, babe.” He takes my hand to help me out of the car, wraps his arm around me, and we set off through a blanket of orange and yellow leaves toward the grounds of the Forty-Second Annual Shafer Carnival.
Nothing has changed in the years since we first came here together. Rainbow lights illuminate the night, the scent of spun sugar hangs in the air, and children shout and laugh as they weave in and out of the crowd. It’s sensory overload, but a nostalgic bit of comfort among the ever-changing chaos of our daily lives.
Reeve’s been New York’s starting quarterback since his first season, and judging by his perpetual smile, he’s loved every minute of living out his dream—including buyinghis first home not in New York or New Jersey but back in Shafer, literally right around the corner from Minnie Forrester. It’s a beautiful house with a sprawling yard, a house he used to drive by every day back in high school and dream of owning, and even if he only gets to sleep there a few weeks a year, he considers it his true home.
It’s taken me a little longer to settle into a career, but I wouldn’t trade the changes of these last few years for anything. My summer program in Spain ended up being everything I needed it to be: a chance to get out of my own head, to escape the Shafer bubble and meet new faces, to prove to myself I could be alone—even lonely—and still love my life, and to learn that changing my plans for love didn’t mean losing myself. Oh, and to discover that coming home to Reeve after spending three months halfway across the world felt like the best decision I’ve ever made.
I spent my first year after Spain living in my crappy New Jersey apartment and working as a mental health technician at an inpatient psychiatric hospital before starting a master’s program in psychology, which I’ll graduate from next spring. Last year Reeve and I moved in together, choosing a condo in New Jersey with a beautiful view of Manhattan across the water and plenty of extra room to accommodate our friends’ visits.
“So I think we should basically re-create our first time here together,” Reeve says as we stroll between the carnival booths. “Funnel cake, me winning you the best prize at the entire carnival, you being in complete awe of my studliness and totally desperate to take me home and get naked for me.”
“This wouldn’t be your superstitious side coming out, would it?”
“There was some magic in the air that night, don’t you think? And look where it got us.”
“Life is pretty damn good. Of course ... if you want to re-create that night, you’ll have to accept being humiliated by my dart-throwing skills all over again. Is it worth it?”
He takes a deep breath like he’s weighing a difficult decision. “For another five perfect years with you? Anything.”
