I kiss him.
He grins. “I knew it.” I kiss him again. “Oh, wow. You love me alot,” he says.
“Nah, I just thought it would finally shut you up.”
“Never,” he says.
Then our voices stop but our lips keep moving in a conversation all on their own.
And I love every word.
EPILOGUE
SIX WEEKS LATER
COOPER
It’s Nate and Juliet’s wedding day, and I’m sitting in a beautiful white barn in Sugar Maple, South Carolina watching my girlfriend walk down the aisle in her sexy bridesmaid’s dress while her dad and brothers sit next to me.
Lucas elbows my gut. “No ogling.”
“When are we gonna be past that, man?” I say through clenched teeth.
“Never,” Logan mutters on my other side.
“She’s my girlfriend,” I whisper.
Lucas inclines his head toward me as the music changes to the Wedding March. “You could be celebrating your twentieth wedding anniversary, and we’re gonna punch you if you kiss her for too long.”
“She’ll always be our sister first,” Logan says.
“Tweebs,” I grumble, even though we’ve become good friends in the six weeks since Christmas. I watch Nate’s the moment he sees Juliet walking down the aisle with her dad. The way his eyeswiden and his mouth parts like he’s trying to catch his breath—he looks like he’s in awe of her. Like he can’t believe that someone so magnificent could really be his.
My eyes find Liesel’s.
I know the feeling.
The wedding is beautiful and goes off without a hitch, as does the family dinner. During the toasts, Juliet’s identical twin sister stands up and speaks glowingly of her sister and of the way that Nate changed their family’s lives for the better.
“Nate, you helped us realize how dangerous it is to put people in a box and keep them there. I had done this to my own sister, and I almost lost her. But because of you, we’re closer than ever. I’m so happy I can now call you my brother,” the sister says, and I don’t know why I’m crying, but it’s a wedding, and that’s what you do.
Liesel’s tribute to Juliet is beautiful, funny, and heartfelt.
“It’s crazy how things that seem like a disaster on the outset can turn into your biggest blessings,” Liesel says. “Like parking space wars and a dumb white Prius.”
“White Prius!” Juliet says loudly, shaking her fist at the sky. I understand the joke now—it was Juliet’s nickname for Nate before they got stuck on the elevator—but it’s one of those things that’s funniest for the people who lived it.
“That car is the best thing that ever happened to you, too,” Nate says to Liesel from his seat, and she blushes and looks at me. “Stop pretending you two won’t be here in a few months.”
I grin when Liesel’s flush deepens prettily. “Be that as it may,” Liesel says. “I’m thankful that something as small as a car parked in a covered spot could be the means of bringing you two together. Juliet, I’ve seen you come into yourself because of Nate’s acceptance and love. Nate, you are getting the most incredible woman in the world. Be good to her or I’ll sic my dad on you.”
Laughs circle the room, as everyone has noticed Bruce. He laughs along with them.
She ends the toast with a few more heartwarming words, and we all raise our glasses.
I’m at a table with Liesel’s dad and brothers and Kayla Carville, of all people, who happens to be a friend of Nate’s from their Harvard undergrad days. She’s here with her fiancé, who looks and smells like old money, with his actual wristwatch—not smart watch—and that easy confidence that comes from knowing you could buy everyone here.
Except for Nate and Kayla.
