Epilogue One
Six Months Later
Sierra
I should have known better.
The guys grunt and groan as they move the huge armoire up to the loft above the brewery. The loft where Simon and I have been living together since that first night. I kept saying I’d find my own place as soon as I saved some money up. Then as soon as I finished my classes. Then before med school started. But here we are. I graduated four months ago, started med school a month ago, and still living with the man I starred in a porn with.
I should have known he wouldn’t let me go, and that I would never want to go anywhere else.
Officially, we’ve been living together three days. I finally broke down and said yes to moving in after he brought me breakfast in bed, followed by three screaming orgasms. What really did it though, the big teddy bear that is my Simon went back to my old apartment building where MeMaw and I lived before she died and found where all the furniture I’d been forced to leave behind since I had no place of my own and none of it would fit in the dorms. The landlord said he kept meaning to sell it all off, but hadn’t gotten around to it, so instead, it had all just been sitting in the basement of the building. Now Simon and his business partners were moving it all into the loft.
Warmth fills my chest. Having her things, the heirlooms and furniture she loved, all around me is like getting a piece of her back. I always felt at home in the loft, from the very first minute I walked in. Maybe because it is one hundred percent Simon, and no matter where we are, he makes me feel like I’m home.
“Okay guys, can you put that over there, where Simon used to have the TV set up on the pile of old pallets.” I step back, watching them maneuver the huge wood cabinet into place.
“Hey, that was a handmade, DIY, upcycled pallet table.” Simon winks at me as he lowers the monstrous piece of furniture. “But, I suppose this does look better.”
After everything is in place, Simon comes over and slings his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in to lay a kiss on the top of my head.
“You owe me twenty bucks.” Dave high fives George, and they both start laughing.
“What the hell are you guys talking about now?” Simon scowls at his business partners. The three of them are the best of friends, but I’ve seen them get into some pretty serious arguments when there is a difference of opinions with brewery business.
“We had a bet going about how long it would take for you two to get all lovey dovey. I said you’d be hugging and kissing between every load we dropped off. He said you’d wait until we were done but wouldn’t be able to wait until we left.” George comes over, punching Simon in the arm. “Can’t believe you restrained yourself enough for me to lose.”
George shakes his head while he digs out his wallet and slaps a twenty into Dave’s hand.
“You guys are idiots. Get out of my apartment.” Simon is still trying to hold his scowl, but I can see the tale-tell curving at the corners of his lips that tells me he’s holding back a laugh.
I laugh and wrap my hands around Simon’s waist. How did my life go from sleeping in my car and sometimes going weeks without smiling, to having a life so full, I feel the happiness bursting from my chest? “See you guys. Be good.”
I’ll never be able to thank those guys enough for being cool after the strange way we all met. It would be easy for them to use the whole meeting on a porn set thing in their nonstop teasing of each other, but they never have. I’ve never felt anything but welcome and respected by them, and I appreciate it more than they know. Simon hasn’t allowed George’s cousin within a mile of me since the night I ran, and I have a feeling I’ll never see the man again.
Once we’re alone again, I tilt my head back to look at my big, possessive bear of a man. He is so perfect, I sometimes think I’m dreaming and will wake up at any moment in my nest of blankets and sweaters in my backseat. But his solid body pressed up against me, and his spice and testosterone scent reassures me that this really is my life.
“Thank you for all of this. I don't know what I’d do without you.” I go up on my tippy toes, inviting him to kiss me, but he’s so tall, I have to wait for him to come down to me. Which he does, eagerly.
After a slow, sensual kiss, he pulls back to gaze at me with that loving look in his eyes that he’s had since the day we met. “You know I’d do anything for you. But I think we both know you would have been just fine without me. You are so strong and intelligent, you didn’t need me to save you, but I’ll always be grateful you let me help.”
I refuse to be a kept woman, so after coming to stay with Simon, I started working in the bar, giving him all my tips as rent. Which he refused to take. They are all still sitting in a huge jar in the hall closet. Now, I secretly think of it as our honeymoon fund. Though marriage isn’t something either of us have brought up yet.
After kissing for a few more minutes, I walk over to the huge armoire, opening the doors to reveal the empty inside, and the two drawers at the bottom. I kneel down and pull on them, happy to see they are both still locked, and the landlord either didn’t try or wasn't able to get them open. I pull my keys from the back pocket of my jeans and go right to the big old fashioned key that Simon has always asked about.
“So this is what that key goes to?” He comes over, slumping onto the floor next to me as I unlock the big drawer and pull it open.
“Yup. The landlord changed the locks on me before I could get back into the apartment to pull all this out. Actually, the prospect of losing all this was more devastating to me than having to sleep in my car for months on end.” I pull out photo album after photo album, all filled with photos of all the babies and moms my grandmother helped during delivery. MeMaw loved all her patients and kept photos of as many as she could. There are eight albums altogether, each one holding almost two hundred pictures. That is a lot of babies. “Once I become a doctor, I’m going to start where she left off.” I flip to the end of the last album, it’s only half full, lots of empty pages for me to start filling up.
“This is so cool.” Simon rests his chin on my shoulder, looking at all the pictures with me. A tear rolls down my cheek, but not out of sadness. These are tears of pure joy. Yes, I miss my MeMaw like crazy, but the love of my life brought her back to me.
“Wait, wait, wait. Go back.” Simon’s head pops up, and he leans a little closer to get a better look as I flip back to the page before. “Holy shit. That’s me.”
“What? Shut up you’re crazy.” I shake my head and laugh, starting to go back to flipping through the pages. Before I can, he puts his big hand down on the page, pointing to a faded picture with a beautiful, red haired woman holding a chubby baby in her arms, a huge smile spread across her face. I recognize that smile. I get to see it every morning. “That’s impossible.”
“I swear, that same picture is framed on my mom’s desk at her office.” Simon whips out his phone, texting his mother a picture of the photo. I love his mom. She is a remarkable woman. She immigrated from Ireland five years before Simon was born and worked as a maid to put herself through school to be a paralegal. She met her husband at the courthouse when they were on opposite sides of the same case. Now they have their own mediating firm.
Almost as soon as Simon sends the photo, his phone starts ringing. Putting it on speaker phone, he looks at me with wide eyes. “Simon, where are you? I’m looking at that picture on my desk, and I know you aren't here.”
