My stomach flutters, thinking about him wanting me forever. I’ve been sure about Arthur since before the accident, my feelings only solidified once he shared the remaining pieces of himself he’d kept hidden for too long. But knowing he’s sure too is overwhelming.
Somehow I find the words, running my fingers over his smooth cheek and meeting his eyes as I nod. “It’s better than anything I’ve ever imagined or hoped for.”
We seal our promise of forever with a kiss as whistles sound off next to us, no doubt from Arthur’s rowdy brothers.
And it’s perfect.
Epilogue
A year later.
Arthur
“Gabriel?” I call out as we walk into his house through the side door carrying more candy than anyone should. It’s Halloween, and for the first time, Cece has decided she wants to go out. Gabe’s stressed as hell, so me and Alice have offered to come hand out candy while he takes her around the neighborhood.
“Weird. His truck is here,” Alice says as she starts to fill a bowl with chocolates, clearly unfazed by the lack of people in the house. We’ve been here often lately, helping Gabriel with Cece as he continues to struggle to find a nanny or even a reliable babysitter.
I’m about to reach for my phone to call him when the front door opens and then slams closed.
“Gabe?” I try again, hoping it’s him, though the doorslamming seems weird for my normally cool-and-collected brother.
“Yeah,” he says a little too loudly. As he walks into the kitchen, he’s tugging at his hair. “Hey. Sorry about that. The fucking neighbor is driving me insane.”
“Maggi?” Alice asks, popping a candy into her mouth. Gabriel nods, his nostrils flaring at the mention of the woman’s name. “She’s so sweet!”
“She is the furthest thing from sweet. That woman is amenace, and she’s everywhere. I asked her if she could tone down the scary decorations in front of her house because I didn’t want my daughter being scared. Do you know what she said?” We both shrug, afraid to answer my now very agitated brother. “No.” He scoffs, pulling at his hair again. “That’s it. Just no. And when I asked her to elaborate, she said it again! No. Because, according to her, ‘no is a full sentence, asshole.’ Those were her words. Can you believe this shit?” He paces around the kitchen, taking a few deep breaths.
“Well, she’s not wrong,” Alice murmurs. I shoot her a sideways glance, trying not to laugh at the situation. We’ve been hearing about Gabe’s neighbor for weeks now, and she doesn’t seem to be going away.
We’re saved from further tales of the “awful” woman when the side door opens.
“Daddy, look!” Cece comes blasting in, hardly noticing us standing there. “Look what Miss Noli did today!” She’s more excited than I’ve ever seen her before, and that’s been happening more and more since this artist started volunteering at her school.
Gabriel’s face blanches, and he looks from Cece’s face to my parents, who are standing at the door, and back down to her face. I can’t see anything, and Alice is trying to twist until she can, but she doesn’t have any luck. I look tomy dad for a hint, but he shrugs, putting his hands up in surrender.
Cece turns around to show us when her dad doesn’t react, and Alice gasps next to me, immediately breathing out a “Wow!”
My niece walks up to her with hopeful eyes, or at least I think her eyes are hopeful. It’s hard to tell with all the makeup on her face. “Do you like it, Tia Alice?” I clutch my chest because the Tia thing is new and I fucking love it.
“Oh, Cece, I love it. It looks so real! You’re like a real zombie, aren’t you?” Alice inspects her face, oohing and aahing at every new angle.
“Well, zombies don’t exist, so, no,” Cece answers in a serious tone. “Miss Noli painted it today. I told her I wanted to lookreallyscary, but she said that might not be a good idea at school because the little kids might get scared.” She rolls her eyes, like she’s not seven years old. “So she stayed until after school, and Vô and Vó waited while she painted my zombie face.” She points to where there’s a too-realistic scar on her normally sweet face. “Cool, right?”
“Ye—” Alice starts, then clears her throat as she takes in Gabriel’s scowl. “You should get dressed, kiddo. It’s almost time to head out.”
With that, Cece runs up the stairs. Gabriel pinches the bridge of his nose, mumbling a string of swear words, and my mother laughs.
“She loves it, filho. Let her have her fun.” Mom waves a hand in front of her like this is no big deal. I mean, it isn’t, so I’m not sure what’s up Gabe’s ass.
He huffs out a breath. “Thank you for picking her up. And feeding her dinner.”
“Anytime. Tchau, meus amores!” Mom calls out, blowing each of us a kiss as she disappears through thedoor they just came in from. My dad mouths an apology to Gabriel before giving us a wave and following his wife.
“Just fucking great,” Gabriel huffs.
An hour later,it’s just me and Alice in the house, taking turns answering the door as trick-or-treaters ring the bell. The neighbor Gabriel is determined to hate, and who shares a wall with him, has been playing some spooky music and turned some colorful lights on outside. She even has a smoke machine. It’s pretty cool, but I’m not going to tell my brother that when he gets back with Cece.
Alice has changed into her witch costume, and I’m having a very hard time keeping it together every time she bends over to toss some candy into the kids’ bags. The black skirt she has on rides high enough to show off her toned thighs, and she has fishnet stockings on. When she first came down, wearing her big black hat and matching lipstick, I thought she looked cute, but now? Now I’m struggling not to turn off the lights and ignore the doorbell as I lift her skirt to find out exactly what she has on underneath.
