“Am I in trouble?” I whisper. “I thought you liked the party.”
“Shush,” she repeats.
“Octavia Lightly,” Willie Wayne says in front of me, holding the flashlight now high enough to illuminate all of us, “in recognition of your outstanding service to the people of Tickled Pink, your easy acceptance of all of us who don’t fit a standard mold, the fact that you make the best chocolate in all of existence, and in gratitude for your silence in regards to the Tickled Pink Secret Poker Society, by the power vested in me as president of the TPSPS, I hereby present to you your own key to the bunker.”
My jaw drops, and once more, my throat clogs and my eyes get hot.
Dylan’s grinning at me.
Jane and Ridhi both drop my arms and do a quiet golf clap.
Willie Wayne hands Dylan the flashlight, then steps forward to hang a ribbon around my neck, an old key dangling from it. “You’re gonna have to take that off before you go back to the party,” he whispers.
“Naturally.”
He shakes my hand. “Welcome to the Secret Poker Society. Your job is refreshments and not talking during games. Or playing, if we’re being honest. You’re really bad.”
Jane hugs me. “Don’t fuck this up.”
Ridhi hugs me too. “Be good to Dylan too.”
Dylan hugs me, whispers, “Guess you’re right. We definitely need to split our time between your place and mine,” and then kisses me.
“And none of that in the bunker,” Willie Wayne adds.
“Unspoken rule,” Ridhi says.
Jane pokes us both. “Make us say it again, and we’ll move the bunker and change the key.”
I contemplate the logistics of that for half a second, and I snort-laugh and pull out of the kiss.
“We’ll also move the bunker and change the key if you don’t bring Dylan home to us often enough. We need this guy around here too. Understand?”
Dylan goes momentarily stiff, and then he releases me to hug Willie Wayne.
That man. He’s still figuring out how much he’s loved here.
I thought I knew what home was, but I really only knew part of it.
Naomi and the farm will forever be my home.
But Dylan is my heart, and Tickled Pink is the other home I never knew I needed. I intend to spend every minute of the rest of my life making sure everyone I love knows how much they’re loved too.
Epilogue
Dylan
Travel’s never been something I’ve done frequently, and vacations have usually been a week here or a week there.
Spending three weeks in Costa Rica with Tavi, learning all about her farm, getting to know Naomi, and meeting the locals, who adore both of the women, fills my soul with more joy than I ever thought possible. I miss work, though I suspect I’ll find plenty of people who need plumbing help around Tavi’s farm as I spend more time there.
For now, we’re back in Tickled Pink for the next two weeks. I’ve spent the morning on jobs that the plumbers in Deer Drop who I called for backup haven’t gotten to yet, followed by lunch with my mom at Ladyfingers talking through the applications I got for a full-time employee to cover when I’m gone with Tavi and help when I’m in town, and now I’m paused in the square, looking at the new construction that’s started for the Ferris wheel that Phoebe’s putting in.
“Looks good,” Teague says, stopping next to me.
I flex my muscles. “I do, don’t I?”
No one gives thedon’t be a dumbasslook like Teague Miller. I’ve missed him.
