“You’re amazing and I fucking love you, Holden Pearce.”
“I love you too,” he says, kissing me and leaving me breathless.
“What would you like to do now?” he asks, and I think for a minute.
“Movie night, my choice.The Princess Bride.” It’s time to introduce him to it.
We settle down on the couch with him tucked into my side as the opening credits roll.
He nips my arm, and quick as a flash, I pinch him back.
“Real,” we both shout together, and he giggles. I pull him onto my lap and kiss him deeply. The movie can wait for another day.
EPILOGUE
FIVE MONTHS LATER
Holden
I wake up early, excitement bubbling for the day ahead. There’s a lot to do so I start to climb out of bed. The arm which was draped over me, runs down my body and a hand grips my hip.
“Where do you think you’re rushing off to?” Reece murmurs, his voice still thick with sleep.
“It’s a big day and I have a lot to prepare,” I reply but still turn over to face him.
“It is. I’m so proud of you,” he says, his eyes properly open now. “I’ll get up and make us breakfast, but please give me five more minutes with you before I lose you to the heady world of commerce.”
I giggle, because opening my second store is not as glamorous as he makes it sound. It’s been hard work to buy Ami’s store in the UK. It’s in the center of the city so was more expensive thanI was anticipating, but as I no longer need a base in Gomillion, I sold my house, which helped. The store also has an apartment above that I could rent out either permanently or as a holiday let, which would be an added source of income. Today is reopening day so I’m keen to get going, but I can’t refuse Reece, especially as his fingers are playing up and down my skin.
“Just five minutes—” The rest of my sentence is stolen by Reece’s mouth.
My semi-aroused state when we end our short make-out session is not helped by watching Reece pull on gray sweatpants to go make breakfast. Reece might enjoy edging himself all day, but I don’t need that distraction. I take a few minutes longer in the shower, jerking myself off to the thought of what fun he’s promised me later. It helps a little.
The smell of bacon when I enter the kitchen makes my stomach rumble. Reece has also made a stack of pancakes. I’m glad this is what he’s chosen. I really like a lot of English things, I’ve discovered over the last few months of mostly being here—though we’ve been back to Gomillion several times to pack up my house and sort out all the paperwork for Clara to run the store there. But one of the things I can never get my head around is the full English breakfast. They take pride in it, but there’s too many items on the plate for me.
We finish breakfast and Reece showers while I gather a few last things I need. I got rid of all my furniture when I moved, but I brought all of my art and the things I’d made. The landscapes are now hanging on the walls, and the cushions and throws add some color to the rooms. It now feels like home to me and I love the old house.
Once we’re ready, we walk along to the store. Once Ami agreed to sell it to me, she said there was no need for her to wait until next year so we started the process straight away, and I also spent a lot of time getting to know the suppliers and regular customers while all the paperwork was going through. I wanted to make a few changes to it, though, so it has been closed for a week. Today I’ll be welcoming back customers, and we’ll have drinks and cakes for them, and there’ll be an official opening ceremony at ten when a few friends are planning to come along. I’m proud to call some of them my friends too. Reece said he didn’t really socialize with them a lot before, but once he found out about Mac he started to, and since Mac, his best friend Nolan, and Hartley all have partners, we’ve become quite a friends group. I miss Clara of course, but we video call at least once a week.
I stop outside the store and look up at the new sign. One of the things I did was change the name. The Yarn Barn was fine, but there was a reason I called my store Yarning for Ewe. That reason is standing next to me holding my hand. Since I now know his story and the secret he held for so long, it seemed an obvious choice to name this store for him—Yarning for Ewe Two.
“The new sign looks fantastic,” Reece says, as he wasn’t here when it was erected yesterday so it’s the first time he’s seen it, though he knows why I named it. “I can’t decide if you’re really romantic or just love incredibly bad puns.”
“Can’t I be both?”
“Definitely. You excel at both of them,” he says, as I unlock the door so we can get out of the biting November wind.
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I say as I turn on the lights, and he laughs. There was a lot to do yesterday, as Iwas putting stock back after changing things around and added a couple more display stands, and I was too tired to look at it properly. I stand in the middle of the store and look around me. It’s perfect.
“You made it, baby.” Reece comes up behind and puts his arms around me, resting his chin on my shoulder as we do a three sixty of the store. “A second store and a multi-national business.”
My chest fills with joy. This might not be what I’d planned, but it’s what I want.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“Oh, I didn’t have anything to do with it,” he says.
“You accepted the reunion invitation and didn’t give up on trying to make amends. Without that I wouldn’t be here today.” I turn around in his arms and face him, gazing into his chocolate-brown eyes.
