“Yeah.” She smiles at him. “I can’t wait. Not that I don’t love this place, but we’ve grown out of it. I can’t wait to live in a house and have the beach as a garden. You know? It’ll be a brand-new start for us. We’ve worked so hard for this.”
Ivy meets my eyes and I smile, the feeling of the box burning a hole deep in my pocket. Oh, how I physically cannot wait a single second more.
“Yeah, it’s going to be the best day of our lives.” I grin at her.
Her cheeks flush as she leans back in her chair. “Oh, don’t I know it.”
Little does she know, there will be two things to celebrate.
The house of my dreams. The woman of my dreams.
Nothing will beat this.Nothing.
EPILOGUE TWO - IVY THOMPSON
Iclap a hand over my mouth, eyes watering at the sight of our beautiful new beach house. My hands shake, but JJ tugs me to his side and presses his lips to the top of my head.
“I can’t believe we own this,” I mumble in disbelief.
“Well believe it, princess. It’sours.”
The thought makes my eyes close in relief. Throughout the last four years, after finishing university and trying to find ourselves in the real world, we moved into some shitty apartment in the city.
It wasn’t our forever home, but at least we were together.
We’ve always spoken about moving back down to the coast, where we know our story blossomed. But houses by the sea cost buckets full, and neither of us were in financially stable jobs to be able to afford our dream home.
So we waited, and fuck, it paid off.
Our beach house is stunning with a white and baby blue exterior, wooden features and beautiful golden sand all around the property. It looks out across the glimmering sea, and the sun sets along the horizon.
A single tear rolls down my cheek at everything we’ve done to get here.
“Don’t cry,” he whispers and takes my face between his hands.
“They’re happy tears,” I whimper.
He wipes them away with his thumbs and then brings our lips together. “We’ve worked so hard for this, Ivy. We deserve this. It’s everything we’ve ever wanted.”
“I know,” I sniffle.
“I’m so proud of you.” His blue eyes soften. “You’ve honestly worked your ass off.”
JJ drops my face and takes my hand. “Let’s go inside.”
The moving vans aren’t coming until tomorrow, but we said we wanted to have our first night in the house as soon as possible. We have a mattress we can put on the floor and not much else, but it’s perfect. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
We walk up the steps to our perfect home. JJ digs out his key from his pocket and twists in my direction, his eyes lighting up. “Do you want to do the honours?”
“We’ll do it together,” I say before placing my hand over his.
He guides it to the lock, the key slips inside, and we twist it together. I glance up at him, but he’s already beaming down at me. “Forever, princess.”
My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Once the door is open, we step inside. It’s exactly how it was from the viewing we had, except all the furniture is gone. We’re more than excited to decorate and add our own little beachy touches. The house is fairly old with lots of features that give the house character and spark.
JJ’s arm wraps around my shoulder as we walk from the hall into the kitchen, then to the living room. It’s everything we wanted and more. “I know it’s not much right now.” He kisses my head. “But it’ll get there.”
