Wes hummed, curling his fingers into my shirt, the two of us leaning against each other in the dark, in the place where it all started.
“Tomorrow,” Wes said eventually. “Let’s keep tonight for us.”
Epilogue
Wes
One year later…
“Oh my god, are thosetiny otterson the cake?” Seth enthused, running over to the beautifully-made traditional wedding cake, courtesy of Marissa—who’d flown in two days early to decorate it after Hayden baked the layers according to her instructions over a video call.
She’d beenreallyserious about this cake.
I smiled at the two little otters wearing tiny top hats and tailcoats perched on top of the cake.
They were the sweetest touch, and I’d been grinning at the thought of them all day.
“Way back when we were just getting together,” I explained. “I told Hayden about how otters hold hands in their sleep so they don’t lose each other. And then I promised him that we’d do the same.”
“I’m tearing up,” Seth said, waving his hand in front of his face with actual literal tears shining in his eyes. “I can’t do weddings, they’re too emotional, Andre is forbidden from ever getting married.”
I snorted, pulling him into a hug.
“I’ll cry all over you,” Seth said, but that didn’t stop him wrapping his arms tightly around me. “This is so nice. You’re made for each other. There aretiny otters, I can’t take this.”
“Hey, I cried at your wedding, too,” I said. “Remember?”
Seth burst into laughter, squeezing me even tighter. “You did. Now I know how you felt. I’m so happy for you.”
“Me too,” I said, swaying with Seth until he calmed down, pulling back and dabbing tears away from his eyes. “Love the shirt, by the way.”
Seth grinned. “Can’t have a spring wedding without florals,” he said.
“It’s June.”
“Which is spring,” Seth insisted. “Summer is July, fall starts in August. I don’t make the rules.”
“No, you make me order you a pumpkin spice latte in August,” I said, grinning at him.
“And you’ll always do it, because you love me,” Seth said. “And I love you so much, and you look sohandsome. I wanna marry you.”
“That would be bigamy,” I pointed out.
Seth pouted. “You wouldn’t break one tiny little silly law for me?” he asked.
“I feel like I’ve broken multiple tiny laws for you over the course of this friendship,” I said. “There was at least one instance of breaking and entering.”
“Oh! I’ll have to mention that in my best man speech,” he said, grinning in a way that promised he absolutely would, in front of everyone, my new father-in-law included.
Well, Mr. Lewis knew that loyalty was more important to me than anything. That had to count for something, even if it meant breaking into a bar after hours to retrieve Seth’s phone for him.
I hadn’t damaged anything and the door hadn’t so much been locked as closed, so I figured there was no harm.
“Wes!” Mr. Lewis boomed behind me, as if he’d been summoned by the thought of him. “Seth. You, uh. You think we could have a minute?” he asked.
Seth let go of me with a final kiss to the cheek. “I’ll just be outside if you need me to do the getaway driving,” he teased, winking as he disappeared.
“He’s joking,” I said for Mr. Lewis’s benefit, not wanting him to think I was planning to back out of this now.
