EPILOGUE - PRESTON
ONE MONTH LATER
I’d becomeintrospective since I’d convinced Nick to take me back. Memories of the worst two weeks of my life still haunted me. And when I think about how I could have lost him, I made sure I didn’t let that happen again.
Nick was going to San Diego whether I went or not. He’d told me from the beginning that he would leave Portland if he had to in order to get the job he wanted, so my decision wasn’t difficult to make.
“Are you sure about this?” Nick asked.
I smiled and looked at the 3-D model of my dream restaurant sitting in the middle of my kitchen table. It was spectacular, and Michael had signed off on all the schematics to make sure they met every building code possible.
But my life wasn’t about that dream right now. It was about building a new life with the man standing in front of me. And it was time to take those steps.
“Yes, I’m positive. I want to be with you in San Diego. Living on the beach is going to be fantastic. You’ll come home from work and I’ll be in the kitchen making dinner. It’s going to be perfect. Plus, we can fly home any time we want, and our apartment will be waiting on us.”
The ice-blue eyes that had been my kryptonite from the moment I met him stared at me like I’d done something remarkable. I hadn’t. I’d just chosen love over all else. “I think I can live with that.”
I’d signed Bernardo’s over to Stella to run for the next year. Then she and I would make a decision on what to do after that. If she wanted it, it would be hers. If not, we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.
I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Good. But we need to go, or we’re going to miss our flight.”
“I still can’t believe you’re going to buy a house in San Diego.”
I looked over my shoulder as I picked up our weekend bags. “I’m not.Weare. You and me. And it’s going to be a big fucking one if you leave the decision up to me.”
Nick chuckled, but his eyes were full of love. I knew what that really looked like now. “You have more money than sense, babe.”
“Maybe. But I know what I’m looking for. And if we don’t get down there soon, it’s going to be gone.”
“We can’t have that,” he deadpanned. “Preston James not getting his way?”
I shuffled him out the door and headed to the lobby to pick up the car. “You’ll see. It’s perfect for us.”
Five hours later, we pulled up in the driveway to the house that would become our home. The five-bedroom house sat oceanfront in Pacific Beach and had everything we needed. A large kitchen for me, and space we could share with our families.
Nick looked worried when he saw the realtor’s sign out front. “It’s sale pending. Are we too late?”
I smile over at Nick. “No, babe. It’s ours if you like it.”
Nick looked at the house, then back to me, shaking his head. “I’ve not even seen inside, and I love it. But why do we need something this big?”
I reached over and took his hand, then looked into his eyes. “If you’re okay with it, I’d like to bring my Nonna out to stay with us for a couple of months. The Connecticut winters are really tough on her, and I’d like to spend some time with her. Maybe write a family cookbook together with some of her memories. Something we can give our kids one day. Plus, we’d have room for family and friends.”
Nick's face split into a big love-sick smile. “I’d fucking love that. We could have the best of both worlds.”
“Yeah, baby, we definitely could. We don’t have to miss our families. They can come whenever they want.”
“Let’s go see the beach. We might never want to leave.”
I didn’t care where we lived as long as we were together. But being here in Southern California was a new beginning for us. I’d give Nick whatever he needed to make him happy, because his happiness was my happiness. I wanted this perfectly imperfect life with him.
EPILOGUE - NICK
THE FOLLOWING DECEMBER
I stood watchingthe snow fall from my place in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows next to the Christmas Tree. My boyfriend had more money than sense and, for some reason, he’d decided to buy an apartment in the Plaza Hotel as an early‘Christmas gift’ for me.
We’d flown into New York this afternoon for Christmas. Preston took me on a guided tour of the hotel this afternoon since we hadn’t had a chance to see it all last December. He’d also made dinner reservations downstairs in theOak Roomand was the reason we were dressed up.
