“You did it,” she says, quietly.
“What did I do?” I ask her.
“You proved Bordeaux wrong.”
Our laughter mingles and I pull her closer, tucking her head under my chin. We sit there in the quiet stillness of the night, holding on to one another. And I imagine a time when I won’t have to pack up my duffel and head out the door—a time when every night can end with her in my arms.
Epilogue
Angie
One Year Later
The love of a family is life’s greatest blessing.
~ Eva Burrows
“I want to pour the popcorn, Daddy!” Levi reaches for the bucket EJ is about to pour into the kettle corn machine.
“I want to too!” Jack says.
Daddy. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully get over the way the boys spontaneously started calling EJ Daddy a few months before the wedding.
“It’s really hot,” EJ says.
“I can be so careful,” Levi promises.
“I can be carefuller,” Jack says.
Neither EJ nor I correct Jack’s grammar. Not today. It’sBordeaux Days and we’re working this booth as a family. EJ got another firefighter to take his place helping with the Corncob Drop so we could volunteer together. After our shift here, we’re meeting up with Mom to take the boys on rides.
This day feels almost magical with the banners snapping in the breeze, grills heating, and the smell of kettle corn filling the air. Kids run between booths and music filters from the overhead speakers. The town is alive with one of our favorite annual celebrations.
I hand Jed White his change and he thanks me and turns to leave.
“Bye Mister White!” Levi says. Jack echoes him.
They’ve been having the best time wearing matching corn-themed T-shirts, handing out bags of popped corn and helping in ways I never could have let them in the past years. They were too young and I was single-handedly managing them.
Memaw approaches the booth with Esther and Mabel.
“Well, now.” She smiles warmly. “If it isn’t my favorite new family in Bordeaux.”
“I thought Lexi and Trevor were your favorites,” Esther says.
“I thought it was Aiden and Em and their kids,” Mabel says.
“Oh hush, you two,” Memaw chides with her signature smile. “I can have more than one favorite.”
“That’s not what a favorite is,” Mabel says. “It means you like something better than something else—better than everything else, to be exact.”
“Well, I do. I like them better than any other family I’m talking to right now.”
The three of them face one another. I know them. They’re just warming up.
“What can we do for you ladies?” EJ says, cutting through their never-ending banter.
“I would get a bag of your popcorn but those little kernel skins get stuck in my teeth,” Esther says. “I had one in there for nearly a week once.”
