When their hug broke, Juliet forced herself to look him in the eye. She found that he was crying, too, as though the thought of losing her and losing what they’d built together had frightened him that much. He pressed a napkin against his cheek to clean himself up.
“Ever since you came back,” he breathed, “I’ve been preparing to let you go.”
“Not this time,” Juliet stammered. She didn’t add "not ever" because forever was too long a time to promise.
In the months that followed the reopening of Theo’s restaurant, Juliet and Danica dug their heels into Bluebell Cove. Danica began her freshman year of high school at Bluebell Cove High, alongside her boyfriend Chris (who was one year older than her), and soon shot up to the number-one spot on the academic roster, beating out even the smartest Bluebell Cove kids in math and science and literature. When Juliet ever did talk to Alvin on the phone, he gushed about how good his daughter’s grades were, only for Juliet to remind him that Danica was doing this all on her own. “She doesn’t need anyone else,” she said proudly. But what she meant was she doesn’t need you.
Bit by bit, Theo became an important member of the Harper family. Because he and Juliet were working so closely together at the restaurant, she invited him to every family function, and the Harper sisters and their partners began to fall in love with him all over again. Sometimes Juliet felt her heart balloon with jealousy even though she suspected they loved him more than they loved her.
But of course, every night before she left Ivy’s or Celia’s place, they scooped her into a hug and reminded her of how much she meant to them. “We’re so glad you’re still here,” Celia said over and over again, only for Ivy to echo it. “We’re so glad you’re back for good.”
Just as Theo and Juliet had promised Calvin Parish and the rest of the city council, the restaurant was ready and beautifully decorated for the Christmas Festival. When the snow began to fall from roiling dark clouds and lights were carefully hung across Bluebell Cove, Theo and Juliet attacked the restaurant with similar zeal, hanging mistletoe, decorating grand Christmas trees, and posting flyers highlighting the restaurant’s involvement in the Christmas Festival. Often, Theo said how much he didn’t care about all that. But when a woman named Nellie Strong bought another restaurant across town and began to decorate the place to high heaven, Theo went out and bought even more Christmas decorations, seemingly out of some kind of rage.
Juliet eventually found out what had happened between Nellie and Theo, and the thought of it made her laugh. “To think, that talentless woman thought she could beat you at the restaurant game?” she said. Of course, she’d tried Nellie’s food at the new place down the road. It was nothing compared to what Theo could make in his kitchen. It was nothing compared to the magic she so often taste-tested when he was experimenting.
Oh, goodness. So often, she caught herself thinking about Theo, about his cooking, about the dynamic story that had led them all the way here, to the final month of this glorious year they’d spent together. Perhaps because she was daydreaming, or perhaps she was up to her ears in chaos about the approaching Christmas Festival, Juliet did not notice that she approached Theo under a pocket of mistletoe, hanging over the same kitchen door he’d smacked her with all the way back in July. She didn’t notice till the heat between herself and Theo intensified, and she followed his gaze to the mistletoe above them. She nearly fainted.
But when Theo pressed a kiss on her lips, the world outside the restaurant stopped spinning. The Atlantic Ocean stopped thrashing. Even the snow seemed to stop falling.
Theo cupped her chin with his hand and gazed into her eyes. Neither of them knew what to say. But they could feel their story, rushing out beyond them, into the next year and the one after that. All they had to do was let it unspool and trust the love in their hearts.
