Page 165 of You Fall First

He drops his hands to gather me into his arms. “Does this mean I can kiss you again?”

My lip curves up. “Do you want to kiss me again?”

“Just tell me when to stop.” He bends to nibble my ear.

“How about never?”

Epilogue Part One

Noah

The day I went to the petting zoo dressed as a cowboy, I didn’t have a proposal in the Adirondacks on my Bingo card. But here we are in the mountains.

Here I am.

Noah Stadler. The happiest man in the universe.

For the record, I’m also the most nervous man, because I’m about to ask the woman I love to be my wife. And I want to get every detail just right.

To that end, I brought Jo to the Beachfront Inn, a sprawling resort in Abieville, New York. The inn and the town itself are nestled between Abie Lake and a range of pine-dotted mountains. Everything here is named for these specific trees, which are called Abies.

Or maybe Abies is their genus or the species.

I can’t remember, because of the aforementioned nerves.

Anyway, I read all this on a sign on the trail Jo and I hiked here yesterday.

Today, proposal day, the inside of my brain sounds a whole lot like Jo’s. Which isn’t a bad thing. I happen to like her chaotic brain. And her enormous heart. Plus her generosity. Her eyes, nose, dimples, earlobes.

Is mentioning her earlobes in the proposal too much?

Probably.

Either way, I already knew all about Abieville and Abie Lake because the town happens to be near Mayville. Hattersville is on the other side. Clearly, the local founders had villes on their minds when they got busy naming their towns.

Kinda like Asheville.

Kinda like home.

The hotel that used to be the inn was pretty rundown when I lived here. A few years back, the whole thing got demolished by a storm. After that, the son of a local family rebuilt the place.

The McCoys.

Ever heard of them?

Thanks to their efforts, this place became a real vacation destination. Link and Hadley stayed here a while ago to get a break from the paparazzi. And when they heard I bought a ring for Jo, Link pulled some strings and got me a couple of the best suites here. Lake views. Beach access. The whole nine yards.

They love Link at the inn, in case that wasn’t obvious. The whole town loves Link. Everyone does.

I love Jo.

Have I mentioned that yet?

How about for the millionth time?

“Boy or girl?” she asks me now, and I snap back to the present. We’re on the balcony of the turret, the highest spot at the inn. Spread before us is the glittering lake, the distant lights of Abieville, and beyond that, only the quiet darkness of the mountains.

“Who?”