Page 128 of That Geeky Feeling

“How do you manage to make dirty clothes sound romantic?” She laughs and gently smacks my chest. “My toothbrush won’t be next to yours, though—you have twin sinks, remember?”

“Well, they can sit together between them.”

She shrieks with laughter as I roll us over till I’m lying on top of her and my lips are on hers in the warmest, deepest, most heartfelt kiss of my life. A kiss that reaches to my toes, to my heart, and to every fiber of my being.

“I love you more than life itself, Charlotte Lipton.” I push the hair off my favorite face and look into my favorite eyes. “More than the world itself, more than the universe, the galaxy, and anything else bigger than the galaxy that I can’t think of right now.”

I brush my lips against hers again. “And yes, this is your time. But it’s our time too.”

EPILOGUE

One Month Later

CHARLOTTE

“T

here’s something about the New Hampshire chill, right?” I pull my coat tighter as we stroll around the edge of Elliot’s parents’ huge pond.

The cloudless sky is bright blue, and the sun makes the lawn look extra green. Elliot and his dad spent the morning raking up the last of the fall leaves, so the enormous yard looks lovingly manicured.

“Yeah. I think this is unusually cold for late November, though,” Elliot says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

Two months of living with Elliot has been blissful. There’s a magic in fully giving myself to him that I’d never expected.

I’ve fought so much for my brothers and for myself for so long that I thought anything other than strict independence would be a sign of weakness, a sign I couldn’t make it on my own. I thought I’d be disappointed in myself if I lived any other way.

But instead, there’s a deep-seated peace in sharing my life with the right person—with Elliot.

And it’s not like we don’t still both have plenty of alone time. He’s up at five o’clock every morning to go to the gym then head to work. And I’m often at the office until late because I want to make Joyntz the best it can be, a standout business in the Harvest Enterprise portfolio.

It means that when we come together, we do so as individuals, each with our own lives, our own achievements, our own struggles, but with the foundation and security of knowing we have the other to support us, cheer for us, open the bottle of wine and commiserate with us, and to agree that so-and-so is indeed a total asshole.

As I grow into my new role at work, I’ve talked through so many issues with Elliot. His thoughts and advice are invaluable, but he’s never once told me what he thinks I should do. We discuss things, and he gives me space to make my own decisions without judgment.

Forging a new path is hard, but hell, it’s worth it. Max is already so pleased with how I’m doing that he’s asked me to think about recruiting a replacement for myself as his assistant.

That’s a giant step, a huge vote of confidence, and I could not be happier to be transitioning into a full-time project manager. Maybe it won’t be long before I’m looking for my own assistant.

Elliot pulls me tight to his side. “It’s good to get out in the fresh air to walk off Mom’s lunch.”

I laugh and rub my belly. “Yes, her soup was amazing. But I had way too much of that delicious homemade rosemary bread.”

“It was the second slice of lemon and walnut cake that finished me off,” Elliot says.

He places a kiss on my temple, his lips warm against my chilly skin. “Mom adores you, you know.”

His words fill me with a reassuring sense of belonging. The Dashwoods welcomed me into their family with open arms and hearts, but to hear Elliot give voice to how much his mom likes me melts my soul.

“We do get along well,” I tell him. “I’m starting to feel like she’s more of a friend than my boyfriend’s mom.”

A little sparrow-like bird hops from stem to stem in the reeds at the end of the pond, causing the merest green ripple.

“When Dad and I came in from the leaf-raking,” Elliot says, “and you and Mom were sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by all those planners and journals and stickers and pens and whatever the hell else it was you had going on, she looked so incredibly happy.”

“Oh, I had as much fun as she did. I’m so glad I thought to get her going with some planners for all her ideas for the garden. She wants to grow a ton of fruit and vegetables in the spring. And it all needs to be planted at different times.”

We round the end of the pond, and now I can tell there are actually three small birds flitting about in the reeds.

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