Page 70 of The Road to Finding Us

Maverick shares a look with me, his balls obviously firmly in her grasp by the way he pulls himself off the bed and out the door. Not trying to get assaulted by Veronica myself—again—I follow him out. The girls are carrying on a conversation while they walk down the stairs.

The hosts guide us to their large kitchen. Smack dab in the middle sits a giant island, big enough to fit five chairs in front of it.

“Holy shit, guys. This house is unreal.” Lily admires the space, her eyes unable to take in our surroundings fast enough.

“Glad ya think so,” Maverick replies with a smile, pulling Veronica into his side before he wraps an arm around her.

“News?” I ask, leaning against the island.

Veronica beams up at Maverick, pulling her hand from her pocket. It’s then that I notice the giant rock sitting on her left hand.

“We’re engaged!” they both exclaim, smiling from ear to ear.

“Freaking finally!” Lily jumps up from her spot at the counter, rounding it so fast and then pulling them both in for a hug.

“Well, after I heard you spilled the beans that I was looking at rings a year ago, I had to wait for a new moment. We all know how much my fiancée hates surprises, so naturally I had to surprise her,” Mav says.

Veronica sticks her tongue out at him, and he responds by leaning down to give her a kiss.

“I’m so happy right now,” Lily says through tears. She pulls Veronica’s hand closer to her, inspecting the rock on our friend’s finger. Lily looks up from her examination, looking right at Maverick. “Damn, bro. This thing is massive.”

He shakes his head, looking over at me as I step closer to him.

“Congrats, man. I’m so happy for the two of you,” I tell him.

We hug once again, but this time I hold onto him a longer. I’m so fucking happy for him. The man has been my best friend for so many years, the fact that he’s so happy pulls me out of my own shitty mood from the previous day.

“Thanks, Aspen. Probably wouldn’t be marrying the love of my life if it wasn’t for your pep talk telling me to pull my head out of my ass,” he says.

I laugh, dusting off my shoulder dramatically as I think back to that memory. “I’m basically the reason the two of you are together.”

“That’s great, because you’re going to be both our best man,” Veronica announces, letting me hug her in congratulations.

“And Lily,” Maverick says, facing his sister, “you’re going to be our maid of honor. If you want.”

“Hell yeah, I want!” Lily exclaims.

I nod, agreeing with Lily’s enthusiasm.

Veronica looks to me with a smile. “Aspen, it’ll work out perfectly that we’ll be wedding planning with you so close.”

My gaze anxiously darts to Lily. When I told her I was in the process of building a new house, I didn’t tell her it was in the same neighborhood as her brother’s.

Lily looks puzzled as she looks between Veronica and me. “Wait, what?”

The look on Veronica’s face can only be described as awkward as she looks to me before glancing back at Lil. “Aspen hasn’t told you?”

I sigh. “We hadn’t really talked about it yet.” I scratch the top of my head nervously and look at Lily. “Surprise? The house I told you about, the one I’m having built, is actually in this neighborhood. Like, right back there.” I point to the back door, to the lot with a house undergoing renovation. My house.

I didn’t think I’d completely gut the place and start over, but I fell in love with the lot and the bones of the house weren’t what they used to be. After many talks with my contractor, we decided to start from the ground up.

“You’re moving to Beaufort?” Lily asks, biting her lip. With Veronica and Maverick so close by, I fight the urge to pull it from between her teeth.

“Hell yeah, he is. He missed me that much,” Veronica jokes.

I appreciate her trying to ease the awkwardness in the room right now. I didn’t think it was a big deal to tell Lily I was moving out here, but judging by the look on her face, it just might be.

Everything with her is a big fucking deal these days. I wish she’d just stop overanalyzing everything already.

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