Page 159 of Hot Shot

I smirk at her. “Really? Youreallycan’t believe I did this?”

“I mean, Icanbut…wow.” She takes it all in again and meets my eyes. “This is the most thoughtful thing anybody’s ever done for me.”

I chuff. “I’m gonna remedy that oversight.”

She laughs, and I could live off the sound for a year. “So we’re back where it all began.”

I nod once. “The first time we ever slow danced was to this song. I’d never been this close to a girl before.”

“You have a twin sister.”

“Pfft. She’s not agirl-girl. You were this brilliant, beautiful, shiny thing, always smiling, always laughing. When I decided to send you that carnation and ask you to the dance, I remember thinking I’d never felt like that before. I wanted to know what you thought about everything, anything. I wanted to be with you every minute, talk to you all the time, make you laugh and knowit was me who made you happy. I wanted to feel the warmth of your smile on me, because it felt like grace. Still does. And I still want all of that. In the ten years that I didn’t have you, I didn’t feel it once. And then you came back to town. Do you remember when I saw you from across Main?”

She nods, her throat working and chin wobbly. I don’t think she can speak, so I keep going.

“I felt it then, for the first time since we said goodbye, just the same as it ever was. One smile from thirty feet away, and I knew without a doubt that I was still in love with you. So today, I wanted to come back to the spot where I danced with you for the first time and knew I’d never love anybody but you. I even got to marry you, once upon a time.”

“Just for a night,” she manages through a sheet of tears.

“Just for one perfect night. I never thought we’d get here. I waited and hoped and wished, and somehow I got my wish. Everything I’ve ever wanted is right here. Almost.”

Her brow quirks in the pause.

“I got one of my girls back today.” I let her go to drop to one knee, reaching into my pocket for the velvet box with trembling hands. She’s full on crying, both hands over her nose and mouth, the carnation pressed into her hair. “Will you make it two?”

Her shoulders shake with a sob.

“Ten years ago, I knelt like this on a noisy sidewalk in Las Vegas, looking up at you with every hope and dream my heart could muster, knowing I couldn’t keep you. But this time, I’m on my knees with forever to offer. I want to marry you, Cassidy. In front of everybody we know and love, I want to swear to love you until I die. I want to promise you that forever. And then I want to spend the rest of my days delivering on that promise. Marry me. Again,” I tack on, and she laughs, though her face is still bent with emotion. But she’s nodding, and I’m standing, and she’s whispering yes with a shaking voice.

I swallow every yes with a kiss, my body too small to contain all I feel, love pouring from me into her. I’m so drunk on the feeling, I don’t find myself until I hear Cricket call for me and I pick her up. The ring is still in the open box, so I hand it to Cricket, who holds it reverently. And then I pluck out the ring and slip it on Cass’s finger next to the other.

They look like they’re meant to go together.

And when I hold Cass and Cricket in my arms, we fall into place like we always did. Like we always will.

Like we were always meant to.

Forever.

CHAPTER 60

EPILOGUE 1

CASS

Wind rustles the canopy of trees far above us, the forest glowing from strung lights and lanterns around the tables ringing the dance floor. I’m here in Wilder’s arms, perfect as always. He’s resplendent in his black suit, amber eyes like candlelight and lips smiling at me like they do—like I’m the only girl in the whole, wide world.

There has never been a more magical night than this.

It was Wilder who found this place in the woods of the Smokies, and I knew this was it before we even came to see it. The weather held today, thankfully—for a second, the news said it was going to rain. But the clouds held their cargo, catching the fading sunlight to paint the sky in pinks and golds. And beneath that rosy sky, at the edge of a valley overlooking the rolling blue-green mountains I call home, Wilder and I exchanged our vows.

I cried the whole, entire time.

Somehow, I managed to recite the words, unlike the first time with Austin Powers, though Wilder had to occasionally thumb my cheeks, or kiss them, or kiss my hand. Which,against all logic, helped instead of making me cry harder—I don’t make the rules. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Even Jessa’s aristocratic mom and dad were dabbing their noses with hankies. Mama was a wreck, crying so hard that at one point, she started hiccupping, which made me laugh so hard that weallcracked up to the point of serious distraction. Cricket stood with Jessa and Shelby at my side, and at Wilder’s were Tate and Remy, and we promised each other forever.

This time, we’d actually have it.

When he kissed the bride, the riot of hoots and hollers echoed through the hills and valleys of the Smoky Mountains.

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