Page 98 of A Novel Love Story

Indeed.

With the possum brood found and put (safely) into a cage to be transported to their new home, Maya and a few of Will’s contractor friends patched up the back of the haunted toilet with minimal argument from Junie. Though that might’ve been because she was still shocked that the ordeal was over. The plumbing was fixed. She went around to each toilet and faucet twice, and tested each one, until she was satisfied, and by the time she’d finished her second round and returned to the foyer, the hole in the haunted toilet had been patched, and Will was waiting for her at the front door, grinning ear to ear.

“It’s done,” she muttered with that far-off battle-scarred look in her eyes. “It’s done?”

Will took her face gently, and pressed their foreheads together. “Yeah, babe, it’s done.”

“It’s done,” she repeated, a little flicker of life in her voice. Of hope.

“It’s done,” he repeated with a smile.

A laugh bubbled up from her throat. “It’s done!” she cried, and kissed him fiercely on the mouth. Maya and I looked away to give them a little privacy, but Ruby watched and nodded, like she was appraising a diamond.

“Nice,” she murmured, thumbs up.

Junie and Will broke away from their kiss, and he sank down on one knee. She smiled so wide she couldn’t help it. “You’ve done this already, babe. I already have the ring.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the engagement ring there. “Let me ask again?”

“You already know my answer,” she said in a laugh filled with love.

“That was a lifetime ago, and I want to be sure.”

She took his face in her hands. “That my answer didn’t change?”

He smiled, a little hesitantly. “Did it?”

“Of course not, silly goose,” she replied, and kissed him again. “I’ll say yes again and again and again. And I don’t want to wait anymore. Let’s have a wedding—tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Will laughed. “That’s so soon.”

“So? Everyone we love is already here. Why are we even waiting?”

In reply, he picked her up and spun her around, and kissed her fiercely on the mouth. “I can’t hardly wait, Junebug.”

I felt my stomach twist, my heart burn. Was this what it looked like,true enduring love? Because it was something that I couldn’t describe, something that I had never felt—not once—in my life. And I wanted to. So, so badly.

We decided to give Will and Junie some privacy after a harrowing few hours, and the possums needed to be relocated back toward the café. We weren’t quite sureexactlywhere to put them yet, but Ruby said that she had some ideas.

After all, the café was named after the possum.

Then she bade me goodbye, and hurried back toward the café to tell Jake the good news. I stood on the sidewalk, vibrating with excitement, because I’d done it. Junie and Will were going to be okay—they could keep their dream, live their happily ever after.

What was a love story without a perfect ending, anyway?

And now there would be a wedding. I couldn’t help but smile. The actualwedding. The one that had been alluded to for four books. The one I never thought I’d ever read.

That wedding. The wedding Eloraton was waiting for.

The wedding at the end of it all.

And just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, Lyssa Greene met me on the sidewalk and held up the keys to my Pinto. There was a strange look in her eyes, one I couldn’t figure out. At least, not until she said—

“Can I ask you a question? About leaving? Because I think I’m in love.”

30

Lyssa Greene Is Not Okay

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