Page 92 of The Autumn We Fell in Love

A lot has happened in the past few months. Guin and I officially moved to Edgewood. We started at my parents’ house, but it wasn’t long before Ash invited us to move in with him and I wholeheartedly accepted. I got my old house rented out and have been enjoying the extra income. My job moved with me without a hitch, of course, although getting Guin enrolled in school in the middle of the fall took some finagling. We finally got it right in the end and settled in, my ankle healing up nicely as we found our way.

I thought it might be challenging to adjust to living in Edgewood again. I figured there’d be shitty memories lurking around every corner that I’d have to confront. And while there were some, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared. Some of my former classmates still live here and came and found me to offer profuse apologies about how unsupportive and awful they’d been.

I came around to enjoying living in Edgewood much faster than I ever thought I would — or could.

The best thing of all, though, is Mom. She’s still not quite the woman we all knew. However, her doctor has her on a new medication combo that, while it can’t reverse her neurological degeneration, has significantly slowed it. She’s hasn’t gone downhill further since I got here, at least not in any noticeable way. So all of us are soaking up every moment with Mom that we can get, thanking our lucky stars for the medication changes that have gifted us more time with her.

I feel my brother’s eyes on me. “What is it?” I say, turning to him.

“I was just thinking how happy you seem.” He shrugs. “It’s nice. I can’t remember the last time I saw you this happy.”

I look at Ash and Guin playing in the sunshine and smile. “You know what — I think I am.”

“Good. You deserve it.”

Shaking my head, I say, “I don’t deserve it more than anybody else.”

“Disagree.”

We sit in silence, listening to the alternating sounds of Guin’s crows when she catches a ball and her maudlin groans of despair when she misses.

“You know,” Tristan says at last, “Ash is going to ask you to marry him.”

I can’t suppress the smile the steals across my face. “I know.”

“You do?”

“Well, we haven’t talked about it. But I can tell he’s thinking about it. I don’t know when he’ll ask, but I know it’s on his mind.” I turn to my brother. “Why, did he mention it to you?”

“Nah.” He grins. “I can just tell, too. I think everybody can.”

I cringe. “I hope nobody’s gossiping about us.”

“Nope, no gossip. But it’s clear how smitten he is with you, and Guin.”

“We are a package deal.”

He turns to me. “What will you say when he does ask?”

I swat Tristan’s arm playfully. “Ash will be the first to find that out, not you.”

“Fine, keep your secrets, woman.” His voice is joking, and he wraps his arm arounds me and gives me a squeeze.

It is my secret to keep, but I know exactly what I’ll say when Ash asks me to marry him. I’ll say yes — forever and everyesto life with the man I fell for out of nowhere,yesto the one who loves me in a way I never thought to hope for,yesto the man I could not imagine life without.

I close my eyes and raise my face to the sun. Tristan said I look happy, and I am — and so much of that is because of Ash. I’ll say an ecstatic yes to him every single day for the rest of my life.

He is mine and I am his.

It’s such a simple thing, weaving our lives together, but it’s everything to me.

He is mine and I am his, forever. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Boo Boy

Xander

Legs dangling over the edge of the stone wall surrounding the sunset-lit graveyard, I sip my beer and listen to my brother talk about how good life’s been and try to resist throttling the man.

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