Page 65 of Winter Break Up

EPILOGUE

MERCER

Two Years Later

Grandpa’s arm is in mine as I walk him to the car, my steps careful as I avoid the icy patches on the pavement.

“You didn’t have to come pick me up, the van would have driven me there,” he remarks, but I noticed how wide his smile was when he saw me come through the doors.

“And miss the chance to embarrass you in front of the ladies who flirt with you here? Never,” I razz him.

The old man rolls his eyes. “They do not. I simply have a lot more friends here than I used to outside this place.”

Grandpa hikes a thumb behind him, motioning toward the assisted living facility he moved into a year ago. Even with my schooling and career, I’ve kept a close eye on Grandpa’s health the past few years. When an aid coming into the home he’d always lived in wasn’t enough anymore, I convinced him to let me move him into this state-of-the-art facility. He has his own apartment, can move freely as he likes, and has even taken up a poker league and shuffleboard team when it’s nice enough out.

He might grumble about not liking it here, but I know he secretly loves it. There is nothing for him to maintain, he’s taken care of well, and it takes a lot of worry off my brain knowing he’s in good hands. Plus, I break him out often, whenever I can sneak up to Queenwood. We go out for milkshakes or on joy rides to the beach, and it allows us to have that close bond we’ve always shared.

“I can come back here tonight, I don’t need to stay with you,” Grandpa insists for the twelfth time since I told him the plan.

“It’ll probably be late by the time the celebrations wrap up, and I don’t want to be in a rush to get you back. I want you there with the family, and selfishly, I don’t want to leave my own party.”

Grandpa beams as we reach my car, looking at me like he couldn’t be prouder. “Can’t believe it. You’re becoming a man right before my eyes.”

“See, I thought I was a man the day you told me I should stop shaving my chest hair junior year of high school,” I joke, helping him into the passenger seat.

“Always got a wisecrack, kid.” He shakes his head but chuckles all the same.

Once we’re both in and buckled, I start the drive to the Palmer farm. It wouldn’t be Christmas season without spending time there, especially now that none of us kids work the tree farm all that much. Charlie comes back for about a week every season to work remote and help his parents out, but Em and I unfortunately don’t have the time. It’s a miracle our schedules lined up so that we could make it to New Jersey for the holiday this year.

Turns out, Emily didn’t have to wait months for me when we went back to college.

I was signed as a free agent to the team in DC in February and moved up north the next week. The couple of credits I had left were allowed to be taken online, and seeing as the team wanted me to start the season with them, I couldn’t say no. Not that I would want to. Getting picked up by the major league team in the city that my girlfriend went to school in? Yeah, that was pretty fucking perfect. It was like the universe knew we’d wasted so much time and deserved to be together finally.

The pro team kicked my ass into gear quick, conditioning me to the life of a career athlete faster than I probably should have gone. But in the end, it paid off. My knee recovered well, and in my third game as a rookie, I scored my first goal. It has been lightning in a bottle ever since. Last year, in my sophomore season, my team made it to the final round of the playoffs, narrowly missing the championship by a penalty kick. Even so, the critics hadn’t pegged us to even make it that far, and it was a pleasant surprise our team meshed as well as it does. This upcoming season has big expectations, but I am more than ready to play my heart out and live up to them.

While Emily worked as an RN for the last two years, she also decided to go back to school to get her master’s degree. Long nights, lots of studying, tears, and a hell of a lot of other people’s blood, and she is almost a nurse practitioner. She specialized in transplant medicine and is currently working at the hospital near our place as an NP in the liver transplant unit. She’ll graduate this spring.

With my busy travel schedule and her chaotic school and clinical hours, the last two years haven’t been particularly easy. There were weeks we didn’t see each other.

That didn’t really matter though; we are more committed and in love than ever. That’s what happens when you let the bullshit go, move in with the girl you’ve always loved, and vow to make it work even on the tough days. I convinced Emily to move into a Georgetown apartment with me right after she graduated. Our second-floor, two-bedroom walkup is cozy and has all of the exposed brick charm my girl was looking for. On the bookshelves in our living room sit pictures of our friends and family, snaps of us from high school, and little items of memorabilia from our history. Our kitchen boasts an old-school tin sign from the tree farm back in the day. In between the pillows on our bed is a teddy bear I’d given her for our first Valentine’s Day as a couple back in high school.

More than the comfort of our home, though, is that I get to end each and every day with her. I wake up to Emily sleeping beside me. Our home means that it’s a place we share, where we are growing a life together, and that’s what makes it so special. The commitment to each other, the vow to stay and fight, it’s what makes me whole.

Soon, I hope she’ll be saying some more vows with me.

“I don’t know how they’re still doing this, makes me tired just watching,” Grandpa says as we pull up the lane to the Palmer Tree Farm.

Up on the hill sits the house I’ve known like the back of my hand since I was a kid. Now, it’s the one I come home to for holidays with my second family and the girl I love.

“Em mentioned that her dad has been talking about retirement, but her mom simply can’t see it yet. They have a lot of young kids helping out, just like we used to. I’m pretty sure Charlie yelled at his dad last week about carrying the trees, and there are now rules in place.”

Both Charlie and I have offered to hire permanent crews for his parents to maintain the tree farm without straining themselves, but they declined. After all, I have all this money for what? The only thing I want to use it for is to take care of the people I love. Charlie is the same; he struck it big in his tech job and has more than enough to keep his parents comfortable.

They’re too proud, though, and have been running the farm the same way for decades. I don’t blame them for not wanting the change.

“It is beautiful, though.” Grandpa sighs, and he sounds wistful.

Honestly, I feel the same. It’s been a while since we were back in our hometown, but it feels right. Especially at Christmas. After all, it’s how Emily and I found our way back to each other.

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