Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
It’s compounded a thousand times by the fact that I now know my mom. I’ve met her again. She’s going to be in my life from now on, and I’m going to be in hers. I’m going to find a way to forgive my dad, and Apollo and I will support the company from a distance. Anything is possible for me in the future.
Anything is possible for us in the future.
I wrap my arms around my mom again. “Yeah, it took me a while, but I think I’m finally where I was meant to be a long time ago.”
She nods, tears in her eyes again. “Let’s go get our bathing suits.”
EPILOGUE
Patience
It wasn’t that I wasn’t ready for New York. It was just that I realized I was ready to admit to myself what I’d known for a long time.
I wanted to be where Apollo was.
It felt a lot like taking the chance of a lifetime at the start, but it was never either of us putting the other on trial or one or the other afraid that we’d be left with the ashes of something that was once wonderful. I only use the word chance because we took a chance on ourselves. Both of us. We made that decision together. Taking a chance can sometimes just be another word for dedication and commitment or a new start. It doesn’t always have to mean a gamble. Not like that poker game that brought us back together, even if now I look back on that night differently.
We worked hard at it, and we worked at us. Now this place isn’t just a cool mushroom surrounded by one of the country’s most beautiful natural settings. Now this place feels like home.
“Cannonball!” I just happen to be good at these now. And I also happen to love swimming.
I leap off the side of the deep end, tuck my legs under, and make an epic amount of splash as I plunge under the surface.
I have goggles on because that’s the other thing I love. I love opening my eyes underwater. So I watch as Apollo cuts from one end of the pool toward me. He’s such a freaking good swimmer. It’s like watching the natural channel down here, but instead of a dolphin or a whale, it’s him.
My favorite mammal.
I make myself laugh underwater and have to surface before I inhale some of it up my nose. It burns, especially when it also goes down my throat.
Apollo surfaces to the top near me. “What’s so funny?” He wipes water out of his lovely caramel chocolate eyes. Anyone who says they would not like to eat their significant other up…well, I just don’t understand the sentiment. I want to taste him at all times.
I swim over, and he extends an arm and pulls me in. He’s so good at keeping us both balanced that I just float right into him. He tastes like salty pool water when he kisses me, but he’s also spicy and manly. I would say if there were a cologne made up of just Apollo’s natural scent, I’d want to bathe in it daily, but lucky for me, I don’t have to. I have the real thing, smelling like heaven, the woods, the fresh mountain air, the salty pool, and the loveliest man in the world, right here.
Bitty Kitty suddenly appears at the pool’s edge. She makes her little skunk noises and watches us. We swim over together, and she backs up, uncertain about the salty water streaming off us. With a huff, she walks over to one of the pool chairs and curls up under it in a little skunk ball.
Apollo guides my face back to him and kisses me soundly. He makes my entire body warm in the cool pool water.
We’ve been dating for over a year. I’m only ever going to need this man, but the life he built out here is glorious too. It’s still his. Maybe when we get married for real, I’ll let him put my name on the title. I couldn’t accept it back then because it wasn’t right. I never wanted him to feel like he had to give it all to me to pay for something in the past. I know he didn’t do it for that reason, and I know he didn’t feel that way, but I always want him to know that he himself is enough.
I wasn’t very kind to him when we first met, and I wasn’t considerate. It took me forever to make up my mind and know myself. But he’s never made me feel like I had to pay for any of that, either.
Apollo makes this place a fantasy. He makes this place beautiful. Him. Without him, it would just be a mushroom house in the forest. Still pretty and cool, but empty and lonely. We’re not making up for lost time here together, and it’s never felt like we’re still paying for regrets or apologizing to each other.