Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I grinned. “Cool. You knew when they’d get power back?”
“Look closer. Ah, shit.”
I frowned, not understanding until it hit me all at once. The windows that lit up spelled out letters. “M. R. R. Y. E.”
The letters were huge and spaced out over seven buildings, but two of the buildings were still completely dark. “Mrrye?” What does that mean?”
“Damn it, hold on. Maybe they–”
Suddenly one of the dark buildings lit up with an “A”.
“Marry,” I muttered. “Oh my God. Marry me?” I asked, turning and jumping up and down like a dog who just saw its owner grab the leash. I was doing freaking human tippy taps and I couldn’t stop it. “Marry me?” I repeated.
“I was going to ask you, but if you insist…” he dropped to one knee and everybody clapped.
Charleston hit a button and sentimental music played. It was choking me up. I was laughing, smiling, crying, and still doing little jumps as I put a hand to my mouth.
Dominic grinned as he pulled out a little box and held up the ring for me. “Darcy McClain, will you do me the honor I definitely don’t deserve and marry my grumpy ass?”
He opened the box like he wanted me to inspect it, but I stuck my hand out impatiently. “Yes!” I shouted.
There was scattered laughter, and Dominic got up, sliding the ring on my finger and bracing himself when I threw myself at him, kissing him and laughing at the same time.
“I’m going to marry you so hard,” I said. I was talking nonsense, but I didn’t care. “And we’re going to be so happy.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Grumpily ever after.”
“That’s all I could ever want,” I said, kissing him again.
43
EPILOGUE - DARCY
One year later
I glanced down at my phone and heard the disapproving sound from Dominic at my side.
“Work will be fine without us for one week, Baby.” He put his arm around my shoulders and led me down the boardwalk, gesturing to the sunset on our right. “I want you here with me. All of you.”
I pursed my lips and wiggled my shoulders, leaning into him. “I suppose that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”
Work would survive without us. I knew he was right. Jasmine had stepped in and been one of the most hands-down awesome managers and lead editors we could’ve ever asked for. She was the first line of defense against stupid submissions and bad ideas. She was also more than capable of standing guard over the business while we were in California for a week. But, work was also booming. Our business model had been even more successful than what The Squawker was doing and we had freelancers and full-time employees from all over the world now. We put out nearly a dozen stories per week, most of which ended up hitting best-seller lists. It was a new way to consume media, and people were loving it.
At first, I thought the pride and satisfaction would fade with time. I guessed it had, in some ways. But I’d also never been this happy. I was deliriously happy. I took Dominic’s big hand in both of mine and squeezed. I had a surprise for him when we got back to the beach house we were renting. A very big surprise. I was tempted to spoil it now and tell him, but I had been planning this for weeks and didn’t want to screw it up.
“I talked to my dad yesterday,” Dominic said suddenly.
“What? Seriously? You guys haven’t talked since you bought The Squawker from him, right?”
“Yeah, we hadn’t. I think he was happy to sort of write me out of his life once he realized we were back together. He tried to split us up and torpedo the business and failed on both efforts. Selling to me was a way to wash his hands of it and pretend none of it ever happened. But now articles keep coming out about us. They’re making comparisons about how the son has surpassed the father and how there’s a new king of business. It’s all bullshit, mostly, but it was pissing him off. I guess he called to see if he could talk me down and make himself feel better.”
“What did you talk about?”
“He started off by telling me how our idea was a gimmick that wouldn’t last. Then he accused me of running away from The Squawker when I sold last year because he claimed I knew it was going to fail.”
“I’m sorry, Dominic. That must have been hard to hear, even if it was stupid and untrue.”
He shrugged. “Actually, I kind of said everything I’ve always wanted to say to him. It wasn’t much, but I told him how hard he’d always been on Percy and how he never handled it as well as he let on. I wanted him to know how much he put on Percy’s shoulders. He didn’t say much after that, and we ended the call. Fuck. I don’t know if it was the right thing to do, but I did it, and it felt like a weight came off me, like Percy had been wanting me to tell dad for years now. Who knows?” he said, shaking his head.