I looked down at the woman who’d been part of that transformation. The woman I’d admired even as a teenager, when I had no clue how we’d come back together. She caught me staring and winked. Then she cleared her throat loudly. Everyone around us stilled, then cheered. Tabitha pointed at my chest. They’re cheering for you, she mouthed. I didn’t miss the tears in my parents’ eyes. I didn’t miss Rowan, raising his beer to me with a wide smile.

I decided to leap without looking, hooking an arm around Tabitha’s waist for a kiss that dissolved into laughter. Another cheer went up, with a few wolf whistles mixed in.

“They’re cheering for you too,” I whispered.

She held my cheeks, still grinning. “They’ll be talking about us around the kiddie pool for years.”

“Let ’em,” I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Then she was tugging me toward the dancing. And Rowan was cranking up the music. Tabitha twirled ahead of me, opening her arms to her sister as she ran toward her. I couldn’t help but smile as we were welcomed by our neighbors, our found family. Our home.

Tabitha spun around, searching for me. When she caught my eye, stars exploded across my vision. So did the planets, the moon, the sun.

She’d made me a believer. And was everything I’d been missing all along.

Epilogue

TABITHA

One Year Later

I stood in front of the steps at the art museum and waited for my dark-and-stormy boyfriend to arrive. He’d sent me a text message while I was filming that said: Up for a spontaneous activity?

I said yes, of course. One year in and I was still helpless to resist that man. He’d told me to wait for him here, although I was disappointed not to see his old truck pulling up. It’d been a while since we’d put the back seat to better, sexier use.

Not ten seconds later, Dean Knox-Morelli was strolling toward me down the sidewalk with those broad shoulders and that shy half grin. My stomach dipped, filling with butterflies—a physical reaction to his presence that only heightened the longer we were together.

I propped my hands on my hips. “I’m here for my activity, Mr. Machine. Will you tell me what it is?”

Dean reached me, lifting my chin for a sweet kiss. “I can’t. That’ll ruin the surprise.”

I hummed under my breath, eyebrow raised. He simply took my hand as he walked toward the middle of the steps we’d run together before getting drenched in a storm while hardcore making out.

“They’re not predicting bad weather, are they?” I asked innocently.

His eyes burned. “You wish, troublemaker.”