I look around, and then my eyes land on Vivienne, and I don’t know what to do, and as I look around, I finally take a deep breath, not giving a shit who sees anymore. Vivienne looks at me, and I see her saying something to Karrie. I shake my head and walk over to her, stopping right in front of their table. Matthew’s eyes come to mine, and then I look at Vivienne, who just smiles. “Are you ready?” I ask her.

I don’t even realize that everyone has gotten quiet or that all eyes are on us. The only thing I know is that it’s time to leave, and I’m not leaving without my woman beside me. “Yes,” she says, flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

“Good, now let’s go.” I motion with my head. She pushes her chair away from the table and gets up, walking around the table with her purse in her hand. She walks around the table, her hand slipping in mine just like she does every single time we leave.

“What in the fuck is that?” Matthew is the first one to ask, then looks at Karrie. I smile; the secret’s finally out.

Karrie shrugs her shoulder. “I don’t think she’s thirsty anymore,” she says, and just like that, everyone starts to laugh.

She drops her hand from mine and does one even bigger, wrapping her arms around my waist. “I am not thirsty in the least.” She looks at me while she says that and then turns to look at Matthew and Karrie. Standing in the middle of the restaurant with her closest friends, she looks around and says, “I’m in love.”

Epilogue One

Vivienne

One Year Later

“I’m so sorry, are we late?” I say, hugging Karrie and kissing her on the cheek. “Traffic was a nightmare.”

“And it’s just starting,” Karrie says. “Summer combined with getting out of the city is a mess.”

“Well, thankfully we won’t be here.” I smile at her and look around to see where Mark is.

After I declared my love for him in front of everyone, we didn’t leave the party. In fact, they popped more champagne. Everyone was so curious as to how long it was going on, but the only one really in shock was Matthew, who sat there looking at Karrie.

“You knew about this?” He pointed at me and Mark, and she shrugged. “We aren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other, Karrie.”

“It wasn’t my secret,” she said and then leaned over and kissed his lips. “Now be happy for her. Do you know how long we’ve waited for this?”