We invited all West Valley to stay for the weekend for free to celebrate the grand opening. There was some slight drama concerning the fact that this weekend was supposed to be when the yodeling games were held. Eventually, we worked it out so the yodeling games could still take place, and it’d just be a Bark Bites–sponsored event.
Miranda looked casual in a silky Bark Bites polo and khaki pants that made her ass look too good not to grab. She sat down beside me with a tray of chili cheese fries and wiggled her eyebrows. “Hungry?”
“Not for those,” I said, nudging her leg.
She bit her lip, then lowered her voice. “I’m not on the menu until tonight. As a big, important CEO, I have a lot of work to do.”
“Oh, absolutely. I can see how hard you’re working right now.”
She shrugged. “Work-life balance is one of my keys to success. If I don’t have a little time to bowl with my fiancé, what am I even working for?”
I smirked. I still wasn’t used to hearing her call me her fiancé. A little jolt of excitement spiked through me every time I heard that, and every time I glanced down at the engagement band on her finger.
“Hey, nerds,” Cade said. He was standing at the computer dressed like he was in a biker gang from the eighties. There had apparently been a miscommunication about the dress code, he claimed. When he turned to look at us, I couldn’t help laughing. He had on a fake, thick black mustache, sunglasses, and a red headband. He had also ripped the sleeves off a leather jacket and wore pants so tight I didn’t really want to look below his waist. “You two gonna pick a name, or am I gonna have to pick it for you?”
“What’s with the accent?” I asked.
He made a dismissive sound and typed our team name into the computer. Balls of Fury.
“I figured I’d go easy on you guys. I did win fifty dollars from Iris when you got together, so I probably owe you.”
“He’s not kidding,” Iris said. “I tried telling him there was no way in hell our Miranda would ever go back on the oath she tried so hard to bang over our heads when Kira and I were thinking of breaking it. It was just sooo important until it was her turn.”
“Okay,” Miranda said. “For the record, it stopped being an oath when you two broke it. And my King brother didn’t actually do anything bad to deserve it. If he hadn’t thought Kira signed that poem, I never would’ve wanted to swear the stupid thing in the first place.”
Kira ducked her head. “Awkward,” she whispered.
“Sorry,” Miranda muttered. “I’m just saying that me falling for Nick was probably the most forgivable sin here. I waited the longest too.”
“It’s not a competition, Miranda,” Iris said. “But if it was, I’d win because I at least arrested my King brother first.”
Cade nodded wisely. “She wouldn’t even frisk me properly. The woman was made out of restraint. I think if I hadn’t had a kid up my sleeve, I would’ve been doomed.”
“Speaking of your kid, where is he, exactly?” I asked.
“Taking advantage of the free day care, thank you very much.”
Rich cleared his throat. “Kira tried pretty hard to throw me off too.”
“Gee, thanks, Rich,” she said with a sideways smile. “You make me sound really tough.”
He shrugged. “I knew you wanted me from the get-go. I just had to be patient enough for you to admit it to yourself.”
“Liar,” Kira said, laughing.
After a few minutes, Cade, Rich, Kira, and Iris were all laughing about something that happened at a King family barbecue a few weeks back.
Miranda leaned her head into my shoulder and smiled. “I really am happy.”
“Because you’re winning?” I asked.
“There’s that. Yes. But I’m happy I got you. And you’re the first guy I’ve ever been with who encourages my ambition. You don’t get intimidated or weird about it. I really appreciate that.”
I kissed the top of her head. “As long as your ambitions also include a side of wanting to get into my pants, I’ll always be there to help push you along.”
She laughed. “I was thinking it would be easier to take them off instead of trying to fit inside them.”
“You’re the boss.”
She didn’t answer right away, but when she did, her tone was slow and thoughtful. “I am, and I finally found something that matters to me more than that.”
“Chili cheese fries?” Cade asked. He picked one out of her tray and popped it into his mouth. “You should really free both your hands before you give sappy speeches. I mean, wouldn’t setting that tray down kind of kill the mood before you go in for a romantic kiss?”
I thrust the tray into his chest, and he happily took it.
“Hey, weird question,” I said suddenly.
“Is it about snails?”
I grinned. “No. It’s just that you said you never understood people who had kids before they got what they wanted out of their careers. So now that you seem to have done the whole career thing . . .”
She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, eyes darting across my face like she was waiting for a punch line. “If you don’t mean what I think you mean, I will literally murder you. I won’t even wait until you’re asleep. I’ll make sure it’s painful and messy.”
“I mean it all. But you can bet I’d haunt your ass. And you can also bet I’d be a perverted ghost.”
She grinned. “A baby?”
“Sure, we could start with just one if that’s what you wanted.”
She laughed, hopping up on my lap and hugging me tightly. I ran my hands through her hair, holding her like I was afraid she’d slip away if I didn’t squeeze her tight. I knew one thing. I’d never let her go. Not again. Not ever.
Five Years Later
Even if the view of West Valley had changed quite a bit since our high school days, Overlook Point was still the same. There were more stores and more houses in West Valley than there had been. If you squinted, you could even see the massive, glinting building Sion called headquarters past the trees outside town. But for all the ways it had grown and changed as we had, West Valley still felt like home.
More and more, the time my brothers and I had spent out in California was starting to feel like a footnote. Everything that mattered had happened here.
I’d met Miranda, let her slip away, found her again, and started a family. Every last one of those things had happened in this same scenic little valley.
We’d come out here with my brothers, their wives, and their kids and brought enough fireworks, picnic blankets, food, and camping gear to keep us until morning. Cade and Iris had pumped out kids so fast over the past few years that I was almost certain they weren’t respecting the whole “no sex for six weeks” after pregnancy rule. The two of them had a small, terrifying little army of Cade and Iris clones now. God help the world if any of their kids were even half as wild as their parents.
Rich found me looking out over the town and nudged me with his shoulder. We were all finally starting to age out of that near-stasis period in our twenties when it felt like time couldn’t touch us. The only signs that Rich had aged were the faint lines appearing at the corners of his eyes.