There was a loud knock on the door. "Can we come in now?!" Jackson yelled.
I smiled up at Rory. "The door is unlocked, guys!"
Jackson ran into the room, followed by Connor, Emily, and Jim. I laughed as Jackson put his arms around us. "I knew you two would work it out," he said.
He was quickly followed by the rest of our friends, as they all embraced us in a big circle. I had felt so alone earlier. And now I had never felt so full. I don't think I had ever been happier in my whole life. Each big moment with Rory had made me feel like that. I couldn't help but think that each day going forward he would make me happier and happier. And he was absolutely right. At the end of the day, happiness was the only thing that mattered.
Epilogue
“It’s perfect,” I said. It probably looked like I was staring up at the freshly painted sign, but my eyes were glued firmly to my new husband’s butt. God did Rory look good in swim trunks. Although he insisted that he had to wear a shirt during our new ice cream shop’s business hours, I was pretty sure in a few more weeks he’d abandon the policy. After all…we were at the beach. No shirt, no shoes…who the hell cared? I sure didn’t. I preferred him without a shirt. And as far as I was concerned, the swim trunks weren’t necessary either.
Rory looked down at me from the ladder he was standing on. “Hey, eyes up here, Keira,” he said and waved his hammer in front of the sign.
I laughed. “I was talking about the sign.”
“Of course you were.” He stepped off the ladder and joined me on the boardwalk. “It really is perfect, though,” he said.
“Sure is.” The sign was great, but I was still talking about his ass. “I still can’t believe we’re actually doing this.” Sweet Cravings was scrawled across the top of our new storefront. Our new storefront. It felt like I was still dreaming. One minute we’d been touring all the beaches on the east coast during our honeymoon, and the next minute we were buying this shop on the Rehoboth boardwalk.
I never wanted our honeymoon to end, but eventually we’d have to go back to Philly. Our next venture was a catering company in the town where we’d met. But for at least this summer we were staying put. We had to get our new shop off the ground and make sure things were running smoothly before we left it in the hands of a manager. And I was going to enjoy every second of our summer here. I leaned into Rory’s side.
He wrapped his arm around me. “Now I have to bring it up one more time before we scare all the patrons away…are you positive these flavor names are the way you want to go?”
I stared at all the flavor names that were posted outside the storefront. “What’s wrong with the flavor names?”
“Um…nothing,” he said.
I laughed. “If we’re going to stand out, we need to do something different than the other five ice cream places on the boardwalk. This is going to be our thing.”
“Right. You don’t think our 100 unique flavors are enough?”
I shook my head. “Nope. We need the outlandish names too.” Outlandish was probably an understatement. Lots of them were sexual. Most of them inappropriate in one way or another. But all of them were hilarious and made sense. The awesome names were what made our shop stand out. “You got to have the final say on all the flavors because you’re the one with the discerning chef’s palette. And I got to do the naming because I’m the author in the family.”
“Well, if you think Sex in the Sand is a great name for banana ice cream with graham cracker crumbs, what do I know?”
“Exactly.”
Rory laughed and placed a kiss on the side of my forehead. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Remember that time Connor and I found you on the floor of that ice cream shop looking for your earrings?”
Kill me now. I had kind of hoped that once we got married we’d never talk about all the awkward things I did to get his attention before we became an us. I didn’t know where this conversation was going but I had a feeling I didn’t want to know. “Hmm…no that doesn’t sound familiar.”
“Right. Because you were lying.”
I squirmed out of his grip. “I was not.”
“Keira.”
“Rory.”
He lowered his eyebrows. “And the day after when you were deep throating that banana, asking me if you gave good head because you were practicing for another man…”
“I don’t recall any of that.” I was pretty sure my face was bright red. It was still hard to believe I’d done either thing. Well, mostly just the banana one. I ate ice cream all the time.
Rory reached forward and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Did you really have a date either of those nights?”
I laughed. “You think I’d make up a date? Psh.” I shoved his shoulder.
“No.” He smiled. “I just remember you were eating this huge bowl of chocolate ice cream…”
“Mmm. Forbidden chocolate.”
“Forbidden chocolate. That’s a pretty normal name.”
I rolled my eyes at him. Too tame.
“Anyway,” he said. “I remember wishing you’d been thinking about me instead of some other guy while you’d been at that ice cream shop. I wanted it to be me on your mind. Always.”
I pressed my lips together. God, he was so sweet. And I owed him the truth. “Well, I did have a date the night I was in the ice cream shop. It was just with…myself. I was definitely thinking of you.”
He pulled me back into his arms. “Yeah?”
“I was always thinking about you. I still am.” I laced my fingers behind his neck. “And the banana thing? You know I was just trying to make you jealous. Can we please never talk about it again?”
His forehead dropped to mine. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. I was being a dick. It made total sense to suck a banana in front of me.”
I groaned and pushed on his chest, but he held me firmly in place.
“I love you, Keira.”
He had a way of making me melt. “I love you too.” I thought after he quit La Patisserie that he’d no longer smell like cinnamon all the time. But the scent never left his skin.
“One more question,” he said.
I looked up into his hazel eyes. “Ask away.”
“Sweet Cravings. Why when all the ice cream flavors have such raunchy names is our shop named Sweet Cravings?”
“Because it’s ironic. But more so…because it makes me think of you. Because you, sir, are sweeter than any flavor of ice cream.” It was a cheesy thing to say. But I still meant it.
He smiled in that way that still made my knees weak.
“Hey, are you guys open?” someone asked from beside us.
“Yes!” I realized I sounded too excited, so I cleared my throat. “I mean…yeah.”
Rory laughed. “It’s our first day, but we’re officially open. What can we get you?” We both went inside our store and stood behind the counter all professional-like.
I knew you were supposed to smile at your patrons, but I didn’t have to force one on my face as I watched our first customer. He was a young lifeguard, just off the beach. And unlike my wonderful husband, he realized that shirts weren’t necessary.