I shook my head as Meredith rolled her eyes.
“Come on,” she said. “Everyone else is inside and there is food.”
“I’m starving,” Lucas said. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in a month.”
“Me too,” I replied, “which is probably because I’ve barely eaten in a month.” I turned to look up at Lucas. “I really missed you.”
“I missed you too,” he said, his smile soft.
I popped up onto my toes and kissed him once more. Now that I could do it whenever I wanted, I wanted to do it all the time.
He took my hand and wove our fingers together and we followed the others into the palace. We would talk more, I knew that, and I would have to go back to Boston and finish my Ph.D., but for now I was here and he was here and we were together and that was enough.
“I love you, Lucas,” I said as we stepped into the cool foyer.
He stopped and tugged me into his chest again. “I love you too, Francesca Davenport.”
I didn’t think my name sounded so awful when he said it, and then he kissed me and I stopped thinking altogether. I could barely believe this was my life now. I had my best friend in my life and I could kiss him whenever I wanted to.
Epilogue
Francesca
I smoothed my hand over the dress I wore and took a deep breath. This was it. This was the moment. I was finally graduating.
It had been a hard slog, but I was done and my dissertation was finished—orally defended, praised, submitted, and approved. Not to mention I even had a job to go to. Few graduates could say they were walking out of university and right into a high-level job. But I could. And it wasn’t just a job, it was an entirely new life in an entirely new country…okay; it wasn’t an entirely new country. I’d been there before, spent some of the best—and worst—weeks of my life there, and I couldn’t wait to go back.
“Are you ready to go?” Mom asked, looking over my shoulder to the reflection in the mirror.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied.
I turned and hugged my mother. She squeezed me tight and I may or may not have teared up just a little.
“Come on, Dad wants to take photos and Lucas is downstairs too.”
I followed Mom down the stairs and felt a little melancholy. In a few days I would move out and not just move out of the house but move to a new country and that was a little scary. I’d grown up in this house and I loved every inch of it. But I also loved Kalopsia, and I couldn’t wait to start my new life over there.
Dad sniffed as I came into view and I went to hug him first. I breathed in the familiar and comforting scent of my dad and tried to imprint it on my memory. Yes, I would see them again, but this was a significant and poignant moment and I wanted to remember it.
Next I hugged Lucas, and it was a different feeling altogether. Lucas was my past, but he was also my future and there was an anticipation zinging through both of us. He’d already made the move to Kalopsia permanent and now it was my turn, or at least it would be once we got through the graduation ceremony and the after party.
Of course there was an after party and of course I was going…we were going. I convinced Lucas to come too, even if he hadn’t gone to his own graduation after party.
“Photo time!” Dad said.
Dad took a photo of me by myself and then one with Lucas before handing over the camera to Lucas who took a couple of me with my mom and dad.
“Okay, selfie time!” I cried, holding up my phone.
We all gathered together, and I snapped the photo and then immediately set it as my phone wallpaper.
“Ugh, I’m nervous. I shouldn’t be nervous, should I?” I asked Lucas as we left the house and climbed into the limo Lucas had hired for all of us.
“You’ve got nothing to be nervous about,” he said, pressing a soft kiss on my cheek. “But there is champagne in the limo if you need a little something to calm your nerves.”
I laughed and climbed into the back of the car, sitting in between Mom and Dad. Lucas poured us all a glass of champagne and then held it up for a toast.
“To Frankie and to the amazing future she has in front of her.”
“To Frankie,” Mom and Dad repeated, and we all clinked glasses.
“You only said that because my future is with you,” I said to Lucas with a wink.
He grinned. “Yes, yes, I did.”
I didn’t mind, not even a little bit. My future would be with him and it would be amazing and I was excited. School had seemed interminable, but the end came so quick I could barely catch my breath. I was done. I was hours away from holding my Ph.D. in my hand and then I would embark on a brand new adventure and I couldn’t wait.
Lucas
I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so proud of Frankie and all the hard work she’d put in. I’d read her dissertation and marveled at her incredible insights and the amazing way she could look beyond the outside of a person to who they were underneath…like me, for example. I’d been overlooked most of my life because I simply wasn’t what people wanted me to be, but not Frankie. Frankie saw something else besides the shy, nerdy guy with the glasses and messy hair. Right from the very first moment when she looked into my eyes, she saw me, which was more than I could say for just about everyone else in my life.
I clapped when she walked across the stage to accept her doctorate. She beamed at the crowd and I snapped as many photos that I could. This was the end, but it was also a beginning and I wanted to be beside her for every new experience for the rest of our lives.
After the ceremony, I ran to the car to grab the flowers I had stashed there. There were some from me, but there was also an enormous bunch from the king and queen. They were chomping at the bit to get Frankie back to Kalopsia and for her to start work, but I’d made sure they gave her a couple of weeks off. She deserved it.
I had plans for us. We would tour the region. She’d been on Kalopsia and in the village surrounding the palace, but there was more to the country for her to see and more people for her to meet. Plus, I wanted her to enjoy some of the summer relaxing on the beach and swimming in the sea and I’d even take her to the day spa at the resort if she wanted to. Knowing Frankie, she would use her time at the resort as a networking opportunity and then come up with some spectacular way for the resort to partner with the palace and the village in the country's rebuilding.
I watched as she crossed the lawn to where I waited beneath a tree. The tree, in fact. The tree we met under on that fateful day all those years ago. She was stopped time and again by other graduates and professors and members of the audience. Frankie never met a stranger, they were all just friends she hadn’t spoken to yet. I smiled as I watched her. I might not like to be around so many people, but I loved watching Frankie and how she navigated her world.
“Hey,” Frankie said as she stepped up to me.
I brushed a soft kiss on her lips. “Hey,” I replied.
“Did you rob a florist?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the mass of flowers in my arms.
I laughed. “No. These are from Jamie and Meredith,” I said, handing her the largest bunch.