Page 96 of Rival Hearts

“Where do you see us in five years?” she asked.

“More together and more in love than we are right now.”

A smile spread across her face. “You think that’s possible? To have more?”

No matter what the future held, if I had her in my arms, I knew I’d be doing just fine. “I will never stop trying to be the man you deserve.”

Her face softened, and she stroked my cheek. “Aww, Grady. You already are.” She drew me down, and our lips brushed together. “But I think you’re right. This is only the beginning.”

I couldn’t be more grateful. With that thought in my head, I sought her lips again, deepening the kiss, and I proceeded to show her how great new beginnings could be.

Epilogue

Grady

Maggie looked radiant, absolutely glowing when she grinned at me from across the banquet hall on election night.

The result could have only gone two different ways, and although the victory was narrower thanIliked to see, Maggie had beaten me fair and square.

In the weeks after the Small Town Savior show, the town had been rife with gossip about me, about Maggie, and even about Trent again. Old wounds had been reopened all around, but it had let a lot of the air clear in a way that I’m not sure it would have otherwise.

Whenever I caught wind of something incorrect about Maggie or Trent or even me, I set the record straight firmly and quickly. If Maggie and I intended to make our home here permanently and eventually raise a family here, I wasn’t having any lingering doubts about her role in Trent’s drug ring, about my brother’s sense of remorse, about my love for both of them.

With my Small Town Savior performance going hugely viral, I’d been doing a lot of radio, television, YouTube, and social media lives with other creators, news people, and others in theindustry. At every turn there, I shouldered the blame, without hesitation, for my portrayal of Maggie and Trent in my songs, for the folly of youth, and how I intended to work my ass off to make up my idiocy to Maggie and Trent for as long as they’d have me.

Tyler appeared at my shoulder, a victory beer in his hand. I’d had a special batch of beer and wine made up with customized labels for Mayor Maggie.

“Dad would be really proud,” Tyler said, his voice thick with emotion.

“I suspect he was always proud of all of you,” I said, not taking my eyes off Maggie. One of the joys of having her was that I didn’t have to hide how much I wanted her, cherished her.

“It’s made me think a lot about fatherhood,” Tyler admitted, taking a long draught of his beer.

“I keep thinking about Amir,” I said, shifting my focus to Emily’s little guy who was running through the crowd of town supporters, streamers flying from his outstretched hands. “Two father figures gone.”

“Trent’s been taking him to the mechanic shop, I hear,” Tyler said with a small smile. “And I’ve been trying to teach him how to sew.”

“Any luck?”

“None,” Tyler said. “But I hear he’s learned the names and uses of some tools with Trent. Omar was always good with his hands.”

“I never met him.”

“He was a good guy. Firefighter. I hope Emily can find someone else who lights her up like you and Maggie are for each other.”

I let out a little laugh. “We’re lit up, are we?”

“Like the motherfucking sun,” Tyler said, following my gaze back to Maggie, who was chatting with some of her regulars from the pharmacy.

It amazed me, sometimes, all the little things I knew about Maggie now. Her regular customers. The temperature she liked to sleep in. That putting my dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher would make her huff out an annoyed breath at the sight. That she had slippers scattered around her house, and now mine, because her feet were always cold.

I watched as Maggie excused herself from the people she was talking to and made eye contact with me, a silent indication she was headed back to me, headed home to the crook under my arm. There was nothing I liked better than the weight and feel of her against me.

She didn’t make it far before she was halted by someone else, congratulating her, or maybe asking a pharmacy-related question—we could never be sure which would win when we were stopped on the street.

“You leave for LA in two days?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Which reminds me that I should be glued to my lady for the next forty-eight hours.”

---