Page 112 of That Kind of Guy

Avery was frozen on my lap, eyes still wide and lips slightly parted.

“We can get it annulled if you want, that’s fine with me. It’s just a piece of paper and it doesn’t change how I feel about you. I still want this to be real, but if you’re not ready to make it legal, that’s fine. After everything that happened with your parents—”

“No.” Her hand covered my mouth and she looked down at me.

“No?” The word was muffled against her fingers.

“I don’t want to get it annulled.”

“You don’t.”

She shook her head, and the frown disappeared from her face. She took a deep breath and let it out before nodding once. “I want this to be real. Thisisreal.” She looked into my eyes with so much trust and love that I fell one step further in love with her. “You’re nothing like my dad. And I’m not my mom. I trust you. Let’s just leave the certificate where it is.” She gave me a hesitant smile. “Let’s be married for real. If that’s what you want.”

This woman. So fucking brave and sweet and smart and perfect for me. Made for me.

“It’s what I want.” I pulled her mouth back down to mine. “It’s all I want. I love you, sweetheart.”

She whispered the words I wanted to hear more than anything. “I love you too, darling.”

Epilogue

“Avery,you remember that table of tourists from last year? The mom had a sunburn.” Max leaned on the doorframe of my office.

I looked up from my desk and squinted. “Two kids?”

He nodded. “They want to speak to the manager.”

A grin crept on my face. “Well, I guess you better get out there.”

He rolled his eyes but I could see he was pleased. “They want to speak toyou. Don’t worry, they just want to say hi.”

About six months after the sale of the restaurant had gone through last year, I had promoted Max to manager of The Arbutus. The wholegetting marriedandfalling head over heels in loveandnearly losing everythingsequence of events had shifted my life in a few ways. Now that I had crossed my lifelong goal of owning a successful restaurant off the list, taking a day off occasionally didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Especially when it was to spend time with the people I loved. Emmett. My mom, who had moved to town a couple months ago. Elizabeth and Sam. Hannah. My brothers-in-law, Holden, Wyatt, and Finn. Miri and Scott. Keiko, who I mostly chatted with via Facetime now that she was living full time in Vancouver.

I glanced at the photos on my desk. Keiko and the world’s cutest, chubby-cheeked baby girl, both smiling with bright eyes into the camera. Emmett and I, holding hands on the beach on our wedding day, me giving him a private little smile and him watching me like I was everything to him. One of Emmett and Kara at the beach, all tanned cheeks and freckles. And my favorite: the picture from Miri’s turtle rehab, with Emmett and I holding the turtles up to our kissy faces, with Emmett’s look of pure horror and mine of elated amusement.

Max looked over my shoulder at the picture. “That photo brings me joy. What time is the grand opening?”

“One o’clock. I should get going.” I stood and grabbed my bag. “I’ll say hi to the tourists on my way out.”

In the restaurant, I grinned at my mom and Elizabeth as I passed their table. When they arrived earlier, I had sat and chatted with them for a few minutes. Every Thursday, they had lunch together. It usually lasted a couple hours and was accompanied by several glasses of wine and laughter that had tears rolling down their faces.

Between lunches with Elizabeth, volunteering at the school with Miri, and the wine-making course she was taking, my mom had a full calendar. She seemed happy here, and that made me happy.

When I approached the table of tourists from last year, the parents’ faces lit up. “We couldn’t wait to come back all year,” the mom said, beaming at me. “I follow The Arbutus on Instagram!”

My stomach fluttered with pride and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “We’re thrilled to have you back.” I meant it. “I’m stocked up on aloe, too.”

The parents laughed.

On my way out of the restaurant, something caught my eye. The framed picture of my mom and I in front of her restaurant years ago, the one that used to sit on my desk, hung in the foyer.

The Arbutus was Keiko’s family’s legacy, but now it was my family’s legacy, too. Everything that had happened in my life had ushered me into this stage of my life: watching my mom’s restaurant fail, experiencing the disappointment that was my dad, moving to Queen’s Cove on a whim, and saying yes to Emmett’s ridiculous plan. Some parts had been hard, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

I smiled to myself as I walked the few blocks over, saying hello to people from town and enjoying the cool, sunny weather that was so typical for May in Queen’s Cove. About thirty people gathered in front of the two-story building when I arrived for the grand opening of Miri’s new turtle rehabilitation center. They had outgrown the previous center and this space was nearly double the size. A banner readingGRAND OPENING!hung on the building and there was a small stage set up.

I spotted Emmett immediately. He was speaking to Miri at the side of the stage. Even after a year of being married, my heart flip-flopped at how handsome the guy was. His broad shoulders filled out that grey dress shirt perfectly and my fingers itched to rake through his thick hair. He nodded at something Miri said before he glanced up, caught my eye, and winked.

I bit back a grin. This man. It had occurred to me many, many times over the last year that Emmett and I were inevitable. I had always been affected by him, one way or another, even when it was just him teasing me in the restaurant, when we barely knew each other. I winked back at him, and a flicker of heat rose in his gaze.

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