Page 93 of Crash
I love you, too.
The end.
epilogue
QUYNH
ONE YEAR LATER…
Quynh stood up from her crouched position. She had been cleaning the house all day to distract herself from checking the rankings of her debut novel she just released. It took her most of the past year to work on putting her mother’s journals and her father’s stories together to form a love story she was proud of. She kept most of their history but rewrote their ending, giving her parents the happily ever after they never got in life. She hoped where they were now, they were able to find each other.
Her father died nearly six months ago now. He lived longer than the doctors predicted, which was a miracle. She suspected it had to do with being able to make amends with his past that gave him a few extra months of life. But in the end, cancer took him, too.
Luckily, Quynh was able to experience having herfather walk her down the aisle a month before he passed. Though she never thought it was possible, she was thrilled when Griffin proposed to her a couple of months after she moved back to town.
Most people would probably say they were rushing things, but they knew what they wanted out of life. There was no other man for her but Griffin. She knew deep in her bones he was the only man she wanted by her side as she navigated life.
Griffin was a major supporter of her dreams of becoming a writer. During the day, she worked at the auto shop to help manage the office, taking care of the administrative side of things. During the downtime, she would work on her book. It took the better part of the last year to finish the first draft of her book. Then came the arduous task of finding an editor.
Several rounds of editing later, her manuscript was ready to publish. Though, instead of trying to find a publisher to take a chance on her, she decided to self-publish. This book was important to her. She wanted it to be her work that was published rather than bending over backwards to make a publisher happy.
So, after her book went live this morning, Quynh started cleaning the house like a madwoman. Every surface in the house sparkled with how fervently she wiped everything down. There was not even a single dustbunny or fur ball to be found. She vacuumed at least three times between this morning and lunchtime.
Her stomach gurgled, reminding her she needed to eat just as her phone rang. Quynh dropped the feather duster she had in her hand and ran to find her phone. She pushed away the disappointment when she realized it wasn’t Griffin who was calling, though she smiled brightly as Meg’s name flashed across the screen.
She hit the answer button, but before she could finish her greeting, she was met with a pterodactyl scream so loud it made her ears ring.
“GUESS WHO MADE THE AMAZON BESTSELLERS LIST!?”
“Who?” she questioned, though she sensed it was a rhetorical question.
“YOU DID! Oh my god, my best friend is a bestselling author!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you talking about? It just came out today!”
“Yeah, I know, and between all of my social media marketing skills and my connections, I was able to launch that bad boy into every corner of every platform. You’re a best-selling author, baby!”
Quynh pulled the phone away from her ear as Meg continued to yell excitedly. Her heart was racing. She couldn’t believe it. She put Meg on speakerphone and ran to the back of the house where Griffin helped her setup her office so she could write. The best part about her office was the view of the lake through the large double-pane windows. It was a relaxing view when she was stuck on finding the right words or when she had writer’s block.
She turned on the laptop as she listened to Meg continue talking about all the reels she made and content pulls, which probably helped sell her book. Quynh didn’t know what she was going on about since she didn’t manage her social media accounts. Technically, Meg was the one who handled all the nitty-gritty details she couldn’t be bothered with, preferring to spend her time writing or with Griffin in the home they made together.
Quynh even made a routine to meet up with Ruth at least once a month at the coffee shop to talk. It took the younger woman some time to warm up to her. Their father left the giant mansion to Ruth and split the rest of his money evenly between the sisters. A fact that was a bitter pill for Ruth to swallow. Unfortunately, they were forever bound together by losing their parents. They only had each other left.
Most evenings, she would sit on the back porch and enjoy the sun as it set across the lake, the beautiful colors making the most majestic canvas of vibrant colors. She’d become friendly with their new neighbors, Ben, Emily, and their six-month-old daughter, Charlotte. On one of their walks around the lake, Griffin and Quynh bumped into the couple as they were pushing Charlottein the stroller. She discovered Emily was also a nurse, although she was currently staying at home to care for Charlotte.
Quynh and Emily bonded over their shared professions and try to meet up for dinner at least once a month. Though Quynh had no plans to return to her work as a nurse practitioner, she wouldn’t completely rule it out. Right now, though, she was happy.
The happiest she had ever been in all of her adult life.
“Quynh, are you even listening to me?” Meg’s voice brought her back to reality.
“I’m listening.”
“Did you see it yet?”
“I’m pulling it up right now.”
With trembling fingers, she typed in the title of her book and sat on her hands as it loaded. Her mouth dropped open in shock at the orange banner listed next to her book.
