Page 46 of Decking the Halls
“You really think you could get rid of me now?”
“Not a chance,” she says, and kisses me, sealing this promise in the cold night.
Around us, the bar crackles with celebration. Somewhere down the street, someone’s yelling “Happy New Year!” and the sound carries across the bay, echoing through the fog.
I think of where I was a month ago—alone, unsure, still trying to convince myself I wasn’t “too much.” Now, standing here in Wren’s arms, I finally feel like exactlyenough.
We turn to leave, her arm wrapped around me. Our future isn’t perfect. Neither am I.
Thank God for that.
Epilogue
EDIE
One year later, I stand in Heather’s kitchen, spooning mashed potatoes into a large ceramic bowl while she checks on the turkey in the oven. The diamond ring on my finger catches the light, still making me smile even six months after our June wedding.
Yes, we got married. Already. When Wren proposed to me on Valentine’s Day, while celebrating our two months together at a beach house up the coast, I couldn’t believe it. Wasn’t it too soon? What did she mean she didn’t want something fancy? Why did eloping at the end of the school year sound like such a good idea?
Because it was, apparently. Our parents were there when we said “I do” in Mingus Park, two blocks away from the apartment I had just moved out of because the lease was up and the timing was right. For the past few months, I’ve been with Wren in her above-the-garage studio. It’s tight and cozy, but there are big plans forging forward.
The house smells like butter and rosemary, two things that just make me hungrier. Outside, rain does its thing. After a dry summer and autumn, I’m starting to sound like my dad when I say,“We needed this rain.”
“Wren’s probably getting soaked out there,” Heather says, glancing toward the window even though it’s too dark to see past her own reflection. “She’s been showing your dad those new construction photos all afternoon.”
“That sounds like her.” I’m stirring the butter into these potatoes as if my life depends on it. “Any excuse to brag about her latest project.”
Heather smiles as she closes the oven door again. “You’ve made her more focused. I’ll give you that.” She pats my shoulder. “By the way, Nick is bringing his new girlfriend over later. Did Wren tell you? Apparently, they have a group chat now.”
“I think you need more than two people to have a group chat…”
“Be that as it may, she’s coming by. They met in Salem. Guess he took some of his sister’s advice to heart and joined a hiking club this summer. That’s where they met, he says.”
“Should be good for him, then.”
Heather glances at me from the corner of her eye.
“What?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing. Just thinking you must be pretty special to datebothof my children.”
“Hey, I even married one.”
Those are the kinds of jokes we can crack now, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
WREN
Watching my wife laugh with my family in the same home where I used to hide from Christmas dinners, I can’t believe how much has changed in a year.
This time last Christmas, I was doing the dirty with her against the bathroom counter. Now Edie’s wearing my ring, my last name, and talking to my dad about how we’re finally breaking ground on the new shop.
“Stop looking so smug,” she says after coming outside to see my dad and me.
“Can’t help it. I won.”
“It wasn’t a competition.”
“Everything with Nick is a competition,” I say, glancing through the window into the warm glow of the living room. “But yeah, this time? I definitely won.”
