Tonight You’re Mine, page 17
Epilogue
Every Day, Every Night
CHASE
**TWO YEARS LATER**
We’ve been to a lot of weddings together since Greg Lee’s, and all of them were a more pleasant experience for us than that one. But this one takes the cake. And by cake, I mean the massive Italian wedding cake that my mom made. This is the best cake I’ve ever had, and the best wedding I’ve ever been to, because this one is ours. This is the wedding of Aimee Lynn Gilpin to Chase Luca McKay.
While I can easily afford to pay for this whole event, once word got out to our clients half a year ago that we’d finally picked a date, so many local businesses volunteered their services and gifted us their products—from the flower arrangements to the venue. This huge loft in Greenpoint is perfect, with the view of the river and beyond, but what really does it for me is the hanging strings of warm white lights. They’ve always made me want to feel in love, and I do. Every day, every night, ever since I met my wife.
She looks so beautiful in her wedding dress—truly glowing and giddy despite her inability to drink the champagne or the Irish whiskey.
Roxy is wrapping up her maid of honor speech, which has been paused three times by Aimee getting up to hug her. Turns out Foxy Roxy is a total cheeseball beneath the surface. That’s not surprising to me, given who her best friend is.
Now it’s time for the best man to take over the microphone. Aimee rubs my thigh and gives Keaton a hoot and holler. That they have become friends in the past couple of years is something that did surprise me, and it moves me that my two best friends are good friends now too.
This woman. My wife. She still moves me, like nothing else can.
“Hey everyone, I’m Keaton Bridges.” He clears his throat. I can tell he’s getting choked-up already. “It’s an honor for me to have the title of best man tonight, but Chase McKay is the best man that I know. A little over two years ago, I showed up at a bar one night, late for meeting my best friend, after begging him to come out for a drink with me. I made a bee-line for this beautiful woman that was standing next to him and bought her a drink, because that’s what I do. Chase went back to the office to work, because that’s what he does. Little did I know, he had spent about half an hour falling for that beautiful woman before I showed up. But he saw how much I liked her, and he let me go for it. That’s another thing that he does. He observes, he thinks, he makes quick smart decisions that he believes are best for everyone in the long-term, and he doesn’t make a fuss. The beautiful woman was so nice and polite—it took her an entire month to get it through my thick skull that she wasn’t interested in me. No accounting for taste I guess.
It took me another few months to figure out what Chase and Aimee knew from the moment they met—that they are perfect together. I’ve known Chase since we were in college, and he’s always been the guy that everyone wanted to be around, the guy that made me a better person. But when he and Aimee are together, they become this metaphorical third thing that’s better than anything I’ve ever witnessed. They’ve created an awesome new home together, a successful new company, and now …” He pauses, to clear his throat again. I’ve never seen Keaton’s eyes tear up before, but it’s happening now, in front of two hundred and fifty people.
“Now they’re creating an actual third person for all of us to love, and I want you both to know that I will do anything I can for you and your family, always.” He looks down at me and gives me the grin that makes his face more recognizable. “You complete me. And she completes you. I love you, man.”
He puts down the microphone, and I get up to hug him for maybe the second time in our lives.
“I love you too, man.”
Aimee gets up to hug him, and he rubs her belly.
I look around the room, at my parents and grandparents, Aimee’s parents and grandparents, our partners and co-workers and clients and friends from all over.
No matter how many bad choices we’ve made in our past, tonight there is good food, good music, good drinks, good people, and I get to enjoy it with the one person I’ve found who matters more to me than anyone else.
Acknowledgments
My heartfelt thanks to:
Neda Amini, for making my life a little easier and this story a little simpler
Mo Sytsma, for the beta read
Karen McVino/Expressive Editing, for the polish
Regina Wamba, for capturing an image that captured my heart and imagination
Alyssa Garcia, for turning that image into a beautiful cover
Anna, for being the most adorable and supportive reader ever
All of you lovely readers who have let me know that you’re out there, it means so much to me
And to all the book bloggers, your passion for reading and supporting authors is
inspiring and important and very much appreciated
Spotify Playlist
If you would like to listen to some of the songs that I listened to over and over and over again while writing this book…
Tonight You're Mine Spotify Playlist
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When he walked into my restaurant, I thought he was the hottest man I’d ever seen in person.
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Market research has told him that he needs a girlfriend for an important business trip and gala event. He says he doesn’t want to bring someone he has to impress or make an effort with, so he thought of me and figured I could use a nice vacation from my life right about now.
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