Once Again

Epilogue: December 2023

"Oh, oh god! Rhys, I'm going to—" I moan
"Shhh." Rhys laughs, muffling my mouth with his hand. "Come with me, baby."
My orgasm floods me and I melt against the wall he has me up against. He groans burying his face in my neck muffling his own sounds. Once we come down from the high of our climaxes we giggle like teenagers. And maybe that's because we're in our old biology classroom which we attended as teenagers though neither of us were doing this in here before.
"Ms. Paxton would not approve." He jokes helping me straighten my dress.
"Mmm. I feel like Ms. Paxton is exactly the type that would approve and watch." I joke.
He groans "...And now I'm the opposite of turned on."
"Good. We need to go back before someone sends a search party. You know Rachel will." I brush the hair out of his face helping smooth it down.
He rests a hand on my wrist and another on my cheek "I love you." He says giving me a tender kiss.
I melt. He always takes the opportunity to tell me he loves me wherever he can these days. I never get tired of hearing it.
"I love you too." I take his hand and lead him back to the gymnasium where our 25th reunion is taking place.
Ben and Bridget exchange knowing looks when we walk back to the table, Ryan is oblivious, and Rachel makes a face. He leads me to the dance floor and pulls me into his arms dancing to KC and JoJo's "All My Life."
We've been together for over a year now. I'm not going to say things are perfect, because they were never going to be and we didn't promise each other that either. We still butt heads and argue much like we did when we were younger, but as adults we're able to work through our disagreements and compromise.
It was hard for his kids to see their dad dating again. We waited for quite some time before I met them. Madison had been gone for close to two years by the time I met them. That's still just a small blip in time in light of their loss. His son takes a long time to warm up to me, but he starts going to therapy thankfully and working on the grief he's suppressed. His daughter warmed up quicker, but she was also entering high school and needed a female figure to help her navigate the challenges of it. I like to think of us as having an older sister/little sister dynamic similar to what I had with mine.
My mom loves that Rhys is back in my life. He helps her get to and from appointments at Piedmont and sometimes will cook us dinner when he stays over, though we prefer it when one of us cooks instead. She said she always knew that "adorable boy" and I would fall in love someday.
"Caleb is going to Vanderbilt next summer." Rhys says dipping me.
I laugh because we almost fall backwards "Good for him! Smart like his daddy."
He shakes his head smiling "I want you to move in with me."
"Oh." I say feeling a mixture of emotions. "My mom, the kids—"
"We'll get a new place. One that's ours. One that has a walk-in basement so your mom can have her own space."
"But Mackenzie—"
"I've already talked to Mack about it. I told her this is up to her. She feels like it will be good for all of us to...get a new place. It's been almost three years, it's hard being there and not feeling like she'll—she'll walk around the corner at any moment. Mack is ready for a fresh start just like me. And she loves you."
"Caleb?" I swallow
"I've asked Caleb about it and he's...he's fine with it. I mean as fine as he can be. You know how college kids are...he's not going to give a shit about what's going on at home once he's there."
"Ugh, are we really that old? Are we really old enough for you to have a kid whose going to college?" I groan
"Sarah." He pins me with a serious look. "You didn't answer my question."
"Was there a question you asked?"
His mouth crooks into a crooked smile, "Ok, ok. Sarah Bauer, will you move in with me?"
"That's better." I squeeze him closer. "You've got this all figured out don't you?"
"No." He kisses the tip of my nose. "Not all of it. You're the missing piece."
"Ok, then." I say.
His face breaks into a brilliant crooked smile. "Ok, then."