River
“Dean.”
“River.”
“Dean.”
He smiles, and even after all these years, I hate that I love it so much. “Fine.”
I smile victoriously, mostly because I am victorious. I always am when it comes to getting the last piece of pie.
Dean sets his fork to the side, grinning as I use my own to swipe the last bite off the plate and pop it into my mouth. I make sure to roll my tongue over the metal, getting every single bit of cherry pie that I can.
“Okay, I’m going to need you to please stop tongue-fucking the pie fork because I’m pretty sure that noise my brother just made was sexual, and that’s gross on so many levels.”
I laugh at Holland, who looks just as disgusted as she sounds.
“You’re being dramatic,” I tell her.
“Actually, she’s not. You’re really going at that fork,” Cooper points out.
I flip him off, and his girlfriend snickers at the gesture.
“Hey, stop laughing!”
“Um, no. I’m sure you deserved that for one reason or another,” Caroline says, one brow raised in his direction.
We’re sitting at The Gravy Train, the same place we’ve been coming to for… I don’t even know how long now. Four years? Maybe more? I just know this is what we do. Every Sunday, we gravitate toward this place and take up far too much space, especially since there are ten of us now that Caroline and Cooper added a baby to the mix last year.
And in just a few short months, our family will grow to eleven, thanks to Maya and Nolan adding to our brood. Sam is thrilled to become an older brother, and I’m eager to see him thrive in that role because I just know he will. Dean, who is now his assistant principal and working toward taking over as principal when the current one retires, is always bragging about what a big help he is in school. I can only imagine how wonderful he’ll be with his new sibling.
There’s been a lot of change around here lately, including the reason we’re all gathered here today.
“I can’t believe this is our last get-together,” Maya pouts, her hand on her ever-growing stomach as she leans her head on Nolan’s shoulder.
“Not our last,” Holland reassures her. “Just our last for a while.”
“Yeah, it’s only temporary while Holland helps get the company set up in New York,” Sutton says, clearly proud of his girlfriend. That startup she joined years ago turned into something a hell of a lot more, and now they are expanding their business. Holland is heading to New York City while she works on making it the best expansion possible, and Sutton is going with her for support. “Besides, we have to come back for the wedding.”
Everyone exchanges glances, not a single one of us having a damn clue what he’s talking about.
“Uh, wedding? What wedding?” Caroline asks. “Did I miss something?”
“I have no idea what he’s on about. Dean?” I say to my husband.
He shrugs, mumbling, “Not a clue.”
But I don’t miss the way he doesn’t make eye contact with me.
I’m about to call him out on it when the scraping of a chair across the floor pulls my attention. I look over just in time to watch Sutton drop to one knee in front of Holland.
I gasp, my hand covering my mouth. “What the…”
“Shh!” Dean says from beside me.
Normally, I’d yell at him and start a fight just for the sake of arguing with him because it’s practically foreplay for us, but I can’t. Not right now. Not when I can’t take my eyes away from what I’m witnessing.
Sutton exhales a heavy breath. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you the moment we stepped into that coat closet fresh out of high school.”
“Wait a minute—what coat closet?”
“Shh!” I toss back at my husband, still not looking away.
“I didn’t realize it then, of course, but you changed everything. You challenged me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be challenged. You pushed me to be a better person. And you definitely showed me what unconditional love was. Is. You, Holland Evans, turned me into the man I am today, and that’s a man who loves you. So goddamn much it’s hard to breathe sometimes. So much that I want to do things I swore I’d never do…like get married. I want to put a ring on your finger and make you my wife. I want the whole world to see that even the lowly peasant can get the princess.”
Holland laughs, sniffling as she holds back tears.
“So, what do you say? Will you change my life again, Holland? Will you help me become an even better person? An even happier one?” Sutton pops open the black box he’s been holding this whole time. “Will you marry me?”
We all freeze, waiting with bated breath as Holland just stares at the man kneeling before her.
I don’t think one of us is breathing at this point, the potential bride-to-be included. I know Sutton definitely isn’t, staring up at her with so much worry, like he’s afraid she might actually say no.
She won’t. She’s just as crazy about him as he is about her. I’m sure of that.
“For shit’s sake. If you don’t tell that man yes, then I will!” Lucy hollers from her favorite spot in the restaurant, and we all laugh.
Then Holland’s laughter turns into quiet sobs.
“Holls?” Sutton asks, his brows furrowed. “Are you… Is this… What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head. “Nothing’s the matter. I’m just…” She blows out a breath. “I love you, you know?”
He chuckles lightly. “I know… I’m just, well, you haven’t answered my question.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just… surprised. I wasn’t expecting this today. I’m not sure I was ever expecting it, really. So I…” Another deep breath. “Ask again.”
“Sorry?”
“Ask me again,” she tells him, wiping at her eyes. “I’ll answer this time.”
He smiles up at her. “Will you mar—”
“Yes!” she answers before he can even finish the sentence, launching herself at him in the process.
He falls backward, neither one of them caring they’re on a sticky floor as they kiss.
We cheer around them, Nolan letting out a loud whistle and Dean cupping his hands around his mouth, going berserk next to me.
I point up at him. “You knew, didn’t you?”
He shrugs with a grin. “Maybe.”
“And you kept this from me?!”
“I didn’t trust you not to tell Maya!”
“Hey, I don’t tell her everything, you know!” my best friend fires back at him.
“Then how come she knows about that thing we do in the bedroom, huh?”
“Trust me,” Maya says, “I wish I didn’t know.”
“Me too,” Nolan grumbles.
“You know too?!” Dean’s eyes are twice their size. “Does everyone know?”
“I don’t, and I’d like to keep it that way, thank you,” Caroline says.
“Same,” Cooper agrees, then points to the couple still making out on the floor. “We should tell them to stop, right?”
“Oh my god, they’re still kissing? Get off my sister, Sutton!” Dean grabs his future brother-in-law, trying to yank him away, and chaos ensues.
It’s comical.
It’s absurd.
And it’s exactly where I want to be—right here with my friends. My former roommate turned husband.
My family.
I wouldn’t trade this for anything else in the world…not even for another slice of cherry pie.
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