I chuckled. “But he’s sober.”
“But he’s sober,” Gran agreed.
Thirty days. Wayne was thirty days sober. That in itself was a miracle.
The door handle jiggled and I sat erect. “Gran, he’s walkin’ in. I’ll call you right after.”
“Okay, hun,” she said and I hung up, pinning Ashton with a glare.
He had one hand behind his back, hiding something. Probably flowers. When he saw my glare, he looked panicked.
“Everything okay?”
I crossed my arms. “No. I’m wondering why you waited until so late to tell me your results. Gran and I don’t like our emotions being messed with. I’ve watched fifty-six twenty-minute episodes of small-town drama and I’m not in the mood.”
A slow grin spread across Ashton’s face as he crossed the room and sat on the couch next to me.
“Because I wanted to do this in person.” He pulled his hand out from behind his back and in it was a stethoscope.
Tears filled my eyes, and my bottom lip quivered as he handed it to me.
“Turns out Colin’s heart is just fine. Looks like I got another second chance … and I’m not gonna fuck it up this time.”
A sob burst from my throat as he pulled up his shirt and placed the circular end of the stethoscope over his heart.
“It was clear?” I managed through my sob.
He nodded, holding up a paper. “A happy, healthy heart. The new meds are working fine, as are the disgusting acai and kale shakes you’ve made me every morning.”
I fully broke down then, crying like a maniac while holding the stethoscope in my hands. For the first time since Colin died, I felt it … what everyone in grief support group says they feel.
I felt him. I felt Colin’s presence there in the room. I couldn’t explain it if I tried, but it was a knowing, a warm loving knowing that he was watching over me and blessing my relationship with Ashton.
Quieting my sobs, I placed the earbuds into my ears and the strong thump-thump, thump-thump shook my soul.
It turns out the man I loved since I was sixteen gave me more of a gift than I would ever know. He didn’t just save one life the day he died, he saved two. Because Ashton saved me and that wouldn’t have been possible without Colin.
Ashton reached out and scooped a warm tear from my cheek. “Okay, we’ve reached maximum tears and crying allowed.”
I laughed, and let him pull me in for a hug but kept the stethoscope in my ears. Hearing that heartbeat was what I’d come for; it was what was supposed to bring me closure so I could say goodbye to Colin and walk away.
But now I knew this was just the beginning.
Epilogue
Millie
“Gran, hand me that maple buttercream, will ya?” I reached out and she plopped the piping bag into my hand.
“Bacon’s almost crisp,” she declared as I piped a thin scalloped edge around the stack of ten giant buttermilk pancakes I’d made.
“Perfect.” I surveyed my work.
Wayne wanted a bacon celebration cake and that’s exactly what he was going to get.
One year sober.
Wayne had lost fifteen pounds of flab and was doing daily yoga, had worked out all his demons in therapy, and had taken to horseback riding during equine therapy. Got a job as a farmhand working with the horses, and had completely changed his life around. Today was all about him.
“Mmm bacon.” Ashton walked into the kitchen and reached for the still-hot bacon strips Gran had just dished out onto paper towels.
“Don’t touch that!” we both yelled in unison.
Ashton retracted his hand and glared. “One piece? You think Wayne’s gonna miss one piece?”
“Hell yes I will!” Wayne’s voice came from the entryway to the kitchen and I grinned.
“Don’t look yet, it’s not ready!” I screamed, shielding the pan-“cake” with my body.
“Outside!” Gran hollered, and the boys went out to where she had the picnic table set up and Ashton’s aunt and cousins were chatting in the garden.
“Alright, honey, work your magic.” Gran brought me the crispy bacon strips. Wayne loved camping, and bacon, so I used the bacon to stack them like logs and grabbed my pre-cut fondant flames, sticking them with toothpicks and inserting them into the pan-“cake” right over the bacon logs.
“Oh it’s adorable!” Gran cooed, causing me to grin. “You should sell cakes at Wayne’s Place!”
I laughed. “At a live bar and brunch restaurant?”
Wayne’s Place had grossed nearly six figures this year—thanks to the live band and the avocado toast. Now we even had local breweries dropping off growlers for our taster Tuesday beer tasting. Wayne’s Place was a total success and Ashton and I put everything we had into that place.
She shrugged. “Maybe you cook on Saturdays. I could help you, and on Sunday afternoons you display all your cakes on the bar and sell what you made to the brunch traffic.”
I turned to face her. “You know, that’s kind of genius. Our brunch crowd is always asking for dessert.”
Gran nodded. “We could pipe cusswords over the top. The hipsters will love it.”
Laughter pealed out of me and I extended an arm around her shoulders. “I love you.”
She rested her head on my shoulder and smiled. “Love you too, sweet pea.”
Gran had become like a second mother to me. She’d completely taken me in and I was so grateful to have been given a spot in this family.
“Ready?” I asked her, loading the pan-“cake” into my arms.
“Ready.”
Gran stepped in front of me to open the sliding door and I walked out into the beautiful garden on her farm. Looking up at the picnic table to find a good place to set the cake, my brain malfunctioned at the sight of my parents and Julie and John.
Why were my parents back in Tennessee? They just left.
Why were Julie and John early?
Did Ashton
