Epilogue

Shawn

The car in front of me stopped short, so I had to slam on my breaks.

"Easy, there," Andy said from the passenger seat. "I would hope we'd all get there in one piece, dear."

I rolled my eyes. No matter how many times I've told him I hated pet names, he still loved to call me dear. "I don't see you offering to drive," I snapped. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted saying them. I knew he was physically unable to drive. I just hated being stuck in traffic.

Andy reached over and placed his hand on my thigh. "Hey, it's okay. Today is supposed to be a good day."

"Yeah, no fighting," Ivy said from the backseat. "You guys aren't supposed to fight."

I placed my hand on top of Andy's, which was still on my thigh. "I'm sorry," I told him, keeping my eyes on the line of cars in front of us. "I'm just stressed."

"Because of the traffic or because of today?"

I glanced at him. "Both?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "There's nothing to worry about, okay? It's a day to celebrate, not stress over."

I nodded my head, but had to suddenly slam on my breaks again. Why couldn't people just drive normally?

"Jesus, Shawn!" Ivy shouted. "I swear, you drive worse than I do!"

"You didn't have to come with us!" I shot back, frustrated. "You could have come up with Dad."

"Well I didn't know there was going to be this much traffic, otherwise I would have. Besides, I didn't want to wait until tomorrow."

"Guys," Andy interrupted. "Please don't argue. We're almost there."

I glanced at the GPS and realized he was right. I needed to take the next exit. Letting go of Andy's hand on my leg, I switched lanes, then took the exit.

We have been waiting for this day for years. Andy was right - this was supposed to be a good day. There shouldn't be any fighting.

As soon as we were off the highway, I felt so much better. There was no more traffic and it took us only a matter of minutes before I was pulling into the driveway of our new home. The 'sold' sign was still proudly standing in the front yard.

"Welcome home, dear," Andy said to me as I turned off the car.

I didn't even mind the pet name this time, too excited to care. I leaned over and kissed him. "It's perfect."

I hurried out of the car to grab Andy's chair out of the trunk. He and I were finally moving in together and I couldn't be happier. After four years of dating, we finally got here.

Ivy had climbed out of my car with the cat carrier in hand and headed up to the house. Andy got me a cat for Christmas a few months ago, which was great except that he didn't realize my dad was very allergic to cats. So Ramsey had been staying in Andy's apartment with him. To be fair, though, I probably spent more time there than at home anyway, so it didn't make too much of a difference.

"This is perfect," I told Andy as he slid into his chair from the car. "I'm so happy."

"Me too."

I went back to the truck of the car to grab a box of stuff. Most of our stuff was coming up tomorrow, with my dad. We had hired a moving company to get everything else out of Andy's place, and Dad would be driving the truck. The only stuff we had with us today was the essentials that could fit into the car with us.

"Here, give me something," Andy said, coming up next to me.

I dug through the car until I found two bags, one stuffed with blankets and pillows, the other had some random left-over items in it. Then I hung them on the handles of his chair. "There. You're all set."

"Shawn... I have a lap. Give me that box."

I looked at the one he was pointing at and shook my head. That one was too big and heavy. So I grabbed him a smaller, lighter box, knowing he wouldn't stop until I gave him something.

After grabbing that heavy box, I followed Andy and Ivy up to the front door. Andy handed Ivy the keys to unlock the door, and we all headed inside.

Now, I had seen the place before, when Andy and I first looked at it. It was a nice one-story house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a really nice kitchen. It came mostly unfurnished, so I was expecting a pretty bare house when we walked in.

Instead, we were greeted by a bunch of people. People I knew and loved.

My dad was the first one I saw, and his new girlfriend, Kelly. Then Andy's parents. Kat and Joey were there, too. And all around them was our furniture.

"Andy?" I asked him, putting the box I was carrying on the floor. "What's going on?"

He smiled at me. "Did you really think I'd let us spend the night here without all our stuff? I had everyone help out. Everything should be moved in and set up so you don't have to do anything. And I thought a little housewarming party would be nice."

"When did you have time to do this?"

"You know all those meetings I've been going to with the publishers?" I nodded. "Not all of them were for my book."

I shook my head, smiling. "You little shit." I can't believe he's been lying to me just to pull this off. Not that I really minded. Not having to do all this moving would give me more time to focus on the classes I just started taking.

Kat walked up just at that moment, handing me a beer. We've actually become pretty good friends over the last few years. So we didn't exactly get off on the right foot with each other, but at least she's come around and doesn't think I'm going to hurt Andy anymore. I've even met up with Pat a couple times too and talked everything out with him.

"Is that any way to talk to your future husband, Shawn?" Kat asked.

I froze with my drink halfway to my mouth. "What?"

"Katherine!" Andy whisper-yelled, swatting at her leg. "Shut up!"

"I thought you were going to ask last night!" she shot back in an equally quiet, but harsh tone.

"Well, I didn't!"

Meanwhile, I was standing there incredibly confused. Everyone else was starting to realize what was going on, so they had mostly stopped their conversations to watch what was going on with us. I still couldn't wrap my head around what they were saying.

"You look like you're in shock or something," Ivy said, walking up next to me. "Is this really that much a surprise to you?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what's happening."

That's when Andy looked at me. "Shawn, really? I thought you would have figured it out by now."

Then, before I could come up with a response, Andy placed the small box that was on his lap on the floor. Once it was out of the way, he grabbed one of the bags hanging off the back of his chair and dug through it. He pulled out a small box.

"Shawn, come here," he said, motioning me to sit on his lap. I did, only hesitating slightly. This felt weird with everyone watching.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

Instead of giving me an answer, Andy kissed me. It was a short, sweet kind of kiss. I loved those kinds of kisses from him.

"Shawn, I love you," he finally said.

"I love you too."

"Good. I hope you continue to do so for the rest of our lives. I know I will."

"This sounds an awful lot like a proposal..." I fought to hold back my smile when I said that. I knew exactly what he was doing now. I just wanted him to ask already so I could say yes.

"Do you not want it to be?"

I kissed the corner of his mouth. "Of course I do."

"Are you going to say yes if I ask you?"

I stared into his deep brown eyes. "How can I say no?"

These last four years with Andy have truly changed my life for the better. I finally accepted who I am and no longer cared how people saw me. Because it didn't matter what other people thought. Andy loved me, and that's the one opinion I really cared about.

Of course I would want to marry him. He's become my best friend, the person who knows everything about me, the person I wanted to share everything with. Just as I've become that person for him (admittedly, I was so happy when I surpassed Kat as that person three years ago - he says we're both his best friends, but I know the truth). There was no one I'd rather spend the rest of my life with.

"Shawn Goodwin," Andy asked. "Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

I smiled. "Fuck yes."

A/N: Thanks so much for reading and all your support with this book! I'm so sad it's over. But I did have fun writing it. I hope you enjoyed reading it!