Coming Home (Pierpoint View #1)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

It’s been a long, hard year, but waking up to see Brooks laying next to me after sneaking in to bed sometime last night, and feeling his arms wrapped tight around me makes it all worth it.

“Did you know it’s been a year today since we met?” Brooks’ gravelly voice, full of sleep, murmurs in my ear, lips brushing against it as he does.

I turn over, snuggling into his arms more. “Has it really? It feels like it’s been years,” I joke, hoping he gets my sleepy sarcasm.

“Ha ha, very funny.” He tickles my sides and I try and get away but he’s too strong and ends up pinning me underneath him and I’m more than happy staying right where I am.

He presses a kiss to my forehead, nose, both cheeks and then finally my lips. “What are your plans for the day?” he asks.

“Alex wants to go get her nails done at that new salon in town and I said I’d go with her, then I’m going to check on the cafe.”

I hired another server to help out and it means I only have to cover two, maybe three, shifts a week which is great for me because Brooks had decided to start booking flights for me to come to some of the games that are relatively close by. He says that I’m his lucky charm and that he needed a miracle to heal from his injury and I was that miracle.

“Good, I’ll pick you up in the truck at 5,” he says. “But you should get up, its almost 10:30, you’ll be late for your appointment.”

I groan, way to warm and comfortable laying here with him. It hasn’t been long since I last saw him, less than two weeks, but I’ve been craving his presence.

Especially after he won the Stanley Cup after scoring the winning point and in the interviews afterwards, when asked if he owed his success to his new wife, he didn’t correct the interviewers that he hadn’t even proposed yet.

It shouldn’t have made my heart flutter the way it did and it made me start imagining a life where he was my husband.

He was right at Christmas, him coming home to me was the best decision the both of us could have made and I can’t say I’m not enjoying staying in his— our house. I’ve even been spending time at the gazebo on the beach when I’ve not had to go in to work, there was even one time Brooks surprised me by coming home and he found me down there and we christened that little gazebo.

Brooks made the good decision, luckily, to have our section of the beach cordoned off, it’s now officially our beach and people have been very conscious of that so far, we’ll see what happens now that the tourists are starting to arrive but I have hope, it’s not like it’s hard to miss the big signs and rocks cutting our beach off from the rest. Brooks even upgraded the gazebo throughout the spring — he and Grayson spent some long hours fitting it to be a place you can cook in with a gas stove, it even has running water. God only knows how they did that but it’s really impressive. He even blocked off the stair case from his place so now the only access is the dirt road down to the beach which will really cut off a lot of tourist traffic.

“Summer,” He peppers kisses over my face, “You’ll be late.”

“Fine,” I groan, “I’m up, I’m up.” I get out of bed and get ready to meet Alex at the new salon.

“I can’t believe you just went for French manicure,” Lennon says, disappointed.

“I didn’t even want my nails done, Alex made me, so you’re lucky I even got them done.” She shakes her head as Nate comes out with another tray of cookies. The business has been doing so well after the lull in the winter, the weather was not in our favor for a good couple months but we’ve been steadily getting busier and busier to the point where I should probably be hiring yet another server to help us get through summer.

“Summer, did you see Ava?” Nate asks.

“I did, she said to say hi,” I say. Ava moved here earlier in the year, during the really terrible cold and snow. She got stranded at the edge of town with her kid after moving here a month before, her car having broken down, only for Nate to find her on his way back from the store to grab some flour. He bought them to the cafe, fed them, kept them warm and since then, they’ve been regulars. She also works at the salon part time now and it nice to see her settling in to the town, I’ve heard through the town grapevine she didn’t exactly come here under the best circumstances .

He nods, looking like he’s thinking for a second, “Okay. Nice to see you Summer.” And then he goes back into the kitchen. I have a sneaky feeling that Nate and Ava have something going on but thats not my business, he’d tell me if it was.

“Well Boss,” Lennon looks at the time on her phone, “Brooks will be here in a second, you ready?”

“For what?” I ask, confused.

Lennon looks like a dear in headlights, “Erm… I thought you were going out,” she says though it comes out sounding like a question.

“I mean maybe, he just said he was picking me up,” I say.

Before she can answer, I hear Brooks’ truck pull up and he honks the horn. Through the window I can see him sitting in the driver’s seat, his hair is a little longer than it usually is and the curls are a lot more pronounced, curling against the collar of his white shirt. I wonder where he’s been to be wearing a shirt like that. It’s not uncommon, sometimes he has interviews or things he has to look good for, and boy, does he look good.

“Oh look, he’s here! Time for you to go, love you, bye!” Lennon says, pushing me out from behind the counter and to the front door, the customers sitting down looking at us go by.

She all but throws me out on to the street and she stands in the doorway waving, a grin in on her face.

“Bye!”

Her behavior is strange and I wave goodbye with a questioning look on my face which Brooks notices when I get in the car.

“What’s that look for?” he asks, leaning over and kissing my on the cheek .

“Lennon’s being weird.”

“That’s not unusual.” He shrugs pulling away from the curb.

“Yeah,” I sigh. “Where have you been?” I ask, tugging a little on his shirt sleeve.

“I just went to see Grayson, he had shit he needed doing at the pub and then I shot some photos that my agent needed.”

That explains the shirt.

Just as I think we’re going to pull into the driveway, he pulls off to the side of the house, down the dirt track to the beach.

“Are we going swimming? I don’t think I’m dressed for that,” I joke.

He laughs. “Ever heard of skinny dipping, Princess?”

“I know we have a private beach but lets not get too carried away.”

He parks and comes round to my side and opens the door for me. “You don’t want to go skinny dipping with me?” he asks, his arms coming round my waist and closing the door behind me.

I shake my head, “Maybe when it gets dark out.” I kiss him and walk away, pulling him by his hand behind me.

“I’m holding you to that.” I hear from behind me.

As I walk round the corner and the gazebo comes into view, there’s something red on the floor around the fire pit.

“What the hell is that?” In my mind, I automatically go to blood and I let go of Brooks hand and walk faster.

Once I’m close enough I see that it’s not blood, but rose petals. They trail up into the gazebo too, over the chairs and table where a bottle of champagne sits with two glasses.

I grab the champagne and turn to ask Brooks what we’re celebrating, only to see him kneeling on one knee in the sand in front of me.

“Summer,”

My heart stops and I break out in a sweat. “Stop it. Actually stop it.”

Brooks laughs. “Summer… we’ve known each other a year today.”

“I know,” I say, my voice quiet, afraid to ruin the moment. I put the champagne back down and step down into the sand with him.

He looks up at me and I can tell he’s trying to keep the biggest smile at bay and be serious but theres a tiny dimple in his cheek which is a tell tale sign.

“And in that year a lot has happened...”

I nod. “It has.

He raises a brow, “Are you going to let me finish?” he teases.

“I’m sorry.” I say, pressing my lips together, trying to keep my own grin from showing.

He clears his throat and starts again, “A lot has happened this year. After a rocky start, we made it work and there is nothing I love more than coming home to you after work.” His voice wobbles and it causes my throat to start burning and my vision to get blurry.

“I wanted to ask your Gran before I did this…” He reaches into his pants pocket and brings out a box.

I never thought I would be one to cry getting proposed to but I think at this point it’s just something that happens to every woman. And add in the fact he wanted to ask my Gran but she died before he could, I never had a chance.

The tears roll down my face as he opens up the box to a beautiful princess cut diamond ring, the sun causing it to glisten; it’s beautiful and Brooks looks beautiful kneeling down in front of me.

“Summer, will you marry me?”

I nod, grasping his face in my hands. “Yes, yes, yes,” I say, pressing kisses in between each word to his lips.

“Thank god.” He stands, lifting me into his arms, taking me into a breathtaking kiss.

He lowers me slowly, his free hand coming up to hold my jaw. “You’re going to be my wife,” he whispers, looking at me in awe.

“You’re going to be my husband,” I answer, matching his smile.

When we first met a year ago, I didn’t think we’d be stood here today, living together, engaged, about to plan a wedding, but all I can say, is I feel like I belong here, that moving here has felt like coming home.