Snowed in with Mr. Heartbreaker (Copper Valley Bro Code #5)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

ONE YEAR LATER…

Cash Rivers, aka a man who’s given up Hollywood to go back on the road

It’s almost midnight on the last day of the best year of my life.

My girlfriend is laughing with her bestie by the bonfire where all of my friends and family members and their kids and parents are gathered roasting marshmallows.

And I’m happy.

There’s no other word for it beyond blissfully happy.

When I told Aspen last year as we cuddled at her cabin hideaway that I didn’t have any movie sets I had to get to and that I wanted to go on the road with her, I thought for a hot second she’d throw me out.

Tell me it was too much.

Too fast.

Too soon.

Instead, we’ve been more or less inseparable for a full year now. She rearranged a few shows so she could hit the red carpet with me for the two movie premieres I had the first half of the year, and otherwise, I’ve followed her wherever she’s gone.

“You have any more problems with her family?” Davis asks me.

He’s having a holiday kombucha while the two of us watch everyone else having fun. Last year we got a blizzard. This year it’s unseasonably warm and we’re partying outside.

Weather, man.

“I think they got the message,” I reply.

“Good.”

Getting to know all of Aspen’s secrets has been an exercise in restraint. The more she tells me about how she grew up and some of the situations she found herself in once she left home, the more I want to go complete caveman on anyone who so much as looks at her wrong.

Most days, though, giving her my family and friends to have as her own and supporting her in expanding the small circle she’d started in the music industry before she moved into my pool house has felt like the more important part of my job when it comes to her happiness and well-being.

Watching her relax and be herself more and more with all of them has also been one of my biggest sources of joy.

She deserves so much better than what she grew up with, and now she’s getting it.

She laughs again, this time so hard she hiccups.

I’m on instant alert, worried she’ll hurt herself, but she’s fine. It’s just Aspen being about as happy as I’ve ever seen her.

And she was pretty fucking happy the past week while we recreated our snowed-in experience over last year’s holidays.

The only time I’ve seen her not happy was when I told her we’d skip Beck’s New Year’s party.

You’re giving up the rest of your holiday for my ridiculous insistence on holding on to old memories. We’re not skipping Beck and Sarah’s New Year’s party.

She knows they moved the date to New Year’s from the week before Christmas to accommodate her, which she told me was unnecessary.

But she also hugged Sarah tight and told her thank you.

And she played her viral holiday hit from last year for me every day that we were out in the cabin, where we didn’t lose power this year, and where we did have enough food, and where we celebrated the fact that my lady is no one-hit wonder.

Every last one of her singles landed near the top of the charts, with her last two hitting number one. Her career is exploding, just like we all predicted.

She insists we’re spending next year with my family at Christmas, no matter what . Because I love you enough to get over myself for you . She also tells me every day that even if it all goes away, she’s enjoying this ride for exactly what it is.

“Cash! Cash, come see what Zoe taught Commander Crumpet,” Aspen calls.

She doesn’t have to ask me twice.

Not for anything.

I head over and join their little circle where Zoe orders the hedgehog to go to sleep as she’s holding him.

Instead of sleeping, the little creature throws his hands out in the air and sticks his tongue out.

Everyone watching cracks up and praises the little guy for obeying orders.

Aspen slips her arm around my waist and goes up on tiptoe to press a kiss to my cheek. “Have I told you how much I love your family?”

“Yes, but you shouldn’t say it around them. They might get big heads.”

“You’re so cringe, Uncle Cash,” Zoe says.

“Do you know what that means?” I whisper to Aspen. I overheard the younger kids talking about Utah fit check earlier and wasn’t honestly sure if it was good or bad, given the context.

“It means she loves you,” Aspen whispers back.

Zoe makes a noise that tells me she definitely doesn’t mean she loves me.

Her younger brother comes charging through, and I snag him by the back of the collar before he gets too close to the fire. “Other way, Hudson.”

“ Skibidi toilet GYAT! ” he yells, then heads back the other way.

“I don’t remember this from last year,” I murmur to Aspen.

“It’s because you’re old and your memory’s going,” Levi tells me.

“He remembered your birthday this year,” Aspen points out.

“He forgot the words to ‘America’s Sweetheart’ yesterday.”

Aspen laughs.

She knows I didn’t forget the words.

I’ve spent so much time entertaining myself with alternate lyrics that I slipped into them instead of the original words for our Bro Code debut hit.

“Good point,” she says. “I should take him home and get him to bed. Old man bedtime and all that.”

I’d object, but I never object to going to bed with Aspen.

“What time is it? Where am I? Am I wearing pants?” I intone.

Someone asked me right after we went public if being with her made me feel younger.

It doesn’t.

Being with her makes me feel lighter. But not younger. I don’t think about how old either of us are much anymore. We’re too busy having fun to worry about that.

“Seriously, though, dude,” Levi says, “when are you releasing that album?”

I slide a look at Aspen.

She shakes her head. Wasn’t me .

“When I get phone calls asking why Cash Rivers is in a studio and I’m still not…” Levi adds.

“Fucking big mouth.”

Aspen introduced me to her producer, who didn’t tell me my songs suck, and it’s been fun being in the booth again myself.

Still not ready to own them in public though.

“You should glitter bomb him,” Aspen murmurs.

I choke on a laugh.

“Don’t say that any louder around here,” Levi mutters.

She giggles.

Her best friend might have made a point with her prank-pulling boyfriend this past year that involved the glitter bomb to end all glitter bombs.

Beck’s house was collateral damage, and while Beck and Cooper’s houses are technically neighboring houses, it’s not like they can look out their windows and see each other out here.

Hella impressive glitter bomb.

“But also,” Aspen says, “you should release your album.”

I pull a face.

She squeezes my waist tighter. “When you’re ready.”

I’ll be ready soon.

It’s hard to stay scared of rejection when I’m surrounded by this much love every day. No matter what happens with my album in public, Aspen likes it.

And I had a hell of a good time recording it.

That matters most.

“Hey, hey, look what time it is,” Beck calls.

The space gets instantly brighter with a couple dozen phones getting pulled out to check the time.

Almost midnight.

“Gotta go find my wife,” Levi says.

“You want champagne?” I ask Aspen.

She shakes her head. “Nope. Just you.”

Soon, we’re counting down the seconds.

And then, at the stroke of midnight, I’m kissing the love of my life.

It’s been the best year.

And next year will be even better.