Finding Home
Page 9
“I said it was all just a misunderstanding. I got to your house early on Saturday and I saw Stacy kiss you and I thought…”
“No, not that,” I interrupted once again. “The other part. You love me?”
Alexis smiled at me in a way that sent a million jolts of electricity through my whole body. “Of course I love you. I’ve loved you since sixth grade. I never stopped loving you.”
I exhaled loudly. “Oh thank God because I love you too. You’re my home. I don’t want to go a day without you ever again.”
A smile swept across Alexis’s face. “That’s good. I was hoping you wouldn’t.” Then she turned and pointed toward the carriage. “So, what do you say? Want to go for a ride?”
We climbed into the carriage and started our journey, led by Santa, around Josh’s property. I leaned close to Alexis to whisper in her ear. “So, where did you get this guy?”
To my surprise, Santa turned around and ripped off his hat and beard to reveal Josh. “Hey. I heard that. And I’m trying my best, ok? Santa is on short supply on Christmas Eve so you should be happy with what you can get.”
I laughed at the sight in front of me. “I have so many questions right now. How do you have a Santa costume and who gave you permission to drive a carriage?”
“It was one of my side jobs a few years ago,” Josh confessed. “I didn’t tell you about it for this exact reason.”
“Yep. Your friend here pulled some strings with his old boss so we could pull this off.” Alexis beamed at Josh as she spoke.
Josh groaned. “Let’s just say, I’m going to be giving a lot of unpaid carriage rides next season to make up for this.” A smile then spread across his face. “While I am having fun doing this for you guys, you need to get out of here. It’s Christmas Eve. You should be at home with your family.”
Alexis smiled over at me. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Absolutely,” I beamed, but the truth was I already was home.
Epilogue: Taylor - Two Years Later
My hand started to feel numb, as I sat in a New York City bookstore, signing each book as it was handed to me. Another book slid across the table toward me and the owner of the book began to speak. “Make it out to Stacy Nielsen, the absolute love of my life.”
I looked up at the owner of the familiar voice standing in front of me and shook my head. “Shut up Josh. You sound nothing like her.”
He threw his head back in laughter. “Ok, whatever. But you have to admit that I had you going for a split second.”
Before I could respond, Alexis walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You really need to stop messing with her,” she lectured.
“Oh come on,” Josh quipped. “I need to take advantage of the time I actually have with her. I never her see her anymore since you stole her away from me to take her back to Pennsylvania.”
“What can I say? I satisfy her needs a little better than you do,” Alexis joked.
Josh made a gagging sound at her and I just shook my head at the two of them. They were unbearable whenever they got together.
“Well, we better get out of the way,” Josh pointed out. “Your fandom awaits you.”
I looked at the ever growing line behind them and couldn’t believe it. When Alexis encouraged me to send the lesbian romance novel I had been working on out to a few publishers, I wasn’t convinced that it was a good idea. As usual though she was right and I had actually gotten a few offers back. After being published, the book quickly became popular and found itself on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Apparently, it wasn’t just the lgbt community who enjoyed a story about how city girl meets country girl and they fall madly in love. People loved to question whether this story was about Alexis and I, but I adamantly denied it. I mean, come on, I wasn’t actually a city girl. I was born and raised in the same town as Alexis. Plus, I had started writing that book when I was dating someone else, so clearly I wouldn’t have been writing the story of what I hoped and dreamed would happen between us. I smiled to myself as I looked over at my muse, who was standing with our parents and Josh. All of the most important people in my life were there supporting me and I couldn’t have been happier. Life really was good.