Hold The Door, Please | ONC 2022

Epilogue

Haylie

Jennie knocks on the door a couple of times before popping her head into my office. "Hi Haylie, there's a delivery for you!"

"Thanks Jennie, please bring it in."

"Ok!" I hear her step back into the hall and call someone. "You can go in now!"

What?

I look up from my laptop and raise an eyebrow as I hear heavy, muffled footsteps begin walking down the hall. I'm either receiving a package delivered by an elephant, or someone wearing clown shoes.

I nearly jump out of my seat as a man dressed in a giant head-to toe sun costume manages to squeeze himself through my door. The costume is a bright, almost blinding, yellow and there are long pointy sunrays sticking straight up out of his headband.

"Are you Haylie Finn?" he asks.

I nod silently, still in disbelief at the six foot tall sun in my office.

"Great, these are for you!" He opens up the giant cloud-shaped suitcase he's holding and takes out a large bouquet of flowers. I quickly move one of my many decorative vases onto my desk. Ever since mom started taking pottery classes, my collection of ceramics has gone from literally zero to dozens. I help him place the flowers inside the pale blue vase. "Have a great day!" He waves and squeezes himself back out the door.

What the hell just happened?

I don't recall taking any drugs.

I shrug and turn around to examine the flowers. The bouquet is beautiful. It's a mix of my favourite flowers in yellow and white, and is already filling my office with their sweet scent. I dig through the flowers until I find a small card.

Happy 2 Years At Enna Entertainment.

"You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a flower delivery service with pizazz like that one."

I turn around to see Will in my doorway, clearly trying not to laugh. I roll my eyes as he strolls in.

"Your office is literally down the hall, couldn't you just have brought them here yourself?" I laugh and playfully nudge him.

"Yes, but where's the fun in that?" he teases. "Just wait till you see what I have in store for our two year anniversary."

I try to frown disapprovingly at him, but I can't fight the smile that stretches across my face when Will gives me a soft kiss on the cheek. I smirk and take a step closer to him, resting my palms against his chest.

Will

Just as I'm about to shut and lock the door, the girls come bursting in.

"Hi Mommy!" Lola giggles, tugging Sienna along.

"Girls?" Haylie raises her eyebrows. "I thought you two were napping in your office."

Calling it an office may be a bit of a stretch. We turned the former co-president's office into a room for the girls when they came to visit. His furniture has been replaced by playhouses, stuffed animals, costumes, soft furniture, and a whole medley of assorted toys. Haylie and I referred to it as the playroom at first, until the girls demanded we start calling it an office because they wanted to be more like us.

"We were, but we broke the-" Lola starts to explain until Sienna clamps her hand over Lola's mouth. "Mmph!"

Despite having multiple security cameras in their room connected to both our phones so we can check in on them, I swear the girls always manage to get in trouble the second we look away. Fortunately, Jennie's desk is down the hall in the foyer, preventing the girls from wandering off to somewhere else in the building.

"You did what?" I ask sternly.

Sienna gives me an innocent smile. "Nothing!"

Haylie tiredly laughs. "Was there something you two needed?"

"We're hungry!" Lola pouts.

I check my watch. It's almost four, Dr. Mitchell should be here any minute. "Sorry girls, but I have something coming up soon."

"See, I told you they were busy!" Sienna scolds.

I chuckle and ruffle Sienna's hair. Despite only being half a year older than Lola, Sienna already sees herself as the significantly more mature one.

Haylie crouches down to them. "How about you take your sister down the hall and wait by the stairs? I'll meet you there in a minute and we'll go get some snacks."

"Ok!" they both chime gleefully. Sienna grabs Lola's hand and the two of them run back out of the office.

Haylie smiles at me softly once the girl's footsteps have faded away. "How has therapy been going?"

One of the first things Haylie did after that day in the elevator was push me towards seeking out support. Coincidentally, her sister's mother in law is a psychiatrist who specializes in PTSD cases, and a good one at that.

I'll admit that I was reluctant at first. Therapy was rough. I doubt anyone ever has, or ever will, see me cry as much as Dr. Mitchell has. But after the first year of weekly sessions with her, my life has changed much more drastically than I ever could have imagined. I even managed to get Kayla to try out therapy, which is quite a feat if I do say so myself. Based on our last conversation, I'm incredibly happy to see that she seems to be doing a lot better.

"It's been going well, Dr. Mitchell even says she believes I would be able to manage just fine if I were to stop therapy now," I say proudly. A couple of years ago, this wouldn't seem like much of an achievement to me, but I don't think I've ever felt this proud of myself.

Haylie buries herself into my chest and pulls me into a hug. "I'm so happy for you."

"I'll see you later, have fun with the kids," I murmur against her hair and kiss her forehead.

Just as Haylie has locked up her office and I've returned to my own, I get a call.

"Dr. Mitchell?"

"Hi Will, I'm so sorry but I'm going to have to cancel today! A family emergency came up. Will you be alright?"

"No problem, I'll be fine."

I grin as I grab my jacket and keys. As cheesy as it may sound, spending time with three of my favourite girls in my life is probably one of my favourite things to do. I step out of my office just in time to see Haylie and the girls entering the elevator at the other end of the hall.

"Hold the door, Haylie!" I call.