A long lane at night

2.EPILOGUE. FIFTEEN

** ALICE **

FOURTEEN YEARS LATER

ALL OF MY FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL ARE HERE. ALL my good classmates from the dance gym and everyone from the gaming team are also here. The whole family is present, too. On the table right next to ours, we have my grandads Brian and Allan, and grandpa Henry with grandma Susan. She's not really my grandma, but she's been with grandpa Henry ever since forever, so it counts. Uncle Parker came with his wife and they're sitting on another table with their three young kids.

Uncles Chad and Will were here, too. Their group has a table for themselves. Uncle Will is with his wife Veronica and their two daughters and uncle Chad sits next to his husbands Joshua and Mark. They left their cats at home, though. I know this isn't the place for animals, but I really like Zazzle, Puffy, and Claw.

Uncle Taylor and Aunt Taylor have a special table as well. Uncle Taylor is my dad's business partner, they built their huge-ass law firm from the ground, but the reason they have a table is because they are Stephen's parents. Stephen, my boyfriend.

I guess I started saying I wanted to marry Stephen when I was five or six, which gave my father Jack a mini heart attack. By the time I was thirteen, I was crushing hard on him. I sat on that crush for some good months (they were actually not good at all, they suck and they were plenty) but, luckily for me, my own fathers had been through something similar, so they were of great help if I'm honest.

One day, a bit more than three months ago, my father Jack called me from my bedroom into the living room. He was being so nice to me and I had been such a bitch on that particular day that the guilt made me feel even angrier.

'I won't lie and say I didn't wish you only thought about dating after graduating from Uni,' he said when I sat on the couch. I knew better than trying and having an attitude with him, but his teasing wasn't helping. 'But today is a rather special day for your dad and me and, before I take him out to celebrate, I want to give you some advice.'

'Take me out to celebrate what special day, Sunbeam?' My dad Nate asked him. I did have a phase where I felt awkward by their pet names and I still had no freaking clue what a Munchkin was, but I had already learned to ignore it.

'Alice, today I have loved your father for fourteen years, seven months, and twenty-two days. Today, officially, I have loved him for longer than he had waited for me.'

Okay. That was freaking cute. A lot. For real.

'We've been in your shoes, Princess,' he went on. 'Your dad much more than me, because I was an idiot all that time. I don't want you to go through what he did. Take your chances on Stephen. He's a great kid and I hate to say it, but I think he also likes you. But not today. Tonight, your dad and I are going out like I said. I'm just waiting for your grandpa Henry to arrive to stay with you and he'll be here any minute.'

'Text him,' dad Nate said. 'Don't talk about this over text, but arrange something special. Ask him to walk you home from school tomorrow.'

'What if he doesn't like me back?'

'Who would dare to not like you back, Princess?' My father Jack said. 'But seriously, though. My dads knew how much I loved Nate and his father knew he was in love with me and all of them knew everything about it, but none of them said a damn word to me, so I am saying a word to you. We see the signs with our kids, Princess. We're not magical beings who know it all, we're just observant parents.'

'And not to boost your confidence any more than what it needs, because honestly, it doesn't,' dad Nate said, 'but your uncle Taylor might have already said one thing or two.'