The Fling

Epilogue

I glanced up from the page I'd just written an inscription on and saw a familiar face through the window of Skylight Books, an independent store in East Hollywood. I was at the end of the promotional tour for my latest novel, which my agent insisted would be my fourth to make the New York Times bestseller list. Given the turnout at these events, I was optimistic that he was right.

The person in the window smiled back to me as he gave me a small wave, and I could make out laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and creases near his mouth. His hair was shorter, but still brown, and he appeared to be in good shape. Overall, he looked as handsome as ever, which I knew would be the case when we were together.

The line for the book signing had dwindled to less than ten people when he finally came inside. A few minutes later, he was standing in front of me, book in hand. "Hello, Abigail," he said, his voice a bit deeper than it had been. Now that he was closer, I could see a smattering of gray hair at his temples. "This book is phenomenal. I read it in two days."

"It's good to see you, Shawn! And thanks. I'm fond of this one, though I get attached to everything I write." I was struggling to remain composed, and I knew my response was slightly stiff and impersonal.

He looked over his shoulder, perhaps to check if he was still the last person in line. "I was wondering if we could talk. Maybe get coffee? Unless you're not done, of course."

I turned to my agent who was standing off to the side. "Are we finished, Eli?"

He nodded. "We went thirty-five minutes over, so yeah, you can leave if you'd like. I'll oversee packing the stuff up. Good job, today, kiddo. They were hanging on every word when you did the reading."

I rolled my eyes. "This is my agent, Eli Green. He likes to call me kiddo ironically. Eli, this is Shawn Mendes."

He chuckled. "You're twenty years younger than I am, Abi, so you're a kid." He extended a hand towards Shawn. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

I grabbed my bag from under the cloth-covered table and stood up. "There's a small coffee shop a few blocks away. Does that work?"

"That's perfect."

"I'm going to run to the restroom first, then I'll meet you out front."

After peeing, I washed my hands and surveyed my face in the mirror. Time had been kind to me, but I had aged significantly since 2024. I had wrinkles, my lips were thinner, the skin on my neck was looser, and my eyelids were a bit hooded. My hair was mostly blonde, but there was silvery gray streaked throughout. Were these changes shocking to Shawn? It didn't matter, of course. I applied a little lip gloss and fluffed my hair before exiting the restroom and joining him on the sidewalk.

We walked in silence until we reached the café. He ordered an Americano, and I asked for a hot herbal tea with honey. We found a small table at the back and sat down after the barista said she'd bring our drinks to us.

"This is a nice surprise," I told him. "How've you been?"

"Great, but before I talk about myself or why I'm here, I need to know about your kids. Tell me how each one is doing."

"A lot has happened, so I'll try to focus on what they are up to now. Lizzie is currently on leave from her job as a speech pathologist because she welcomed baby number two in February. Her oldest, Zoë, is three and so much fun. My new grandchild is a darling boy named Miller. Lizzie and her family live in Santa Barbara, so I see them all the time since I moved to Montecito four years ago."

"Wow! It's hard to believe Lizzie is a mom, but obviously it makes sense in terms of her age. I used to see what she was up to on social media, but I guess she deleted her profiles at some point. Do you have pics of your grandchildren?"