Another Tomorrow

Epilogue

Quick A/N: I know some of you have wanted me to make this story longer, but I’m sorry to say this is the final update. I didn’t want to drag out the story or make it longer than it had to be, even though I liked writing about the characters just about as much as you liked reading about them. Anyway, enjoy the epilogue!

Epilogue         

Five Years Later     

                “You remembered to lock the door, right?”

                “Relax, Elyse. I remembered to lock the door, Robert has the spare key to feed the cat, and I unplugged most of the electronics,” Ryder replied.

                “Okay, sorry. I’m just making sure everything is taken care of so we can enjoy our time with your family,” I replied. We were staying at his family’s house until after New Year’s since we both had the whole week off until then and hadn’t spent much time with his family in a while. However, I didn’t want anything to happen to the apartment I shared with Ryder. We recently just moved into our new apartment, and this one was much nicer than the one we previously shared when we were still in college. Now that we were both starting our careers, we were able to afford a much nicer place to live that was close to our jobs.

                “Everything will be fine. We’ll only be gone for a week,” he said, looking over at me with a reassuring smile.

                Two hours later, we were home. Well, we were at his parents’ house, but that was basically my home away from home. Over the past five years, I became closer to his family than I ever was with my own parents. Although I did still talk to my mother occasionally, I was thankful to spend another Christmas with the Jamesons.

                “Ready for another chaotic Christmas Eve with my family?” Ryder asked, taking my hand in his.

                “Of course,” I grinned. I gave him a quick kiss on the lips before we entered his house.

                “Ryder and Elyse are here! Everyone get over here!” Mrs. Jameson exclaimed. She hugged me first since I was closer. Then she made her way over to her tall, eldest son and hugged him, which he now easily returned. I was happy to see that Ryder now welcomed warm embraces from his family, unlike when we were in high school.

                “It’s good to see you, Mom,” he told her.

                “Oh, I missed you! Both of you! Are you hungry? Here, come sit down while I finish up dinner,” she said, ushering us into the living room. It was there that I finished hugging Ryder’s siblings.

                “Gosh, you all look so much older!” I commented, taking a seat next to Ryder on the couch. He automatically wrapped his arm around my shoulders, bringing me closer to his warm body.

                “You haven’t visited for a while,” Quinn stated. She and Jenna looked like fashionable young girls, both now ten years old.”

                “I know, I’m sorry. We haven’t been able to take off from work recently,” I said. Since I just started working for the local news stations in public relations, I started virtually at the bottom of the totem pole. I wasn’t able to take off work much, except for a day every once in a while. But when I had off from work, Ryder usually couldn’t take off the same day.

                He graduated college with a social work degree, and was now working for a non-profit organization that helps teenagers dealing with depression and thoughts of suicide. I was really proud of him, and I’d be even prouder when he got his own foundation set up eventually. We were both just taking our future one step at a time right now though.