the city // joshler

25 (epilogue)

tyler's point of view

two years later

"grace, you almost ready?" i knock on her door and wait for an answer.

"yeah." she opens the door and steps out, closing it behind her. "i'm ready."

"alrighty. let's go then, josh is in the car." i take her hand and we go down the stairs and out to the driveway.

"buckle up, baby." josh looks back at grace.

he's been doing so good with her and it still makes me so happy to see them get along. grace just absolutely adores him.

"what are you most excited to see when we get to the zoo?" i ask her, making conversation so the ride isn't completely silent.

"hmmm." she giggles. "i think the garden they have," she tells me, "it's really pretty. also, the penguins."

"interesting choice. what are you most excited to see josh?"

"everything." he shrugs. "i haven't been to a zoo in years."

"well, i'm excited for you then." i put one hand on his knee and he glances over to me with a smile on his face.

the drive takes about half an hour, but we manage to find a decent parking spot and get through the entry line pretty quickly.

i grab a map from the display holding them. "so, do you guys wanna just loop around? there are some parts we might have to zigzag through, but it should be pretty easy."

josh nods. "sounds good to me."

grace takes a map for herself. "the garden is close to the end, which means the sky will be pretty by the time we get there," she says, "but the penguins are close to here so can we see them first, please?"

"of course we can, angel. right this way." i take her hand and josh takes my other one and then we're off.

the penguins are quite cool to watch, but i notice something a bit concerning. there's a large mural on the wall with penguins painted on it to scale.

"oh, my god." i walk over to it. "why are penguins so tall? i hate that."

josh, who has grace sitting up on his shoulders now, walks over to me, "how tall are they?"

"like over four feet."

"grace, those penguins are pretty close to your size."

she shakes her head. "not when i'm up here."

we continue walking and stop to see every single animal we possibly can. by the time we get to the two thirds point, everyone is getting a bit tired.

"how about we stop and get drinks and snacks?" i suggest.

josh and grace both agree and we end up sitting inside the zoo's cafe sipping over-priced water and eating $5 french fries.

"are we almost done?" grace asks.

"close," josh says.

"we have the indoor exhibits next. the reptiles, fish, and bugs. then there's the birds outside and the garden and then we're done," i explain.

grace just nods, a big smile on her face. i'm glad to see her so happy. she's probably thinking about the gift shop though in all honesty. she loves the hyper-realistic stuffed animals and she's been allowed to pick one every time we've been here since she was old enough to ask.

when we get to the indoor exhibits, grace stays a few steps ahead of us while josh lingers next to me, holding my hand.

"this was a good idea," i tell him, "i'm glad we got to come today."

"me too. grace seems to be enjoying herself."

"yeah, she loves it here. my mom bought us season passes so we came every other weekend last summer."

"speaking of, grace told me she wanted to stay the night there after dinner."

i had forgotten we told my mom we'd have dinner with her tonight. she's been wanting to go to this new restaurant downtown and invited us to go with her.

"oh yeah. i'm sure that'll be fine. my mom has a hard time telling her no to anything."

we make it through the building just enjoying each other's company while gracie enjoys the animals. when we get out, she tells us the only bird she wants to stop for is the peacock they have.

"whatever you say, kiddo." i shrug and let her lead the way.

she stops once we get to their enclosure and looks up. "look! the sunset!"

she's right, the sun is setting and the sky is beautiful. the colors melt into each other in a nice tug of war between the oranges, pinks, and purples. it's incredible and her obsession with the sky and the stars only started a few months ago, but it's definitely one that i support. she even asked me what my star sign was the other day. i didn't even know she knew what that meant.

we enter the garden and grace stays in front of us, stopping to look at the different flowers.

"daddy, come look at this one! its got like three different colors on it!"

i walk over to where grace is standing, looking at the flower she pointed to. it indeed is several different colors and it's quite pretty.

"that's really cool, huh?" i look to her and she nods. "it's not as pretty as you though."

she giggles a little and i kiss the top of her head. i turn after that, ready to move to the next section. but when i look back, josh is behind me on one knee with a ring in his hand.

"what the fuck?" i cover my mouth, in genuine shock. "sorry, i-... josh, oh my god."

"tyler, i've loved you since we were teenagers. i love you more than i thought was even possible to love anyone and i want to keep loving you forever. will you please marry me?"

i feel tears falling down my face and i get down on my knees to hug him, "of course i will, j." i pull away to wipe my face and he takes my hand and slides the ring onto my finger.

he helps me up and then presses a soft kiss on my lips. "thank you."

there's a few people clapping and gracie runs up to hug both of us, joshs phone in her hand.

"were you in on this?" i look down at her and she nods.

"cameraman, director, actress." she bows. "you're welcome."

"i had to ask her blessing and she said yes only if she could be part of it," josh tells me.

"you asked her blessing?" i look over to him and see him smiling down at her. "oh my god, that's why we're having dinner with my mom too, isn't it?"

"of course. i wouldn't have done it if she wasn't comfortable with it. i mean, i would have, but i would've waited longer. and yes, i asked your moms blessing too. she said she'd pay for us to all eat out to celebrate."

"i love you, josh."

"i love you more, tyler."

"impossible."

the end (again)

(an: that's a wrap [real]! we have reached the end, folks. i do have a few things to say though.

firstly, thank you all so much for reading/voting/commenting/following. i see every comment and i appreciate you all, even you ghost readers. the fact that you took time to read this means a lot in itself.

i started the world of farm boy in highschool and after finishing it, i left it there for a long time. several demands for a sequel later, here is this. though i think farm boys bittersweet ending is what made it special, i had a lot more fun writing this than i thought i would. writing the proposal scene just now i had a huge stupid smile on my face.

thank you for encouraging me to write again. it has helped me more than you'll know.

all my love to all of you. thank you a million times.)