"You're grown up, not dead," Sara tells me. "And I know you love her, so you should really come spend the summer with me in Grove City."
"And then what?" I finally say. "I'm not moving away from you." My words are laced with determination.
"But you can be here on weekends, or two weeks a month. Mom will do whatever schedule I want. I only have three more years of high school. I don't need you here every second of every day. We can spend our holidays in Grove City. You can travel back and forth. Quinn's almost a senior, and his dad is there, Carly can travel some. Maybe she can come out and go to my soccer games, too?"
I stare at my amazingly beautiful, thoughtful, perceptive teenage daughter and wonder for the millionth time how I got so damned lucky.
"You'd be okay with that?"
She rolls her eyes. "It's my idea, isn't it?"
I chuckle. Indeed it is.
"She might not take me back, you know."
"Dad. She'll take you back. She's as unhappy as you are."
"I'm not unhappy," I correct again.
"Whatever. Quinn says she spends all her time trying to act like nothing's wrong, too. But we both know you guys belong together. So do Uncle Craig and Aunt Dee and Ali. Just come back with me for the summer. You can be my dad and have Carly, too."
"Okay, then," I murmur. "Okay."
"But, Dad? We're going to have to work on your game. It's a little rusty."
I laugh then, because that’s the moment I know, Ross the rockstar is truly dead. And I also know Sara is right. My game is going to have to be epic.
36
Carly
It's a hot June afternoon when I pull up to my house and see a strange white SUV parked out front. It's an Audi, much too expensive to belong to one of Quinn's friends. As I get closer, I also see it has California plates, and my chest tightens a touch.
I open the front door and call out. "Quinn? Do we have visitors?"
"Yeah, Mom! Out back!"
I wend my way through the house, heart rate speeding as I move along. Through the living room, then the kitchen, and out the back door.
Where I find Quinn and Ali sitting around the table with Sara and Ross.
Ross leaps to his feet immediately, pulling off the aviators that cover his eyes.
I'm nearly rocked back in my high-heeled sandals, shock stealing any possible words I might have had to say.
"Hey, Mom," Quinn says casually. "Look who's back for the summer."
Ali stands and says, "Well, kids, you ready to help me load my delivery van?"
Both Quinn and Sara leap to their feet, like they can't wait to get the hell out of my yard.
"Yeah, we'd better get on that."
"Definitely."
I'm still so stunned I can't move, but Ali leans in as she walks by, and whispers, "Just listen and keep an open mind."
Quinn scoots by me with a guilty expression, but then Sara pauses to hug me tight. "I missed you," she tells me before slipping away out the gate to the driveway.
And then it's just Ross and me.
I stare at his tall, broad form, my gaze roaming him hungrily.
"You look—" He clears his throat and suddenly turns bashful. "You look incredible, Carly."
I finally pull myself together and focus. I don't know what he's doing here, but I know that he just obliterated the last six months with four silly words.
"You cut your hair," I answer like a total idiot.
He runs a hand over the spiky strands on top. "It's getting gray. I guess I thought, when it comes to gray, less is better."
I swallow down the need that's coursing through me. The need to touch him and be touched by him. The need to scream at him that even though I understand why he had to go, I'm still furious, because there isn't a day that goes by when I don't miss him. The need to have him take me in his arms and tell me it's all going to be okay, even though I know it won't be.
"What are you doing here, Ross?" My voice is small and I want to draw the words back, make them come out stronger, firmer, less like I'm staring at the only man I'll ever really love and my heart is in little pieces.
He moves closer, and I stiffen, yearning and terrified all at once.
"It’s a funny story," Ross begins. "Turns out, my kid has been talking to your kid, and Ali and Craig and Dee, for months."
I nod, not sure what this has to do with me.
"Also turns out, she thinks I can be her dad and still have you." He looks at me hopefully.
I shake my head, disappointment renewing its lengthy acquaintance with my soul. "Ross, you know I can't move—"
Then, he's holding my hands, dipping his knees to look me in the eyes.
"Baby," he whispers. "We have one hundred percent buy-in from the only two people in this world that matter—Quinn and Sara. I admit, I'd given up. When I left here, the work to regain Sara's trust was all I could focus on. It seemed insurmountable, so anything else difficult had to go."
He lifts my fingers to his lips and kisses them one by one. I nearly melt into a puddle on the boards below our feet.
"But then Sara came to me and said she'd kept in touch with Quinn, and everyone else, and that she wanted to spend her summer here."
"And then you'll have to go back to L.A. For three more years, Ross."
He shakes his head defiantly. "No. I'll go back to L.A. some, and I'll be here some, and you'll come with me—"
"You know I can't do that. It's Quinn's senior year and I have work—"
"Carly." His deep rasping voice nearly guts me. And then he pulls me into his arms. I manage not to melt into him like I want to, but I don't have the strength to pull away.
"Quinn has his dad here. I have all the money we could ever use. I'm not asking you to leave your life in Grove City, and as soon as Sara's done with high school, I'll move here for good. Until then, we can work this out. Sara understands, she wants this. So does Quinn. They see how unhappy we are without one another, and they want us to be together."
I shake my head, because this can't be happening. "It's too much," I tell him. "It hurt too bad when you left. I can't risk that again."
He leans in and presses his lips to mine, softly, tenderly. Then he drops to one knee in front of me.
"And I would never ask you to take a risk like that again, baby. You deserve a guarantee that I'm not going anywhere without you. You deserve to know what your future holds."
He pulls a velvet box out of his front shirt pocket and opens it to reveal a giant yellow diamond solitaire, framed by white diamond baguettes.
"Carly Ellis," he says softly, gazing up at me like I'm the most beautiful woman he's ever laid eyes on. "I want to fall asleep with your body in my arms. I want to wake with your smile in my bed. I want you by my side as we watch our children become these amazing adults, who will go out and make the world a better place. I want to sit with you at sunset on a tropical beach, I want to walk with you on the streets of a foreign city. But most of all, my love, I want to be able to look at your gorgeous face each and every day, until I finally close my eyes and leave this world."
Tears are streaming down my cheeks now, and I've lost any pretense at being strong or independent or adult. I'm a damned eighteen-year-old girl, who just had the fairy tale handed to her on a silver platter, and I can't quite believe it's real.
"I should have said it months ago, but it didn't mean it wasn't true. I love you, Carly. Will you please marry me?"
"You're ridiculous," I whisper. "This is ridiculous." He smiles and nods.
Then he slides the ring on my finger and stands, still holding my hands. "My life has been nothing but ridiculous for twenty-five years," he tells me. "No reason to stop now."
Then he's kissing me, and everything inside explodes into starlight. I see places and people I love, I feel hope, and I know I'm beyond blessed.
I open to him, and he groans in sheer male need. The sound shoots straight to my core.
"God, I never thought I'd be able to do
this again," he whispers, moving his lips along my jawline. "You smell so fucking good." He nibbles on my ear.
"I missed you," I gasp. "It hurt."
"I know, baby, I know." He kisses me harder, deeper, and I shudder with the intensity of it all. Then he's apologizing, over and over. Telling me how he never stopped loving me, how he will make it up to me every day until his last.
My hands are splayed across his chest, my back pressed to the glass of the door of my house. He's big, and hard, and I can feel his erection at my hip as he cradles my face in his hands and kisses me like I'm the air he needs to breathe.
"I need you in a bed or the neighbors are going to get a show."
I just continue to kiss him as we tumble inside the house, leaving the back door wide open, tearing at clothes, kicking off shoes.
We make it to the bedroom half-dressed, and he picks me up and tosses me onto the bed. I can't help but smile at his hot, dark gaze, as he drops his pants and boxer briefs to the floor and stalks toward me. My skirt is out in the hallway somewhere, and my blouse is unbuttoned. "Get rid of this," he growls, tugging at it.
I oblige and then lean back on my elbows, wearing only my bra and panties.
"Fuck, you're so perfect."
I look at his broad chest, chiseled abs, and thick, smooth cock, and grin. "You're okay, too," I tell him.
"Okay? Only okay?" He falls on top of me and buries his head between my breasts. I scream as he first tickles me, then begins to suck one nipple into his mouth.
"Oh, God," I cry out.
"Sounds like a hell of a lot better than okay," he mumbles, switching from one nipple to the other.
"Um, oh! Yeah, that's a lot better than okay."
His hand slides between my legs and I arch into him, aching for him to slip inside me.
It doesn't take long before those same fingers that can make such magical music, are making me sing in ecstasy. When I come down, I open my eyes and gaze straight into his. We pause, just in that moment, together, our souls and hearts and minds all one, as he hovers over me, his erection at my entrance.
"You never said, 'yes’," he tells me as he begins to push inside me.
"Wh-what do you mean?" I moan at the exquisite pain as he fills me.
"I asked you to marry me." He stops, not fully inside, teasing at what's to come, making me insane with desire. "You never answered."
I stroke a hand along his cheek, smoothing down his soft beard. "Yes, Ross Macalester, I will marry you."
Then he buries himself to the hilt, and our fates are sealed.
Epilogue
Ross
I have one leg dangling outside the house and the other hooked over the edge of Carly's windowsill, when I hear an all too familiar hacking noise in the bushes below me.
"Fuck you, Chuck," I whisper, unable to pull myself back up, but not able to continue down, for fear of being an iguana’s dessert. How the hell did he get out, anyway?
"Hey, Ross. How's it going?"
I turn my head to see Quinn leaning over the railing of the front porch, a smirk on his face, his chest bare and a can of soda in his hand. Great. Just great.
"Better hope your mom doesn't see you drinking that at two in the morning." It’s ridiculous to hope this will distract the kid from my absurd predicament, but I have to at least try to pretend to be an adult here.
Just then, Carly pops her head out the window, mom eyes fixed on Quinn. "Drinking what?" she demands.
Quinn holds the soda can down below the railing so she can't see it.
"Seriously?" he asks. "You're worried about what I'm drinking when I've just caught Ross sneaking out of your bedroom window at two a.m.?”
I cough lightly, trying not to laugh.
"I...you..." Carly sputters for a moment. "Just go to bed, Quinn."
"Sure thing, Mom." He casually, and far too slowly, walks over to the bushes below me and digs around until he comes out with Chuck. I hear Carly swearing quietly to herself.
"G’night, Ross." The kid smirks. "See you in the morning."
I shake my head as he ambles back inside. I think certain parts of my anatomy are losing sensation in this awkward position. I finally, gratefully, swing my other leg out the window and drop to the ground.
"Oh my God," Carly whispers to me, hanging her head out the window in the dark. "Do you think he heard us?"
"Honey, he knows we have sex. We're forty-four years old and we're getting married tomorrow. It's not like it's a big secret."
"But knowing is a lot different than hearing," she whisper shouts. "He could be scarred for life!"
I try not to laugh as I do a pull-up on the windowsill so I can give her a peck on her perfect lips. "I'll see you tomorrow, babe. Sweet dreams."
I make my way home, where I'm happy to find Sara fast asleep, as she should be. With a wedding in the morning, we all need our beauty rest. Unfortunately, I'm so addicted to my bride-to-be, I can’t be away from her for more than a few hours at a time without losing my mind. Hopefully, the circles under our eyes tomorrow won't be too bad.
Yet, in the strange way of things with Carly and I, we're not really moving in together quite yet. We're trying to figure out if my house is the best choice for all of us, or hers. And until then, we'll just make it work somehow. Sara leaves for L.A. in a week, so I'll go live at Carly's after that. Between now and then, Quinn will be at his dad's, so Carly will stay with me and Sara. With Quinn only a year away from graduation, and me committed to be in L.A. part of that time, it doesn't make sense to upend him from his family home.
But after tomorrow, I'm using the front door. My sneaking around like a naughty teen days are over.
Morning comes hot, humid, and filled with people, as Craig, Deanna, the kids, and my parents descend on my kitchen at nine a.m.
Sara scoots out the door on her way to Carly's with Ali, but she's soon replaced by Quinn, who's come to get ready with Craig and I. Deanna takes Rob and Mandy off to make sure all the flower arrangements are in place, and my parents follow shortly afterwards.
With just Craig and Quinn left, my house quiets down, and Blanco makes himself at home on my bed as we begin to get our tuxes on.
"So, are you ready?" Craig asks, ripping his bow tie off for the third time.
"Give me that," I scold, standing in front of him and retying it. "And yeah, I'm ready. More than ready."
"Can you do mine, too?" Quinn asks. "When I went to prom, Mom did it, so I have no idea how these things work."
"Who'd you take to prom?" Craig asks.
"Jessica Newman," Quinn answers as I perfect his tie. "But just as friends."
Craig chuckles. "Watch out, that's how Romeo, here, first got to know your mom. Taking her to prom as friends."
"Yeah," I tell my soon-to-be stepson. "You never know with those prom dates." I wink at him. "Sometimes, they turn out to be the best decision you ever made."
An hour later, as the mid-morning sun bounces off the Mississippi River below us, I stand in an outdoor gazebo at Riverside Park and watch Carly walk up the aisle on her brother's arm.
Seated around us are our friends and family, and the community that's always been here for me, no matter how many times I left, no matter what mistakes I made.
Sara and Ali smile in their bridesmaid dresses, and I see Craig nudging Quinn to my left, where they're standing up with me. Mandy scatters flower petals right and left, while Rob is very serious when he brings Craig the pillow that holds our wedding rings.
But the closer Carly gets in her journey up the aisle, the less I see of anyone or anything else. Her hair is pulled up in a twist of some sort, a few soft curls falling around her face and shoulders. She’s opted to wear flowers instead of a veil, and the late summer rosebuds in white and light pink, contrast with her brown hair perfectly.
Her dress is a blush color, the top made of fitted lace that shows off a tease of cleavage, which I'm going to be exploring in private as soon as possible. And the skirt a flare of tra
nslucent layers that only serve to make me want to find out what's beneath them.
Her bouquet matches the flowers in her hair, and she's wearing a brooch that my mother lent her. A powder blue ribbon holds her bouquet together, and her shoes are vintage silk pumps I had sent from Paris as a birthday gift a few weeks ago.
My gaze is locked on to hers as she approaches the gazebo, and when she finally arrives, it's all I can do to keep from dragging her into my arms and showing her exactly how amazing she is.
But Deanna, who got a mail order minister's license just for this occasion, gives me a warning look that tells me to cool my jets. She didn't spend the last month preparing and practicing for this, only to have me short circuit the whole thing.
So I wait, and then we say our vows, and we get the blessing of our families, and our friends and our community, and after all of that, Deanna finally says, "Ross and Carly, I now pronounce you husband and wife, partners in life, and lovers forever. You may kiss."
And thus our own special encore begins. Because it's never too late for happily ever after.
THANK YOU FOR READING! Would you like to see a little MORE of Ross and Carly’s Happily Ever After? Just click here to get the exclusive bonus epilogue!
And if you love rockstars, check out my original rockstar novel, A LUSH BETRAYAL.
AND, turn the page for a special preview of THE DUKE!
About The Duke
Winston Cauldwell is stuffy, proper, and the new owner of the Chicago Norsemen hockey team. He's also the heir to an actual Dukedom. When Winston receives a phone call telling him his grandfather has died and he's the new Duke of Surrey, there's one minor stipulation: he has to marry to get the cash. Strapped for capital to invest in the team, Winston strikes a deal for a wife in name only. But Kat is not at all what he bargained for, and she might make Winston rethink everything he's ever wanted.
Encore: A Standalone Rockstar Novel Page 19
