Lonely Together

epilogue

MARIAH—THREE YEARS LATER

"Can you please tell me where we're going?" I groaned for the millionth time, garnering a roll of the eyes from Valentino. Almost four years later and that's still his trademark.

"You just love ruining surprises for yourself huh, love?"

Just as I opened my mouth in protest, Amber stepped off the elevator and stomped over towards the two of us. She clearly had something on her mind.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to um...do something for Riley," she apologized, her gaze flitting between Valentino and I.

"You said Riley's with Wesley's mom for the weekend."

I watched as her eyes widened in horror and she looked like a deer caught in headlights as we called her out for her lies. She was still so secretive about her and Wesley even though everyone—literally everyone—knows they're together.

"Okay...fine. I lied. Don't you two have somewhere to be?" She muttered, waving us off as she walked over to our couch and flopped down.

"Autumn, come say bye to us!" Valentino shouted down the hallway in the direction of the room our daughter was in.

It had taken us hours to come up with a name for her that both of us agreed on, but once we chose Autumn we knew it was perfect. Not only did we think it was a cute name, but it held a lot of importance for he and I. Autumn was when our relationship developed, when we fell in love with each other—without letting ourselves or each other know—and overall it just signified our love in the same way she did.

We watched as Autumn rushed over to us at full speed, a sigh of relief leaving my mouth when Valentino scooped her up into his arms before she could collide into us.

"Bye bye!" She waved at the two of us as Valentino peppered kisses to her chubby cheeks and pushed a few curls out of her face. "Love you."

"We love you too and we'll be back so soon," I smiled, taking her out of Valentino's arms and hugging her.

For our anniversary, he was taking me out of the country—but wouldn't tell me where. He only gave me directions on what to pack, which only pointed out that wherever we would be traveling would be warm. It was our first time leaving Autumn alone for longer than a few days, but I knew she would be in good hands with Amber until my parents could take over and watch her. They absolutely adored her.

After a bunch more hugs and kisses, Valentino and I finally got in the elevator and headed down to the car. Immediately, he pulled me into his side and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"This is gonna be great," he remarked with a sly grin on his face. "But we have a stop to make first."

"Ugh, here you go again with the clues. You know I can't handle surprises!" I shouted, rolling my eyes at him as we stepped out and his booming laugh filled the lobby.

"You love it."

***

Trying my hardest to figure out where Val could possibly be taking me, my clues completely diminished when he turned down a road not too far from my old apartment. I couldn't think of any place he could he taking me in this part of town.

"Are you about to kill me?"

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?" He remarked, sending me a wink as he pulled the car to a stop beside a curb.

Instantly, I looked out the window to see where we were and gasped at the place he had brought me. That same cafe we had went on a date when we first started talking. According to him, it was where he knew I was probably the one, but I had still been completely clueless back then.