One Night Only (Season 1: Deni's Story)

Epilogue: Chapter Forty-Four

Our arrival at Astral is uneventful, by some miracle. Mom gets credit for snagging us a private dining room, which lowers the risk of having our night captured by another restaurant patron and sold to the highest tabloid bidder or shared all over social media.

Sawyer and his parents and Carter and his mom are already seated when the host leads us into our dining room. Sawyer's eyes light up when he sees us, and he hurries to push his chair back and stand up.

"Welcome to L.A.!" he greets Hunter and Melanie, and then he hugs both of them. I'm thankful Sawyer and Hunter had more time to spend together when we were in Thunder Bay for my first show back since The Domino, and that it was under better circumstances than how they met at the music festival of doom.

Carter also gets up from the table, and Sawyer begins the introductions. "This is Carter, my boyfriend. And Carter, you know Hunter is Deni's boyfriend and can possibly recite everything about him from her nonstop talking about--"

I clear my throat to interrupt him, even though I'm aware he's just trying to get a good-natured rise out of me. "Excuse me, I do not talk nonstop about Hunter."

"Ummm..." Sawyer scrunches up his face. "Actually, you kind of do and it's super sweet."

"I can vouch for this," Mom chimes in.

"Mom!" Heat creeps up my neck, and my face is flaming. "No one told me dinner would be a tag-team mission to embarrass me."

"Ask me sometime about how much Hunter talks about you," Melanie says. "Paisley's favorite pastime these days is tormenting him about how much he does, after all the times he used to tease her for talking about Cayden Indigo."

"Thanks, Mom." Hunter looks up at the ceiling. "It must be a tag-team mission to embarrass both of us."

"Clearly." I turn to Sawyer again, who is grinning from ear to ear. "You're in so much trouble for starting this."

"Hey, I'm just being honest," he protests. I have to laugh at his innocent expression and the way he shrugs, with his palms facing up, as though he didn't have a clue what he was doing.

Once all of the introductions are finished, Hunter pulls out a chair for me and waits while I sit before taking the seat next to me. We've managed to snag one end of the table for him, me, Sawyer, and Carter, with the adults at the other end. The conversation on our side turns to a table read Carter has next week for a film he's been cast in, and before I know it, he's asking about days next month when Hunter will be back in L.A. for the awards show and inviting him and Paisley to the set.

I sit back and listen to the two of them talk, and Sawyer soon joins in. Their effortless chatter and the jokes that volley back and forth are like a symphony to my ears. I want to relish every second of this feeling, because the fact that my boyfriend, my best friend, and my best friend's boyfriend all get along and appear to be developing genuine friendships is the definition of happiness for me. Sawyer and Carter couldn't hide their concerns about Bowie for long back when they first learned we were dating, and they didn't even try to conceal their contempt for him as things deteriorated between us.

It's easy to see they like Hunter, and also that Hunter likes them. And as I sit at the table among our boisterous group, with us involved in our conversation and the parents engaged in theirs, I can't help but look forward to more nights like this once Hunter moves to L.A.

* * *

By the time we've finished dessert and are getting ready to leave, Carter has started a group text for the four of us.

"You're hanging out with us again before you go home," Sawyer tells Hunter as we follow our parents to the restaurant exit.

"Text us tomorrow." I give Sawyer a hug. "I'm not sure what Mom has planned for us yet, but I hope we'll see you."