Gavin and Roxanne ✔️

EPILOGUE

It's been a few months now since Roxanne and I let the 'with benefits' portion of our friendship lapse. We still talk at work pretty frequently and we're connected on social media, so I know her relationship with Charlie has really taken off. Right now we're on winter break – no rehearsals or concerts scheduled until after the first of the year – so the two of them have left for some far-flung, exotic destination. I didn't find out exactly where, and Roxanne hasn't posted photos to her Facebook page yet, but I'm willing to bet they're having the time of their lives.

I'm still unattached myself, and I never thought I'd say this, but I'm loving it. For seven years, my life was so inextricably linked with someone else's that I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to be my own person. Rarely did Tierney or I make even the most mundane decisions without first consulting the other – in many ways, we'd become two halves of the same whole. That works beautifully for many couples, but with the benefit of hindsight, I realize that's not what either of us needed, not yet.

Now I have time to be alone with my thoughts, physical and spiritual space to grow as a person, freedom to seek out new experiences. In time I'll be ready for another relationship, perhaps even the one, but right now I'm exactly where I want to be.

That's not to say I've turned into a complete recluse – far from it. I get together with my symphony colleagues regularly – after-concert drinks are a frequent occurrence, gatherings that often last late into the night. I'm at the gym a few nights a week – I've managed to lose the pounds I packed on in my post-breakup junk food binge – and I've joined a recreational basketball league, which has opened up a brand new social circle for me. And actually, there is a new special someone in my life.

Sometime around the end of the summer, I decided my apartment had gotten just a bit too quiet, and I needed some company. I went down to the animal shelter with the intent of doing some window shopping, but by the time I left my heart had been completely stolen by a brown and white English bulldog mix named Brutus. They say sometimes you choose your pet, and sometimes your pet chooses you – and there's no question that Brutus chose me. How could I possibly say no to those nuzzles and those wet, sloppy kisses? I was hopelessly in love.

One late morning a few days before Christmas – it's one of those cold, damp Northwest winter days where the weather penetrates you to the bone – Brutus and I are returning home from a brisk walk around our part of Portland. We stop in the lobby of my building to check my mailbox; at first glance, it's pretty routine stuff – a credit card offer or two, the gas bill, a reminder to schedule an appointment with my optometrist – but toward the bottom of the pile I find something unexpected: a postcard. On its front, a white sand beach beckons, azure waters lapping at its shores; palm trees and other lush greenery spread out behind. In the distance, the top of a pagoda looms above the trees, its slate gray a stark contrast to the vivid emerald hues of the tropical forest. And beneath it, a second postcard, this one of a sunset over a seaside cliff, dark against the vivid pinks and oranges of the sky.

I flip the postcards over and determine that there's one long note divided between the two of them. The words are tiny and all squished together to fit in the limited space, but the cursive is somehow still spotless. It's even in blue ink.

Gavin,

Greetings from beautiful, sunny Bali! We're having such a wonderful time here. It's Day 3 and so far we've just been hanging out at the beach, but we're going snorkeling tomorrow, and we're also planning a safari and a visit to the night markets, among other things.

I've never properly thanked you for all you've done for me. At a difficult time in my life, a time when I felt hopeless, you were the steady presence I'd never had. You listened, and you didn't judge. You gave so freely of yourself. You reminded me I was worth living for, that I mattered. Without you, I'd still be stuck in a cycle of anger and bitterness, convinced that life had passed me by.

I can honestly say I'm the happiest I've ever been in all my years. Charlie is everything I've been waiting for my whole life, all I've ever wanted in a man, and it's real, genuine, from the heart. It all feels so right. He's already hinting at marriage, and I'm seriously considering it!

And none of this would have happened if not for you. Thank you, Gavin, for being there, for showing me the way from darkness into light, for helping me give life – and love – another chance. It means more to me than you'll ever know.

Hope you're doing well. See you in a few weeks. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love always,

Roxanne

I'm moved beyond words. This just might be the sweetest, kindest, most sincere thing anyone has ever written – or said – to me. My eyes mist up, and I dab at them with the collar of my windbreaker. Then I scoop up Brutus from the floor, all cold and reeking of wet dog, and squeeze him tightly, like I never want to let him go. I hope that sometime I get the chance to tell Roxanne that she, too, has helped bring me from a place of despair and hopelessness to a new beginning and a future brimming with promise. I might not be able to deliver my message in Roxanne's enchanting prose, but it will be no less heartfelt.

And to think that I nearly stayed home that night, that I almost chose the gloomy but familiar world to which I'd been confining myself: a place of misery and self-pity, but a place where I was at least safe from having my heart shattered and my spirit crushed. Where would I be had I not pushed myself, had I made the easy choice, had I left Ruggiero's unnoticed? I'm not exactly sure what made me step out on that Saturday evening back in April, but it started the process of healing, of forgiving myself, of moving onward and upward.

Which reminds me – I still owe Jeremy a beer.

********

So that's it! I hope the ending was satisfying – I feel like Roxanne and Gavin are both getting their 'Happily Ever After', even if it isn't with each other! They've both come a long way from where they were before they met!

One final time, if you enjoyed following Gavin and Roxanne on their journey, please *vote*, and know your support means everything to me!

Thanks so, SO much to everyone who's read, voted, and commented! You've made my first time sharing my writing at the oh-so-tender age of 43 both memorable and rewarding. And you've inspired me to keep writing – and to keep sharing it! My next project (this one will be novel-length and have a true HEA, I promise!) is still in the outline stage, but I'm super excited about it – I can't wait to have enough of it done to post!

Until next time-

James