Seasons Change

Epilogue

Before we get started on the epilogue I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that's been reading, voting, and commenting throughout this whole second book. You guys have no idea how much it means to me to have your support!
This sequel has gotten 28,000 reads, over 1,000 votes, and 600 plus comments which is crazy just crazy to me. I can't even explain how grateful I am!
So with that, I hope you all enjoyed the epilogue to Season's Change.

The Epilogue

Three years later

Dylan's P.O.V.
As I watched Lilly walk across the stage to collect her diploma, I beamed with pride, applauding louder than anyone. Lilly might have had a rough start to college, but she had found herself, and it had been an honor and a privilege to watch her blossom into the beautiful, competent woman she was today.

Lilly had finally settled on an interior design major, which I hadn't even realized was a thing, but she was actually really good at it. She and April had decked out their dorm room so beautifully their sophomore year that Lilly had actually started a small business decorating other people's dorm rooms. Now that they were graduating, she and April were planning to start their own business. Lilly would handle the design aspect, and April, the sensible accounting major, would handle the finances and the tax end of things.

April had put together a fancy business proposal, and the girls had already been approved for a small business loan from a local bank. I was so fucking proud of my girl. How many college graduates had the talent and gumption to start their own business right after graduating? Not very many, but Lilly was going to be a success. I just knew it.

And, since Lilly was staying local, I was hoping to make our relationship permanent. I patted the box that was currently burning a hole in my pocket, gulping nervously. I had already secured her dad's approval. Now I just needed her to say yes. Hopefully, that would come tonight.

Since I had graduated the year before, I had taken a job as a personal trainer, and I was actually pretty good at it. Some day, I hoped to open my own gym, where I would help people develop a love for personal fitness and sports. My dad still wasn't talking to me, since I had refused to enter the NFL draft. I loved football, but I didn't want the pressure of having it be my career. Sure, I could have made a lot of money doing it, but I didn't want to take the fun out of the game.

Not to mention, I hadn't wanted to leave Lilly. Luke had been drafted to the NFL right after he graduated, and Madison had moved with him, but I didn't want to ask that of Lilly. It was right for Luke and Madison, but it wouldn't have been right for us. I knew that.

After the ceremony, we posed for hundreds of pictures of me next to Lilly in her cap and gown. We had dozens of similar pictures of her posing with me at my graduation last year, and I was excited to add these new photos to the wall right next to those. Lilly cooperated good-naturedly, and I tried to conceal my own impatience. The sooner this was over, the sooner I could take Lilly out and pop the question.

What seemed like an eternity later, I pulled into an empty spot at the trail head near my mother's house. It was the same place I had taken Lilly our very first time hanging out together.

"What are we doing here?" she asked.

"We," I replied, "are going for a walk."

I had thought long and hard about how I wanted to ask Lilly to marry me, and I had decided to recreate our first non-date. Sure, we hadn't admitted back then that we were attracted to each other, but that night was a lot of firsts: it was the start of our relationship, our first kiss, and the first time we had ever spent alone together. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to remind her of our long history together than recreating these moments.