All is Found

Epilogue

Time really flies after kids. It didn't take me much longer to get my Master's degree in education. I spent some time just interning at a few different schools in the area but about two years after I got my degree I got word that Salem High School had an opening for a full time band teacher. Needless to say I showed up the next day to interview for the job. Before I even left the interview the principle told me I had the job.

It was amazing. I think I finally found my true passion in teaching. Getting to go to work every morning and teach the next generation all about music gave me this rush and I love every second about it. The kids I've been teaching feel like my kids and I care so much about them and wanting them to succeed.

Over the years Alyssa and I keep in touch. Even though I released her as my manager she still gives me updates on the happenings in the music world. Every once and a while she will send me a contract from a record labels but I have always turned them down. I don't want to leave Salem. After I got my teaching job it kind of made it more final that I wouldn't be returning to the music scene any time in the near future. I was thinking that maybe I'll make another run at it after Preston and Sammie are in college but for now I'm loving life at home.

Every once and a while I do have other artists come over to work with me though. Just because I'm not putting out albums doesn't mean that I've stopped putting out singles and Eps. I also have other artists come into the house to work with me. Halsey and I are still good friends and she and I usually have get togethers whenever she is on the east coast. She has been around enough that my kids even call her Aunt Ashley.

Alyssa and Eli did get married. Eli proposed that Christmas and the two were married the following year in California. We all flew out for the wedding as I was a bridesmaid. That was the first time I saw Diego and Britt in person since my last show. They were excited to tell my kids all about my embarrassing moments on tour.

The wedding brought me back to Thea and I's wedding and I couldn't help but watch her throughout the ceremony. When we reunited after the ceremony I couldn't help but wrap my arms around my wife and plan a hard kiss to her lips. Both of our kids were grossed out but I didn't care. The reception was a fun one that's for sure. Thea and I still felt young and dumb and in love and danced the night away for the most part. We were lucky that Sammie and Preston both like dancing.

Eli actually asked if I would sing the song for their first dance. I agreed right away and asked what song he wanted me to sing and was shocked when he asked if I would sing I Don't Dance. I was touched that he wanted one of my songs to be their first dance song. Alyssa was actually surprised when I walked up to the dance floor with a guitar strapped around my chest. Eli and Alyssa danced as I sang and I found Thea's eyes towards the end and gave her a smile. We made it to about 11 before both Preston and Sammie were tired out and needed to get to bed.

The happy couple didn't take long before they started a family. A year after the wedding they had a baby girl and just under two years later they had another little girl. They actually moved to Ohio to be closer to Alyssa's family and have been happily living there ever since.

After that summer on tour Nikki came home to Malia. Both women were happy to be together again. While Malia has slowly rising the ranks in the police department Nikki has been touring for big name acts. She doesn't tour as much as she used too but she is still gone a few months of the year.

They actually bought a house together three years ago. Not long after they moved in did Malia pop the question. The pair got married last year in Mount Vernon, New Hampshire on a farm near where they like to go hiking. It was a beautiful ceremony Nikki asked me to be her maid of honor. Malia asked Thea to be her maid of honor as well.