Page 90 of Do It With Me

EPILOGUE

HOLDEN

It had taken months of work, late nights, and a whole hell of a lot of coffee, but in the end, we’d done it. The Renewal Initiative hadn’t replaced a single thing on this block. We’d only restored what had already been good and turned it into something great.

The sun was shining, the air smelled like sugar and coffee, and the soft sounds of a local band drifted through the crowd. Second Story Sunday was finally back, built to last now that we’d created a designated market space in the revitalized version of Ellora’s block.

Families strolled through the new green space in the middle, the park we’d managed to squeeze in. Kids laughed at the crafts table while parents balanced paper cups of lemonade and pretzels. All around us, the buildings gleamed with fresh paint, their old charm still intact, but they were stronger now, steadier and safer.

It had taken a lot of hours to get this far, construction crews working all day, every day on the maintenance and renovation of the buildings, but as I stood there with Ellora leaning against me, my arm around her shoulders, it felt like it had been worth every late night meeting and on-the-fly adjustment to the plans.

As tended to happen with these kinds of projects, it had turned out that the neighborhood had needed a ton more work than we’d thought. Some of the buildings had been downright hazardous to be anywhere near and I didn’t even want to get started on the electricity and gas situation.

“What are you thinking?” Ellora tapped underneath my chin with one soft, powdered-sugar-coated fingertip. “Are you sorry that there are no high-rises?”

I snagged the beignet she’d stolen from me back and took a big bite, probably getting powdered sugar all over my cheeks now too. After I swallowed, I winked at her and shook my head. “Beignets beat high-rises any day of the week.”

“There wouldn’t have been a bakery in your fancy shopping complex?”

I shrugged. “Probably not one this good. Josie is amazing.”

“She is.” Ellora eyed the beignet like she was considering stealing it again, laughing when I moved it to my other hand and held it jokingly out of her reach. “Fine. Be like that. I can’t even get annoyed with you about it today because this turned out so much better than I ever thought it could.”

Her gaze drifted away from mine to drink in the scene around us, the packed market and the new, smooth sidewalks. “Seriously, I still can’t believe it’s the same place.”

I slipped my arm down to her waist and tugged her a little closer. “You did this, you know.”

She snorted in an attempt to hold back a laugh. “I’m pretty sure you were here too, Professor.”

“Call me professor again when we get home and I’ll show you what this professor has been thinking about in class,” I said, bent over to speak into her ear, but then I straightened up again. “Also, I might have been involved but you made people believe it was possible. You rallied the troops locally and in my boardroom. That’s the real work. Without you, none of this would’ve been here right now.”

Across the square, I spotted Bree at a booth, showing a little girl how to paint sea glass, still wearing her hospital badge on a lanyard. Mercedes and Kody were by the food trucks, arguing over tacos while Jimmy held court near the coffee stand, pretending to be offended that no one recognized him as the creative genius behind the layout.

Josie was handing out cookies and scones to anyone who wandered past her booth, her newly reopened bakery behind her. The crowd was thrilled to have her back, and I watched kids and adults alike grab the treats she was offering with big smiles.

It was chaos, but the good kind that made the place feel alive. In the end, I’d still gotten to leave my mark on the city in a very real, very lasting way. It just looked a lot different than I’d thought it might, but this right here, preservation instead of destruction, seemed a much better legacy to be leaving behind anyway.

Besides, a few months ago, I’d been painfully single and planning on staying that way. My entire life was looking a lot different now than it had back then.

Ellora looked up at me again, green eyes twinkling like she was scheming. “You know what I was thinking?”

I faked a sigh. “Should I be worried?”

“Always,” she said with a grin. “I think this is a good idea, though. How about if, next month, we add a little stage for live readings? Poetry, short stories, music. Real people’s stories, second or otherwise.”

I laughed. “You’ll have me writing slam poetry in no time.”

Her grin widened. “You? Please. You’d buy the stage before you’d read on it.”

“That’s probably fair,” I admitted, leaning down to brush a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll build you anything you want, baby. Always.”

Her expression shifted into something soft and a little amazed as those eyes lingered on mine, like she still couldn’t believe any of this was real. “Careful, you’re starting to sound like one of my book boyfriends.”

“You have other boyfriends?” I pretended to gawk at her. “How am I supposed to beat up a fictional dude?”

“You’re Holden Langton.” She laughed. “You can do anything. If anyone is going to figure it out, it’s you.”

I groaned. “God, you make me feel like Superman when you say stuff like that. At this rate, we’re going to need a bigger house just so my head can fit in it.”