Epilogue

Ayla

December

“Ayla, will you grab the mail?” Mom hollered when I walked through the door after school.

“Sure.” I hurried through the snow, out to the mailbox, and pulled the stack out. I sorted through it. Oh, God. It’d come. A letter from Columbia University. I squealed and raced back inside.

Okay, what if it was a letter declining my admittance? Or what if it was a letter saying I got in?

“What are you screaming about?” Mom said.

I held up the envelope. “This.”

“Are you going to open it?”

I blushed. “Actually, I wondered if you’d mind if I went to Luke’s to do it?”

Mom smiled knowingly. “It’s fine, but you better call me as soon as you know.”

Grabbing my keys and the envelope, I headed out to my car. I drove over to the Presslers’ house, if you could call it that. It was so freaking huge. I was surprised to see Luke, Landon, and their dad in the front yard having a snowball fight.

There were huge forts built in the snow. A snowball sailed over my car and hit Mr. Pressler in the arm. Once I parked, I hopped out.

“Ayla, you’re just in time for our snowball fight. Me and Dad are beating Luke.”

“That’s because I was outnumbered.” Luke hurried over to me. “I didn’t know you were coming over…but I can use the help if you want to join my team.”

I laughed. “Sure.” It was awesome seeing how well things were going for Luke. His dad had really stepped up for them. As he should have.

Luke still worked at Crusty’s, although he didn’t have to worry about food or babysitters or any of that stuff anymore.

“But before I join Luke’s team, can I steal him inside for just a second?” I asked.

Mr. Pressler nodded. “Yeah. I actually thought about having Mrs. Magnon, our cook, make us some hot chocolate—that way we can warm up some before we start again.”

Luke took my hand and led me inside. “So, what’s going on?”

“This.” I handed him my unopened envelope.

“Um, you haven’t opened it yet?”

“No. I was too scared. Well, that, and I wanted you to be here when I did.” He tried to give it back to me. “Actually, can you open it for me? If it’s bad news, just tell me…I can handle it.” I chewed my bottom lip, holding onto the edge of his coat.

Luke ripped it open and pulled the letter out. He frowned.

“Oh, God, it’s bad news, isn’t it? I didn’t get in.”

“Actually”—he grinned—“it says, ‘Dear Ms. Ayla Hawkins, we’d like to extend our congratulations on your acceptance to Columbia University…’”

“What? Oh. My. God,” I screamed, throwing myself into his arms. “I got in. I really got in.”

“I never doubted you for a minute.” He picked me up and swung me around. “You’re brilliant and beautiful and creative.”

He kissed me, and for a moment, I forgot all about Columbia. It was just me and Luke. Heat spiraled through me as his fingers tangled in my curls.

“You know, none of this would’ve been possible without you,” I said. Because Esther had put in a good word for me with one of the board members at Columbia—and I never would’ve met Esther had Luke not talked to her and showed her my work.

“No, Ayla, it was all you,” he whispered. “The only thing I did was ruin some statutes, which got your attention…”

“So you’re saying I should blackmail you more often?” I teased.

“Hmm…it’ll be like incriminating dating.” He kissed my brow and my neck, then found my lips once more.

I giggled against him. “That sounds like a good title for a newspaper article.”

He groaned. “I said I wanted to read your articles, not be in them.”

As we made our way back downstairs, I knew one thing was for sure—Luke Pressler was my real boyfriend. And I loved him.

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