Tears came to her eyes.
“I love you, too,” she said. “So much. I love how kind you are, and funny, and generous, and how safe I always feel with you. I think I realized that on Saturday, when all I wanted after the party was to be with you. And then I panicked on Sunday.” She grinned. “I told Elliot about us. He wasn’t upset. Or surprised.”
He gripped tighter to her hand.
“I told my mom about us,” he said. “And about my job. And about the very stupid lie I told her about Avery. I think she’s currently wondering what kind of an asshole she raised.”
Margot laughed through her tears.
“Never.”
She picked up a napkin and dabbed at her eyes.
“I was so happy working at the winery,” he said. “I was so happy with you. And it made me feel guilty; I felt like what I wanted wasn’t good enough, important enough, like I had to go back to that job to prove myself, to do something I hated to show the world—and you—I could do that. If I had really thought about you, I would have known that you didn’t care about any of that stuff.”
He looked down at their hands, then back at her.
“I still . . . It’s going to take some work, to unlearn all of that. But I’m going to try very hard to learn that being happy, actually happy, matters. And what I do know is that you are what makes me happy.”
She squeezed his hand.
“What a coincidence. You are what makes me happy, too.”
He cupped her cheek with his hand.
“Can I kiss you?”
Instead of answering, she leaned forward and kissed him. She didn’t care that they were at the bar at the Barrel, with people all around them; all she cared about was his lips on hers and his arm tight around her and how much she loved him.
When they finally pulled away, there were two champagne glasses sitting in front of them.
Margot looked over at Sydney at the other side of the bar. Sydney nodded at her. Margot could feel the smile stretch across her whole face.
Luke picked up his glass.
“Does this mean she’s forgiven me?”
Margot picked up hers.
“Mmmm, I’d give it some time.”
Luke laughed.
“I figured.”
He smiled at her over their glasses.
“I didn’t mean to come here and fall in love with you, but I’m so glad I did.”
She grinned at him.
“I’m so glad you did, too.”
They clicked glasses and each took a sip.
Sydney walked by, picked up the untouched glass of water in front of Luke, and walked away.
Margot looked at Luke, and he looked back at her. They burst out laughing.
Epilogue
Four months later
WHEN THE ALARM WENT off early that morning, Luke was already awake. Margot turned over in bed and kissed him on the shoulder, her eyes still closed.
“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked.
He laughed at her. He loved her like this, first thing in the morning, so cuddly and soft and warm, that way she smiled at him, like she was so surprised and happy to find him there in her bed, even though they woke up together almost every morning.
“I’m really not.” He traced the line of her jaw with his finger. “You had your chance to know before. You’ll find out when we get to the airport.”
Margot sighed dramatically, even though he knew she didn’t really mind. A month before, he’d told her to reserve a week for him, for a surprise. Now the week was here.
The past four months had been busy and had been exactly what he wanted. Once his mom was back at the inn, he spent a month really thinking about what he wanted to do next. What he wanted, not what he thought he should want. What he’d liked the best about his old job—when he had liked it—and why he’d enjoyed working at the winery so much. He’d talked to people, done a bunch of research, and eventually started a new, mostly remote job at an education-related tech company two months ago. He got paid a lot less than he would have at his old job, but instead of dealing with stressful meetings and bosses and coworkers who seemed in constant competition with him, he worked with people he liked and respected, he did some of the kind of work that he’d enjoyed from his old job, and he also got to travel around to do trainings for people just getting into this line of work, which he loved. So far, his new job was great. And no one seemed to care that he was taking a week off to go on vacation with his girlfriend.
“A surprise vacation sounded better when it was like, a month away, and I didn’t have to pack blindly, for a whole week. And what about restaurant reservations? Or . . . we’ve never been on a plane together—what if you put me in the aisle seat?”