“I know.”
“So I guess this means I like mildew.”
He knit his eyebrows together. “What?”
“You said you’d grow on me like mildew.”
Recognition flooded his features. “I did. And I was right. Like always.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. We didn’t need to start this relationship off with Camden thinking he was always right.
“Your receptionist said you had this Friday free. I’m going to assume that’s true for every Friday for the rest of our lives.”
Happiness spread through me like a warm honey, filling every crevice until there was nothing inside me but love and light. “I’ll have to check my calendar.”
His arms tightened around me. “You do that. But I think if I don’t kiss you soon, our audience is going to riot.”
“What?” I turned my head to see every single one of my employees lined up, watching us through the glass windows like we were their own personal soap opera. Krista was eating the last Bavarian cream and she gave me a big thumbs-up with her free hand.
Camden turned my chin back toward him and captured my mouth with his. I melted against him. Why was it so much more powerful and amazing now that there was a declared emotion behind it? If even a tiny part of me had questioned whether he really was in love with me, that kiss erased all doubt.
He broke away when everybody outside started cheering and chanting my name. He laughed and I traced the outline of the dimple in his left cheek.
Then he said, “So I know you hate it when I ask you questions, but I have this really big one that I’m going to ask you in the not-so-distant future, if that’s okay with you. Just so you know.”
I couldn’t help myself. I absolutely beamed at him.
“What are you grinning about?” he asked, teasing.
“My mom is going to be so happy.”
EPILOGUE
One year later . . .
I sat on the couch, impatiently waiting for Camden to come home. We’d made each other a promise that we’d always be home by seven o’clock at night, no matter what. Even if we had to bring work home with us, we’d decided to make spending time together a priority.
I was supposed to be doing work right now, but I was way too distracted. I nudged the large stack of résumés sitting on my coffee table with my toe, wishing they would disappear.
Things had been going so well for me. Bridezilla Amber never filed suit when Gerald pointed out that, unlike Sadie’s NDA, Amber’s non-disclosure agreement prevented her from speaking about our arrangement. （Each NDA was customized differently with each bride.） She had publicly outed me and he had been excited at the idea of suing for breach of contract. I’d told him no, that I wanted to focus on the positive. I did make her submit an apology and had gotten more than my fair share of pleasure from that.
At Gerald’s direction I still hadn’t broken any of my NDAs, so there was no fear of a lawsuit. I turned down all the media requests, but they found other people who were willing and able to talk about my services and my business had continued to grow. We’d hired a dozen new employees in the last six months and the résumés I had were so that we could hire at least five more.
Camden had also been talking to me about franchising, a possibility that excited me. I was going to have my own little empire.
Instead of getting the résumés, I reached for our wedding photo album. I was feeling particularly nostalgic today, and I flipped through the pages slowly. I’d hired Troy to be my wedding planner and had done my best to keep it simple. Which hadn’t been easy with fifteen bridesmaids. Krista had been my maid of honor and all of my other employees had insisted they be part of my big day. Sadie had served as a bridesmaid, too, given how close she and I had become. Her baby bump was adorably small in each of the pictures.
Camden looked perfect in every shot, and I ran my hand across a photo of us kissing right after the minister had declared us husband and wife. I also loved the one just after that, where Camden stopped to hug Irene as we walked back down the aisle. She jokingly called the peach fuzz on her head her “Chia Pet hair,” but we were all just beyond relieved that she’d gone into remission and had come to the wedding happy and healthy.
My mom had spent most of the day crying with joy. I didn’t think there was a single picture where she wasn’t crying. The questions about grandchildren had tapered off because she’d gone back to school to get her master’s degree in special education and her days were currently filled with precious kids. “Have to get my fix somehow,” she was fond of saying.