Ghost Of You (A Novella)

Epilogue (REWRITTEN)

TWO YEARS LATER...

"We're going to be late!" Avery groaned, slipping into a pair of heels as she walked the hallway of the apartment.

With a grimace on his face, he redid his tie for the umpteenth time in front of the bathroom mirror. He just could not get that knot to look right. "They can't start without me," he assured her.

"I'm fairly sure they can," she rolled her eyes. "The world doesn't revolve around Sebastian Matthews and neither does a college graduation ceremony."

He gasped, mockingly, "That is just a downright cruel thing to say, ma'am."

They did make it there, but only just. Sebastian had enough time to slide into his seat and two seconds to feel the cold, hard plastic before he was being summoned to walk the stage. "I hope he trips and falls flat on his idiotic face," Chase he hissed through a forced smile, still bitter from having to sit through an hour and a half of guest speakers and boring announcements that his friend "conveniently" missed.

Sebastian shot them a goofy grin, their overly-dramatic cheering giving away their position in the very back of the auditorium.

Later that evening, after Julie's celebration party, he drove Avery down a lone, country road. Pulling his jeep onto a deserted plain, he parked. "You didn't bring me here to murdering me, did you?" She asked, only half joking. It was an extremely secluded area, the nearest house was at least a quarter of a mile away.

"Why, yes, of course. I'm going to wine you, dine you, and then murder you," he smirked. "Isn't that how all the greats do it?"

With a spring in his step, he grabbed his hiking pack from the back and Avery's hand. Under the starlit sky, he led her to a simple, white, folding table with two chairs. Two tall solar lights sat on each side and a smaller one directly in the center of the small table. They flickered, a fire dancing against the mountainous backdrop. He pulled one chair out for her to sit before sliding into his own.

Holding the pack to his chest, he said, "I know this has been a rough two years for you, with your dad and all." Avery only nodded, her father's incarceration had been a tough pill to swallow. Apparently, bribing a federal judge was also offensible and no amount of money was going to save him from the inevitable. She had talked to him on the phone from time to time, just to check in. Her mother, however, was a different story. She had fallen into obscurity after the verdict and no one knew her current whereabouts.

Avery had made peace with that.

"And then with me being so busy..." Sebastian felt a pang of guilt for the lack of time he had been able to give her. When he returned to college, he knew it was going to take away the majority of his attention—the side project he had been working on behind the scenes had taken the rest. Intent on making it up to her, he removed his sketchbook from his pack. Flipping to the very back, he sat the idea in front of her and awaited her reaction.

She studied the drawing he had painstakingly put so much detail into. The course paper displayed a mid-century modern home, the roof slightly angled for rainwater run off. It was a single level house with dark exterior and stone accents and huge windows. He had even colored in the landscape, intent on making his vision as life-like as possible. "It's beautiful," she whispered, awed.

"I'm glad you like it," he said. "We break ground next month."

"We?" It took her a minute to process his words but when she finally did, her eyes lit with a new excitement, "Oh my god, you got the job!" He had been negotiating with Lannister Architecture for weeks. It was the one and only coming he highly desired to be part of.

"Well, yeah. I did. Thank you for ruining that surprise, but this—" he tapped his finger against the sketch "—is for us, Avery. You and me. We should be able to move in this time next year." Observing her enthusiasm, he almost felt bad for what was to come next. Almost. "But..."

"Why is there a but?" Avery squealed, too excited to really care but it did seem important to him so...

"I need you to do something for me first."

Astounded by the audacity of his demand, her mouth fell open, "Me living with you in this house is conditional?"

"Yes."

She met his flatlined response with a heat glare. Well, of course it was.

Too busy digging into his pocket to notice her annoyance, he worried a little when he came up empty handed. Maybe it was in his other pocket—nope. Not there either. He scowled, angry at himself for misplacing it. "I know I have it somewhere," he muttered, shoving an arm deep into his pack.

It wasn't there either.

Avery eyed him, slightly amused by his frantic treasure hunt. Serves him right.

With a peeking tongue pressed firmly between his lips, he patted the suit of his jacket, his last hope. He spewed an impressive amount of curse words before finally feeling the imprint of round metal in his inner breast pocket. "Ah-ha!" A relieved smile graced his face, "Found it!"

Returning to his seat, he cleared his throat, "Before you can move into the new house with me—" On top of the drawing, he placed a white-gold, single stud diamond ring, "Marry me."

Avery grinned tearfully, her voice faltering, "Okay, just as long as we're clear it's for the house." With or without a house, she would have married him and he knew that but it didn't feel exactly right to reply with only a simple 'yes.'

"Yeah. For the house," he lightly chuckled before slipping the ring onto her finger. She wanted to hold it up, see exactly how gorgeous she knew it would look against her hand, but Sebastian hadn't released it yet. "This is my vow to you, Avery Swartz. No matter the distance, no matter the time—it could be this lifetime, or a thousand different ones, but I will never stop searching for you. RIght next door or halfway across the world, I'll travel wherever you are, just to be near you. I will always find you, now and for always."

Sebastian grazed a thumb across her cheek, wiping a tear that had toppled overboard. "I love you," He reminded her.

"I love you, too..." she placed a gentle kiss on his lips, "Now and for always."