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EPILOGUE PT. II

❝EVERYONE DESERVES A HAPPY ENDING, EVEN US.❞

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Winnie heard the sound of her dressing room open and in came Sydney and Mrs. Henderson making her sit down her phone into her lap and smile.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready for the book signing and reading?"

Winnie puffed out a breath. "A little nervous."

"Don't be, you're going to do great."

Winnie nodded and watched the two of them leave out of her dressing room, leaving her to an empty room as she sat in her chair and picked her phone back up.

Unlocking it, she went to her contacts and looked at Justin's number, it was almost like it was taunting her to press it so she could hear Justin's voice.

But she had to remember what Justin said, she didn't want to mess anything up, but it had been 5 months already, was it too late?

Winnie snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a knock on the dressing room door making her hop up from her seat and straighten out her burgundy colored pencil skirt and clear her throat as she placed her phone down onto the edge of the makeup table.

Speed walking out of the dressing room, Winnie headed out and toward the elevator with her bodyguard by her side as she stepped inside and made her way to the lobby.

But little did she know, leaving her phone would be something she would regret.

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Justin stepped off the private jet and walked down the stairs and onto the ground and was greeted by a man in a tux who was ready for him to step into the limousine.

"Thank you."

"Enjoy your flight, sir?"

"Yeah. . .," Justin murmured softly as he slipped one leg into the limousine and paused before letting out a soft laugh. "But the destination will be better."

"Where to?"

"Manhattan."

The man nodded and let Justin slip inside the limousine before shutting the door back and walking to the passenger side and slipping inside and telling the driver where to go.

Once Justin felt the limousine drive off, he let out a small sigh and looked down at his phone's black screen and bit the inside of his cheek.

"Don't be a pussy. . .not now."

Justin cleared his throat and unlocked his phone and went into his messages and scrolled to find Winnie's name and went to type her a message.

i know we said we'd wait. . .but i'm in ny and i'll be seeing you when i can, it would help if you tell me? i came to see you.

Justin pressed send and locked his phone back and leaned himself back against the leather seat and prayed that Winnie would text him back.

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Winnie let her right hand glide across the first page of every copy of her book that everyone had grabbed off the shelves to buy and have her signature inside — some read the book already and wanted her to sign it personally.

Winnie smiled up at the woman who just got the last signature for the hour, she then sighed heavily and massaged her palm and sat down the sharpie.

"Okay, everyone! That was the last signature of the day! Ms. Stone isn't a robot. . .but be sure to stick around for the book reading!"

The crowd started to murmur as they all broke out across the lobby making Winnie let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and look up at Sydney.

"You're such a lifesaver."

Sydney hummed. "I know."

Winnie giggled and shook her head as she got up from her chair at the table and smoothed out her pencil skirt once again and walked over to the podium where everyone was getting ready for Winnie to read.

Winnie cleared her throat and walked up the three steps to head onto stage and stand behind the podium with her book ready for her and her glasses.

"Good morning everyone. . .today I'll be reading a bit of the book for everyone, and then we'll have a Q&A session."

The crowd started to cheer and clap making Winnie laugh softly and place her glasses on the bridge of her nose and slowly open the book to the page where her dedications were.

Letting out a soft shaky breath, she ran her fingers across the printed words and smiled softly before clearing her throat and looking at the crowd once again.

"Chapter one. . .Willow's Recovery."

As Winnie went on to read the book, Sydney slipped away and headed back upstairs to get Winnie's purse so she could be ready for when they head out afterwards.

Once she got inside the elevator and let it take her to the top floor, she stepped off and went to Winnie's dressing room and opened the door and walked over to the couch and picked up her purse and did a double take when she saw her phone.

"Winnie. . .stop leaving your phone everywhere."

Sydney went to flip the phone over and saw she had a message from Justin making her eyes grow wide as she read it on the screen.

Gasping softly, she cursed under her breath and shook her head and went to unlock Winnie's phone, but it unlocked without a code.

Winnie needs a damn code, Sydney thought.

Shaking her head, she went into her messages and pressed Justin's name and his contact pulled up and she pressed the call button and slowly pressed the phone to her ear.

"Winnie?"

"No. . .heh. . .it's Sydney, you probably don't remember me."

"No no, I do. . .why do you have Winnie's phone? Where is she?"

"At her book reading. . .listen, she left her phone and I grabbed it for her. . .I saw your text to her, are you really in New York?"

"Yes, I'm actually headed to Manhattan now. . .is she still there?"

"Yes but—"

"Sydney. . .please, I need to see her. . .can you tell me where I can find her?"

Sydney paused momentarily. "She's going out for dinner later to celebrate her book. . .you can meet us."

"Thank you. . .just text the address of the restaurant to me, please."

"Justin?"

"Yeah?"

"Winnie never gave up on you. . .if that's what you're thinking."

Sydney heard Justin let out a chuckle into the phone making her smile softly and place a hand on her hip.

"Thanks, Sydney."

"See you soon."

With that, Sydney hung up and texted the address of the restaurant to Justin and put Winnie's phone back into her purse and cleared her throat and headed back down with Winnie's purse.

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Justin looked at the restaurant before him with all the elegantly dressed people coming in and out of it and parking in valet or picking up their cars from valet.

Justin sighed softly and looked down at his phone and saw it was almost 8 o'clock and his mind was only telling him that the longer he sat in his limousine, the shorter of time he would have to see Winnie.

"Would you like us to wait, sir?"

Justin looked up and saw the driver looking at him through the mirror making him smack his teeth and shake his head.

"I'll find my way back home, you take the rest of the night off."

"Thank you, sir."

Justin nodded and fixed his blazer one last time before opening the door and stepping out into the cool breeze of the night.

After puffing out a small breath, Justin creased his eyebrows as he walked up to the restaurant and made his way inside and looked around the restaurant at what he could from the front.

Walking up to the podium the woman tilted her head and smiled wide. "How may I help you tonight, sir?"

"I'm here with a friend? Winnie Stone?"

"Let me take you."

Justin nodded and licked his lips as he followed behind the woman and let her guide him all the way to the back of the restaurant where they held private party events.

Once he reached the door, he thanked her and looked through the window from afar and saw Winnie standing up dressed in a black and gold striped romper that stopped at her elbow with a deep v-line wither her gold strapped sandal heels and her straight hair in a nest bun on top of her head.

Justin smiled as he watched her speak to the small crowd of people before her with a glass of champagne in her free hand with a wide smile on her lips.

Now or never, Justin thought.

Justin shook off his nerves and slowly opened the door to the room and slipped inside making Winnie slow down her talking to see who walked in — only making her stop.

"Oh my god. . ."

Justin slipped his hands into the pocket of his slacks and slowly walked toward Winnie as the crowd of people looked at him with confused expressions and started to whisper among themselves.

"J-Justin?"

"Winnie. . ."

"W-What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. . .you know how long it's been since we last talked?"

Winnie let out a soft laugh. "Because I wasn't ready. . ."

"Come on, Winnie. . .don't do this to me."

"Do what, Justin?"

"Shut me out. . .you know I love you. . .you love me."

Winnie giggled softly. "I'm not shutting you out. . .I'm just. . ."

"Winnie, we might've let each other's lives for months, but we're meant to be. . .star crossed lovers. . .and I think you know that too, that's why you've been holding off being with me."

"Justin. . .all I've ever wanted was for someone to love me like I love them. . .but, who am I kidding? I'm terrified."

Justin creased his eyebrows. "Of what? Falling in love?"

"Losing someone I love! Like. . .like Papa. . ."

Justin chuckled softly and moved closer to Winnie and cupped her cheeks making her sharply inhale a breath as her hands touched his wrists.

"I'm not going anywhere. . .I love you so much."

Justin watched Winnie take in his words and blink a couple of times with her long black eyelashes fluttering with every blink.

"I see you're still wearing my ankle bracelet. . ."

Winnie let out a small laugh as Justin and her looked down at her ankle and saw her ankle bracelet still wrapped perfectly around her ankle.

"Yeah. . .it's a good luck charm."

"And you remember what's on the heart?"

Winnie pursed her lips momentarily. "Everyone deserves a happy ending."

"Yeah. . .everyone deserves a happy ending, even us. . ."

Winnie couldn't compose herself any longer, she pressed her lips onto Justin's and let their lips move against each other's with so much need and passion as the sound of everyone clapping was heard.

After a few seconds of kissing, Winnie and Justin pulled away and Winnie let out a small giggle and wrapped her arms around Justin's waist as he wrapped his around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, Justin."

And that night, Justin felt himself become whole again as he stand there in the middle of the restaurant with the woman he loved in his arms.

It was crazy to think that they wouldn't have met if it wasn't for a mix up with the realtor, they wouldn't had met and they wouldn't had changed each other's lives for the better.

In a way, the beach house helped them both realize their true potential and realize what they were meant to do in life — and also help them realize they were in love.

And they had a beach house to thank for it.

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