Epilogue
“To Teddy, on his twenty-sixth birthday!” Wally raised his glass.
Echo raised theirs, clinking with their new girlfriend to their right. The girlfriend, called Monique, was tall, modelesque, and Buddhist. Ted was happy for Echo.
Ted was happy for a lot of things, lately.
Dinessa and Ryan raised their glasses too, clinking with each other, then Echo and Monique. Other tables in Crafted & Cured looked their way, smiled, nodded in silent congratulations, but much to Ted’s relief minded their business. Ryan said, “This is where we had our first date.”
“It wasn’t a date,” Ted said, sipping on his wine with a smile.
“I mean, you asked me to marry you, so it kind of was,” Ryan pointed out.
“I remember!” Echo said.
“You do not,” Ted replied. “It wasn’t even on the calendar.”
“But
