Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A year has passed, and things have been quite different for me recently. My heart was still healing from my two love affairs, but my life has been anything but ordinary since.

After that horrific day, I swore to have no contact with Cyrus. Though he tried, I never responded to anything he said. Even when he sent me a hug lump-some of money, I mean a considerable lump-some! Though I appreciated the gesture, we still haven't spoken since. The hurt feeling was still there deep inside of me. Despite being called out for sneaking around with him, something told me he would still choose me. However, that didn't happen, and Farah and Jenna got their way as they wanted.

Part of me wonders if he still thinks of me. All the time we've spent together, the memories we shared, did it mean nothing to him? For him to accept his mother's wishes like that showed me that maybe the things we felt were one-sided. Perhaps I got overconfident, and it backfired on me. Regardless, my love for him was unchanged, and until I gain closure and know he's happy with Jenna, my feelings will remain the same.

As far as the money goes, I got a lot of use out of it. It's more money than I ever had, and deciding what to do with it was hard. Eventually, I settled on getting an apartment. Summer wasn't happy about that, but I ensured her a room when she came and visited me. My mom was also sad but not too low since she and Jeremy have been doing well. They hit it off strong after the date I set them up on, and they've been happy ever since. Summer still wasn't talking to him, and I'm sure it had a lot to do with our father not being present for so long. She was relatively young when he passed on versus me, who was a bit older. Our mom dating again was something she needed, and who better than Jeremy?

"I just don't get it, Autumn." Summer complained to me. "What's so great about him?"

I laughed as we sat in my living room watching tv. More like the tv was watching us.

"You'd like him if you gave him a chance," I say. "Plus, he's an excellent cook." I tried to sway her, but Summer was stubborn.

She scoffed, folding her arms. "Yeah, right, he's as stale as day-old bread, and it's stale!"

I tried to understand her pain, but unfortunately, I was past the stage of hating my mom's boyfriends. This is the first guy she's ever been interested in since tragic events. Years have passed with her focusing all her time on Summer and me. Now was the time for her to start living her life. She no longer had to work late nights to provide for us. We didn't have to worry about whether or not we'd have a meal. Summer doesn't understand at the moment. Hopefully, she'll realize the good things coming out of this once she's older. Until then, she was a stubborn brat.

I turned the tv off, shaking my head at her. "One day, you'll thank him for coming into our lives. For now, it's bedtime. There's school tomorrow."

She groaned. "Fine."

She'll come around to the idea eventually. I knew she was still hurting over our father, and understandably so. This was all brand new and thrust upon her. Although they could also move into an actual house, Summer got more things than she's ever had. None of it replaces our dad. Jeremy had a lot of work cut out for him, but he was great with me. He'll do great with Summer.

Apart from family and Cyrus, there were other good things to happen. Like the girls and I were all still very close. Twila was hitting it big in the modeling scene, and Bradyn was going places with her fashion skills. I was busy working on opening my very own bakery alongside my co-owner Kira. She has also met the girls, and we always made time to at least video chat every day. Twila and Bradyn would come down at least every other weekend too. Our friendship was still going strong and better than ever. However, I wasn't so keen on being an experimental project for Bradyn.

"Come on; it'll look so good on you." She whined in my living room.

She was trying to convince me to cut my hair and do a balayage look. My hair would only be cut to shoulder length, which would significantly change me. All my life, my hair has been down to my ass. Cutting it this short was a bit nerve-racking. My face wouldn't go well with the short look she wanted me to pull off. Or I was just scared to see the results.

"I don't know; my face isn't fit for short hair." I wasn't convinced.

Bradyn huffed, scissors ready in hand. "I'll cut it a little past your shoulders then, and we'll do an ombre look instead," she was desperate to cut my hair. "Your roots will be dark, a little lighter in the middle, and very light on the ends."

My heart wasn't in this, but I let her do it anyway. I'm unsure of her hairstyling experience, but I was willing to trust her. She didn't disappoint either. She stayed true to her words for the ombre look, which was beautiful. After she curled it up and fluffed it, I was surprised to see how well it turned out. My hair still felt healthy, and my head felt less heavy. My skin looked alive, with the blondish color complimenting me in the best way possible. It was strange to have my hair short like this, but it was much easier to manage.

"Wow," I said, running my fingers through my hair.

Bradyn nodded, showing me the many ways I could part it. "I told you, and it's very versatile."

She was right about that, and I was happy I let her do it. My mom and Summer were surprised to see my hair too. My mom was iffy on it, while Summer wanted hers cut. My mom wouldn't let her, of course. At least not as short as mine, but she did get a trim, thanks to Jeremy's bargaining. Everyone liked the change, though, and rightfully so. I was excited to show it off and have a brand-new look.

Now that brings me to Jay.

After he locked me in a room for the whole day and then disappeared the next, I hadn't seen him. There was no communication on his part whatsoever, and it was all so strange. He didn't even give me an explanation as to why he was leaving. He just left without even telling me where he was going. I even tried texting him only to be left with this number is not in service message. It's like he literally fell off the face of the earth and never looked back.

Though that wasn't entirely true as on my birthday, he sent me a lovely bouquet. It surprised me because I didn't know who would send me flowers. When I read the little card, it said Happy birthday - Jay. I don't know how he got my address, but if he could send me flowers, he could've told me his whereabouts. The gesture was nice, but it angered me even more.

"How do you leave me with a stupid note, no communication but send me damn flowers?" I complained while video chatting with the girls.

"I'm sure he has a good reason why he left without telling you," Twila said.

I sipped my glass of wine, not buying it. "He could've at least said he was going before locking me in my room all day." My body shuddered, thinking about the memories we had made in a single day. "I just wish he would've called at least."

They understood me agreeing with what I was saying.

"Look on the bright side, at least you got to have a last good round, if you know what I mean." Kira joked, making us all laugh.

The last night was great, but it didn't change the fact that he disappeared without much notice. Did he think I wouldn't be mad at him for that? There were plenty of reasons for him to do so. One fact is we both thought Cyrus was for sure choosing me. I'm sure that had a lot to do with his decision to fall off the face of the earth. The second being he probably couldn't handle seeing Cyrus and me together. Which I couldn't fault him for that either. Part of me understood while the other part wanted to chew him out.

The most significant part was that I never got to tell him how I felt. We were bickering and had disagreements for most of our time spent together. Apart from the delightful moments we shared, most of it, we were ignoring each other, or we were starting from scratch every day. It's hard to say what our relationship could have been like with Jay being so unpredictable. He wasn't the kind of man to express his feelings and kept many things to himself. But with me, he was different. Still hard-headed and challenging, but different.

With the year going by quickly, there wasn't any telling what the world would throw at me. Nothing I could ever prepare for, that's for sure. Doing the bachelor's business was hard enough, but what was left to come wasn't something anyone could plan.