And just like that, a weight lifts off my shoulders, like air was just breathed into my lungs, reinvigorating me.

“Holy shit.” I stand, gripping my forehead, everything falling into place, clear as day. “What the hell have I done?”

“You’ve acted like an idiot, sweetie,” Kathy answers with a smile. “If you’d just talked to me, instead of shutting me out of your life . . .”

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” I pull her to her feet and wrap her in a bear hug. “I’m so sorry, Kathy. I was just . . . lost.”

“I know.” She squeezes me tightly. “But I think you need to find your way again, and this girl your sister told me all about, Ren, she seems really special. There is no doubt in my mind that Claire was the one who brought you two together. She’s always liked a moose on the side of the road.” Kathy’s voice catches, even as she leans back and winks at me.

“She did.” I chuckle and release Kathy, pushing my hands through my hair as I blink back tears. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I can think of a few things,” Kathy says. “Take a shower, shave, and get your ass to Ren’s house, ready to beg and plead to win her back.”

That makes me smile, because it almost sounded like Claire just said that rather than her mom.

I wait impatiently for Ren to answer the door, my nerves eating away at my stomach.

I spent another hour reminiscing with Kathy before she told me to go make myself presentable.

I’m going to have to thank her later . . . for everything.

My mind is still processing everything that Kathy told me, but one simple fact played on repeat for the rest of my visit.

Claire would have passed either way. This is not on you.

Those words, that validation—I’ve had it all along but could never bring myself to hear it. Never once tried to listen to anyone but the demon inside of me eating away at my soul.

But now, fuck, now I feel like everything has been answered for me. The doubt and the fear—I don’t have to play into them anymore. The demons in my head are finally silent.

The lock clicks, and my palms grow sweaty as Ren opens the door. She’s in her pajamas, makeup no longer on her face, leaving her fresh and beautiful. She pulls on the long sleeves of her shirt and shifts on her feet.

“Griffin, what are you doing here?”

“Can we talk?”

She presses her head against the door, looking deflated. “I can’t keep going around in circles with you—”

“I love you, Ren.”

Her eyes shoot up to mine, her mouth dropping open.

I planned on telling her in a more intimate setting, some place way more romantic than her doorstep with a pound of awkward settled between us. But I couldn’t wait, not at the sight of her face.

“You . . . you what?”

I step forward, taking her hand in mine. “I love you, Ren, and I want to be with you.” I pull her to my chest. “You were right: the only curse I was facing was the fear and doubt I carried in my mind. I was too damn nervous to lose you, too afraid of anything happening to you, and I pushed you away when I should have held you closer.”

I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, watching as her eyes fill with tears, a smile pulling at her kissable lips.

“I should have known when I pulled you out of your car that you were going to rock my world. You’ve infiltrated my life in the best way possible. You’re so beautiful in every way, and brave. Brave enough to take on one of the infamous Knightly brothers.”

“A decision I was regretting a few minutes ago.” She chuckles and wipes away her tears.

“I might have taken a roundabout way to figure it out, but I want to be with you, Ren. I want you in my life, forever.”

She stands on her toes and cups my cheeks with both hands, her eyes fixed on mine. “I want you in my life forever as well, Griffin.”

I close the space left between us and take her lips with mine, relief washing over me as we deepen our connection. I walk her backward into the house and shut the door behind me with a kick of my leg. I don’t need this in the newspaper tomorrow.

I can see the headline now:

NEW GIRL BREAKS THE CURSE!

I’d rather hold this moment close to my heart, keeping it just between us. There is always tomorrow for everyone to find out; tonight is only for us.

How does the saying go? “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”?

Losing Claire, losing Ren—they’re not comparable, and yet they felt the same. The heartache, the deep absence, the inability to function without thinking about them.

And I hate to admit it, but the old crone down in New Orleans was right: only when my mind had matured would the curse be cured.

Fuck if it didn’t take one hell of a road to mature, but with Ren in my arms, her lips on mine, I couldn’t be happier to have made it.

EPILOGUE

GRIFFIN

“This party is dope.” Reid grips me by the shoulders and shakes me.

“Will you keep your voice down? Jesus Christ, dude, how is it going to be a surprise if you keep shouting?” I whisper from between my teeth.

The backyard is scattered with all of our closest friends—a number that was difficult to pare down, so there are more people here than I would have wanted. I hope Ren isn’t overwhelmed. But then we’ve been dating solidly for two months, and we’ve been the newspaper headlines for at least five weeks out of those two months. I’m pretty sure she can’t be overwhelmed any more.

The weather has been unseasonably warm the last two weeks, so when I was planning this party, I gambled on the weather staying nice, and thankfully it has, because I couldn’t imagine not having the party outside, where Ren loves to listen to the ocean hit the rocks.

“She’s not here yet. I can be loud.”

“She’s a minute away, asshole, and our voices bounce off the woods.”

“Did you hear that?” Reid shouts. “Everyone be quiet—she’s a minute away.”

I grind my teeth together and slap my hand over Reid’s mouth, hissing in his ear. “I swear to God, man, you’re a second from being thrown into the ocean.” From under my hand he chuckles, driving me crazy all over again.

Brig tiptoes over to us, holding his drink out in front of him. “What’s happening?” he whispers. “Is she here?”

“No.” I push Reid toward him. “But keep your brother away from me before I blast him through the woods.”

“Don’t be a dick,” Brig chastises, pushing Reid into Rogan as he walks toward us. Rogan gives Reid a death glare, which actually seems to calm the asshole down, at least for now. Brig leans in close to me, a huge smile on his face. “Can I just say, this is super fucking romantic, this whole party.” He raises his eyebrows. “Are you dropping down on one knee tonight?”

“Fuck no,” I answer as quickly as possible. It’s not that I don’t want to marry Ren. In fact, the minute I know it’s right, I’m going to take the opportunity to fully make her mine. No, I’m not proposing tonight because there is no way in hell I would do it in front of half the town.

Nope.

When I propose, it’s going to be private and keep us out of the Port Snow headlines for as long as possible.

“You don’t have to be so blunt.”

“I’m not doing it in front of all of you fools.”

Brigs shakes my shoulder, surprise on his face. “But you’re going to do it?”

I drag my hand over my face. “Jesus Christ, go stand with your other brother. Please.”

“If I wasn’t so excited, I would be insulted that you’re putting me in the same box as Reid.”

“She’s here,” Jen whispers, making her way into the backyard from the front of the house. “Everyone quiet.”

Silence falls over the group as the first light in the house switches on.

A month ago, Ren moved into my house. It took some convincing, because she loved being so close to the beach, but I argued that living three houses farther from the water was still damn close. After two days of putting it off, she finally relented and moved in with me.

And even though she won’t admit it, I know she likes that my backyard backs up into woods, a nice change from the rental, whose backyard opened up to the house behind her, affording not much privacy at all. And boy, do we need the privacy.

“Griff?” Ren calls out, making her way to the kitchen, the room that connects with the deck.

“Out here, baby.” She steps outside just as my dad flips on the outdoor lights we set up.

In unison, we all shout, “Surprise!” and scare my girl right out of her shoes.

Hand to her heart, a look of utter shock on her face, she nervously laughs as I hop up on the deck and pull her into my arms.

“Happy birthday, babe,” I murmur into her ear, my arms circling her waist. “Are you surprised?”

“You could say that.” She chuckles and pulls away just enough to look me in the eyes. “Did you plan this all on your own?”