My Professor's Secret

- | epilogue

"That's nonsense, Taylor. This is your room too. You have a lot of work to do anyway. I'm also getting ready to head back out soon."

She only nods, but slowly begins removing everything from the crate. We don't talk for a while. Not that there was any animosity between us, but because we were both busy doing our own thing. Luckily my night wouldn't end on the opposite side of her making wedding decorations since Wyatt would be here to get me in an hour for a date he planned for us.

After the meeting in the Dean's office, I called him and told him everything. From the moment we became involved with one another down to the contract the Dean made us sign before leaving his office that evening. It wasn't easy gaining his trust back—hell even I wouldn't forgive me, but Wyatt wasn't me. Even after I told him that I was still very much in love with Trevor and wouldn't hesitate to get back with him if the opportunity presented itself (a question he asked during our conversation). He chose to forgive me and agreed that we'd work on building back the trust in our relationship. He was too good for me and I knew that at my core, but the thought of losing him too scared me just as much as the thought of losing Trevor had.

After I've stripped from my clothes, I head to the bathroom for a shower, then start readying myself for my date.

While applying makeup, Lorelei video calls me, something I'd genuinely looked forward to. Ever since Chris went back to Dreycott, things with Lorelei and me have never been better. It would be naive to believe my brother had nothing to do with it which deserved a thank you on my part. We were both going through heartache three months ago. Enough to cause anyone to break, so when she called me the day after I told Christian what happened with the Dean to say she bought an extra plane ticket for me to spend my break there with them, I didn't object. That's when she and I finally started to bond in a way that I didn't think I could with another woman—especially the woman I'd have said stole my Dad from my mom months before.

"You look beautiful," she says as she walks through the house. "Hot date tonight?" I nod, and thank her for the compliment. To my dismay, during my break back to Dreycott, the four of us as a collective agreed that we'd sell our family house and join Lorelei and her family in theirs. It was bittersweet with a lot of tears shed and memories relived, but for the best. In her background, I watch as she continues through the massive house to the living room where she takes a seat on the sofa. My Dad is there, so she stretches her arm out to show him. "Say hi to your father. He's making us watch The Godfather for the umpteenth time," she complains, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Dad. Why are you torturing them again?"

Dad's face twitches into a smile and Lorelei holds the phone directly to his face. He can't talk but a few words—so he says "It's fine," and turns to Lorelei. Last week he managed to say my name for the first time since he woke up. To say I was emotional would be an understatement considering I spent two hours crying in my car once Lorelei ended the call after letting me hear him say it. Apart from having to relearn how to walk and talk, his memory was greatly affected by the bullet. He'd lost a significant chunk of his long-term memory, his cognitive functions, and partial feeling on the right side of his body, and he'd been very susceptible to tonic-clonic seizures which he experienced for the first time three weeks after we brought him home from the hospital. Because of that, Dr. Monroe diagnosed him with epilepsy. He hadn't had another seizure since, and we prayed he never would again. When we questioned Dad about his reasoning for wanting to end his life, he couldn't give us an answer because that part of his memory was affected and all reasoning had vanished.