Chapter 20

“Yeah, right.”

“It’s true. We’re here and still together, not just because Daniel made it happen, but because you fought hard to come back. Now, I know you can fight to come back all the way.” He took a beat. “I do.”

That made me smile. And I had to see his face. I had to touch it.

“Can you tell us the rest?” Emma asked.

“I think so.” But I had to tell it to the coffee table, to Reba’s cake. “Before I could come up with anything, the bat cracks down on the counter. It cracked down. ‘Congratulations,’ Tom said. That was a weird thing to say, right? I just looked at him, and of course, I didn’t know it was Tom, yet. ‘What?’”

“Breathe,” Emma said. “Both of you.”

We did, Goose and I, in sync, sound and movement I could feel with our close proximity exactly alike.

“He tells me…He told me he saw that Goose and I were engaged. He mentions Goose. Only it takes a second or two for me to realize who he’s talking about, because he called you something else.”