“Whoa.” Chills ripple through my body. Everyone knows that team is Bill’s baby. “That’s so messed up. I don’t think Bill will accept Anton’s offer. He’ll find a buyer. He has too. You’ll still get to play, and it’ll all be fine.”
“Maybe a change will be good.” Elijah’s still staring at his phone, rereading the message over and over. “Or it could be really, really bad …”
twenty-five
Elijah
(Three Months Later)
I’m mostly better except for those random nights when I wake from a dead sleep, shivering in a cold sweat. It takes me about two minutes to remember that everything is fine. I still have a job, and Koren never left me.
One thing still haunts me, though. I never found out who leaked those receipts. Honestly, at this point, I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it. Sure, every gut instinct says it was my dad. He’s the only person I’d know who’d pull something like that. But proving it? What would that accomplish now? I barely talk to him as it is.
Koren had wanted me to confront my dad about it again and get more answers, but I don’t see the point. Some people, no matter how hard you wish otherwise, just don’t change.
Keeping it bottled up was slowly killing my joy.
I had to let it go.
Am I polite when I see him around? Of course. I’ve mastered the polite nod and emotionally neutral "hey." Do I go out of my way to invite him to Sunday brunch? Nope. Even if he wasn’t the one who initiated the leak, there’s still a long list of reasons why I need distance. The biggest reason is the gut feeling I’m learning to trust more each day. Of all the lessons this ordeal has taught me, trusting my gut is the biggest one.
And anyway, my real family, the kind you choose, not the kind you're born into, is the one I come home to every night. And tonight, Koren and I are getting married.
It’s a random Tuesday.
It’s not a special day for us or tied to anything meaningful. It’s the day the church was available, and we’re both over the crowds and drama.
All we want is us, and our two witnesses: Jackson and Kaci.
Two vows.
Two brand-new, matching gold wedding bands.
One bouquet of lavender, wrapped with silk ribbon.
Zero regrets.
One life, lived together, for always.
I wear the only suit I own, the one I reserve for award nights. Kaci ties my tie in the back of the church and tucks a sprig of lavender into my pocket before the ceremony starts. There’s no wedding planner, no bridal party.
The chapel is small with only one room, eight pews, and candles glowing against the dark stained-glass windows. I take in the surroundings, but none of it matters. Because when Koren walks down the aisle, everything else fades.
She’s wearing a white dress embroidered with tiny wildflowers on the sleeves. Her hair falls in loose spirals that look effortless, though she claims it took two hours to get it to look like that. She smells like lavender, like she always does, and I close my eyes, inhaling her scent. I never want to forget this moment.
I can’t stop staring. I don’t want to.
Jackson stands beside me, hands clasped behind his back. Kaci clutches a bouquet of random flowers she pulled from the cooler at their mom’s shop. It’s bouquet madness, but it’s sort of perfect.
The priest, a middle-aged man with a smooth voice, asks if we’re ready.
Koren reaches for my hand, and the vows begin. When it’s my turn, my voice is steady and certain. “I do.”
Koren’s voice matches my evenness when she echoes, “I do.”
When she slides my gold ring on my finger, it feels heavy in the best way. Like it’s meant to last for an eternity.
I slide hers onto her finger, and we exchange a secret smile as we both wait.
