Things between us had felt … off since the other night, strained. But tonight’s call had felt a little like before—easy, natural, almost like we were back to being us.
Maybe this was our reset. Maybe once he got home from Austin, things could go back to normal.
Still, the thought of seeing him again made my gut twist in a way I wasn’t sure I wanted to examine too closely.
“Sunday,” I whispered to the fish, like she might understand. “He’ll be back Sunday.”
But as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door, I realized I didn’t just want things to go back to normal. I wanted to know what came next.
And for reasons I couldn’t quite explain, the idea of seeing Talon again made me both nervous and excited, like I was standing on the edge of something I couldn’t name but wasn’t sure I wanted to step back.
CHAPTER 19
TALON
The first thing I wanted when my plane landed wasn’t a shower or food. Not even the perfectly balanced meal I knew I should grab. What I wanted was to get home.
Not just home, but to the fish.
And maybe, if I was being honest, toher.
The meet in Austin had gone better than I could’ve imagined. I’d gotten the time I needed. For months, that goal had felt like an anchor tied to me, dragging me down with every practice, every doubt, every voicemail from my dad telling me I was wasting my time. But I’d done it. I’d proved him wrong. Proved myself right. For the first time in a long time, I could breathe.
I should’ve been celebrating. Every muscle in my body hummed with the afterglow of hitting the wall, looking up at the board, and seeing my time on the screen. The burden I’d been carrying had slid off my shoulders the second it happened.
But instead of blowing up Livvi’s phone with the news—or logging in to messageReadToLiv—I’d forced myself to hold back. That had taken more willpower than any training set I’d ever done.
Because now I knew. I knew they were the same person.
And I still didn’t know what to do with that.
Every instinct screamed at me to tell her, to finally bridge that gap, but the thought of saying it out loud made my insides clench. What if she’d known all along? What if this had been some twisted test to see if I’d figure it out? Or worse—what if she had no idea, and I ruined everything by blurting it out?
So I stayed quiet.
I gave her space.
And maybe gave myself a little too.
But now, as I slung my bag over my shoulder and cut through the terminal, my focus was scattered. Yes, I’d gotten the time I’d needed. But I wasn’t done. Not even close—but I was at least a step closer.
And yet, as much as I wanted to ride the high of achieving my goal, the closer I got to home, the more my thoughts tangled themselves around the same two things.
The fish.
And Livvi.
The drive from the airport felt longer than the flight itself.
My hands gripped the wheel tighter than they neededto, knuckles pale against the leather. Austin was still clinging to me—the chlorine, the adrenaline, the echo of the buzzer—but none of it compared to the pull of getting back here.
Back to the fish.Ourfish. Back toher.
I told myself it was just the fish. That I needed to make sure she was okay after Livvi had texted about the weird swimming. But that was only half the truth. The other half was harder to admit—that I wanted to see Livvi. To look her in the eye and figure out if she knew. If she’d been playing me this whole time, or if the universe had just decided to tie my life into knots for the fun of it.
Every traffic light felt personal, like the universe’s way of reminding me I wasn’t in control. I thought about calling her but stopped myself. No. Not yet. Not until I knew what the heck I was even going to say.
At least I had one victory under my belt. I was one of the main contenders for a spot on the Olympic team. The one thing I’d been chasing. That was solid. Unshakable. My dad could lecture me about being too old or irresponsible all he wanted—I had proof now that I wasn’t done. Not yet.
