The crowd burst into confused gasps and whispers as Devin passed the microphone back to the announcer, whose jaw was hanging open as Devin hopped down from the stage and headed over to the rest of us.
Everyone but me was shocked. I’d known it was coming.
Devin had stretched out beside me last night in bed and told me about all his plans for the future, about how he was done with this if he won, that he just needed to winonceso he could put that need to win behind him and really move on.
I was so happy for him I could’ve cried. Hell, I was so happy for him I was at serious risk of crying, tears stinging at my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me, the hard metal of the trophy digging into my back.
“I will recite youallthe poetry you want,” I said, touched that he thought that was something to brag about.
No one else ever had.
But then it wasn’t exactly a surprise that Devin was special. That he wasthe one.
I was more sure about that today than I ever had been.
Devin was still trembling with some combination of nerves and fatigue, and I wished I could just pick him up and carry him back to the new, improved van that could handle a little mud when the going got tough.
With a soulmate like Devin, I needed a van that could keep up. Even if I was still working on it.
I could swim a lap of the pool without panicking now, so that was something.
Someone extracted the trophy from his fingers behind me, and I could hear the murmur of it being passed around and admired.
“This little guy in the kayak could be you,” Alex said.
“Are you calling Devin alittle man in a boat?” Marta asked, and I didn’t need to look at her to see her raised eyebrow. I snorted into Devin’s hair as he broke into giggles.
“What?” Alex asked.
Chris chuckled behind me, and I could hear the sound of him throwing an arm over Alex’s shoulders. “She means a clitoris, beautiful,” he said, making a loud smacking sound as he kissed Alex’s cheek. “You’re so pretty when you’re at your most incredibly gay.”
“Hey, come on, I knew that one,” Devin objected.
“Your best friend is a lesbian, you have special knowledge,” Chris said.
“For the record, I wasn’t calling Devin anything,” Alex interrupted. “I just like the trophy.”
“Because it’s shiny,” Chris said as Devin eased his way out of my arms, swaying on his feet.
I slipped an arm around his shoulders so he could lean against me. I knew he wouldn’t want anyone else to know how exhausted he was, so it was up to me to make sure he’d be okay.
“I do love shiny things,” Alex agreed easily, not insulted at all.
He’d inherited Devin’s black glitter phone case at some point because he loved it so much. Devin had a floral one I’d gotten him now, since he still complained from time to time that he couldn’t spend more time in the shop. I couldn’t give him flowers, so the case was the next best thing.
“I love you guys,” Devin announced, leaning a little heavier on me. “That trophy is for all of you. Weallwon, as far as I’m concerned.”
“But we’re putting it in the store, right?” Marta asked.
Devin smiled the shyest, happiest little smile in response. “I guess it could go next to the medal from last year. People might start to think I actually know what I’m talking about.”
Chris laughed. “No, they’ll still be customers,” he said. “But at leastyou’llknow you know.”
“Better than nothing,” Devin said. “So, plans for the afternoon?”
“Food,” Alex said. “I’ll eat literally anything you put in front of me.”
“We know,” Chris grinned, tightening his grip on him. If anything, they were cuter together now that they were married than they had been before.
