Devin raised an eyebrow.
“Tonight. For dinner.”
Devin’s eyes narrowed behind his goggles.
“Since I’ll be helping you move your stuff,” I finished. “Neither of us’ll want to cook after that.”
Devin cried out, rushing forward and wrapping his arms around my neck, feet bumping against mine in the water as he hugged me.
“I knew you’d say yes,” he confirmed. “You like having me around.”
“I do,” I agreed. “Even if you made me go swimming so you could ask.”
“You’ll get used to the unnecessarily elaborate schemes,” Devin promised, though I wasn’t sure I ever would.
But I was more than happy to spend a lifetime finding out.
Epilogue
Morgan
One year later…
I couldn’t stop grinning.
That wasmy Devin, standing up there, being handed a trophy he’d worked so,sofucking hard to earn. Despite everything he’d done in the past year, he’d still found the time to train.
It was lucky Felix actuallywantedto work part-time in the shop, or I might not have seen Devin in six months, almost. We’d spent what felt like every weekend up here, staying with Chris and Alex, Devin training and practicing harder than anyone else.
And now he was there.
First-best kayaker in the world, and no one could convince me otherwise.
Brad, if he was even still competing, had been nowhere to be seen.
Devin cleared his throat as the announcer passed him the microphone, glancing over at where all of us were crowded together. Marta and Julie, Chris and Alex, and me.
“I came in second last year,” Devin said. “This is a lot heavier than the medal they gave me then,” he added, holding up the trophy. Laughter rippled through the crowd.
“I’m not really great with words,” he continued. “My boyfriend’s been trying to teach me, but I like it when he recites poetry so much that I kind of lose the lesson.” He paused to grin. “That was a humble-brag about my poetry-reciting boyfriend, in case you’re wondering.”
Another ripple of laughter as the tips of my ears heated up and Marta nudged me in the ribs.
“He’s hot, too,” Devin added. “And supportive. All my friends, over there, have been so supportive.”
The whole crowd turned to look at us as Devin waved in our direction, beaming so brightly I couldn’t stop staring at him.
He’d worked hard for this. Because it mattered tohim.
I couldn’t have been prouder. I was starting to worry that it was possible for a heart to literally burst with pride—there definitely wasn’t any more room left in my chest.
“So this is for them,” Devin said. “Because they’ve been awesome and I wouldn’t even havecometo this competition the first time if it hadn’t been for everything all of them have done for me. They made me realize why I’m really here, what really matters to me.”
My heart almost stopped when Devin looked me square in the eyes as he said that.
I knew he loved me, but every single reminder still felt precious.
“Finally, someone else is going to have to win next year,” Devin said. “Because I’m done.”
