Zander, bless him, doesn’t take offence to this. He laughs and brushes hair from his face. “I could never dream of treating her poorly. I’m pretty sure Addie would kick my ass, anyway, if I did.”
I let out a mock offended noise while both men laugh. My phone buzzes against the table. Zander peers at it first.
“It’s your agent. Release week, too. Might be something important.”
I excuse myself and stand just inside the screen door. Zander and my dad swap pleasant conversation. I watch transfixed as they laugh together and almost let the call go to voicemail.
“Hello!” I finally answer.
“Adelaide! I’m so glad I caught you!” Carrie-Ann says. “Are you sitting down?”
“No, should I be?” I glance around and wind up sitting on the edge of a fluffy armchair. “I am now.”
“Okay, good. I just heard the news. Are you ready?”
“I’m ready.”
“You’re officially a number one bestseller!”
“What?!” I shriek, drawing attention from the two men outside. I wave. “Are you serious?”
“The most serious I have ever been. Congratulations!”
I end the call and step out onto the patio. Zander and my dad stare at me expectantly, on the edge of their seats. I burst into tears.
“I’m fine,” I say when they jump up. “I’m a number one bestseller!”
Zander gets to me first, emotion taking over, I kiss him like my dad isn’t watching. Hands in his hair and a leg wrapped around his waist. He lifts me from the ground and spins me in a circle. When I pull back, my cheeks are flushed, and my dad’s eyes are wet. He wraps me in a big, bear hug.
“Congratulations, sweetie. I always knew you could do it.”
“Thank you.” I beam.
He lets me go and I wipe away my tears. In this moment, with the two men who love me more than anything, and a newtitle I never thought I would be able to add next to my name, everything seems to slot into place.
“You know what,” I say, eyeing the pool and reaching out to Zander. “I think I do want to go swimming now. Jump with me?”
Epilogue
Zander - seventeen months later
For the second year in a row, Addie is late to the Beaver Creek Winter Carnival.
Last year, it was because I was tying up loose ends, finally moving from my apartment and into the big yellow house, and we got our wires crossed. This year, she’s been flitting around all day, working on a project she won’t let me see. She told me to go grab her favourite snowflake mini cake before the Dam Baked stall ran out.
So I left my old girl, Lucy, back home and now I have the cake and no Adelaide.
I stand in the snow next to Beverly, who has a Christmas tree hat with its very own set of blinking lights on her head. It’s a terrible waiting spot. I’ve moved five times in the last two minutes as carnival goers take photos with her.
I consider moving, but catch a flash of my favourite red hair as the thought flickers across my mind. Addie rushes through the park, a bright pink present in her hands.
“What have you been up to all day?” I ask.
“Absolutely nothing,” she says in a singsong. “Just been busy doing absolutely nothing.”
Her cheeks flush, not from the cold. She just can’t keep any emotion off her face. She’s vibrating with excitement. Her eyes are dancing and I have the strongest urge to kiss her senseless.
“Addie,” I say, grabbing hold of her hand and looping her into me, “you’re terrible at keeping secrets.”
