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She holds my gaze for a moment and smiles. “I love you,” she whispers and my heart nearly explodes.

“I love you too,” I say back quietly. We do not need Noa to see this moment. It will become a thing and be broadcast to the entire table. I want this moment just for myself.

Though it’s quickly interrupted by shouts of Noa and Lach challenging each other to a race.

“We should probably stop them,” I say.

Valli laughs. “I don’t think we can. But it will be fun to watch.”

Everyone gets up and moves outside, Noa’s family hyping up the racers. Lach announces the rules are open to interpretation—whatever that means—and Noa agrees, which shows this is not the first time something like this has happened. Vero appears and notices something is going on, as if he has a sixth sense for chaos.

“You’re racing us,” Lach points to him.

“You don’t have to join in,” Noa tells Vero, who grins from ear to ear.

“I want to. But I have to warn you, I’m really fast. People underestimate me.”

Everyone spills out onto the main path, wanting to see what is going on. Noa and Vero have an advantage of knowing the island, but Lach is so sure of himself. Ares has come out of the bar, moving off to pull down the big screen in the stunt area, where he’ll have the security cameras up and ready to go.

Valli stands beside me, and my mom is next to her.

“Ready?” Noa asks.

Vero gets into his best running stance, while Lach jumps up and down on the spot.

“Should someone count us down?” Vero asks.

“Good idea,” Noa says, looking around.

“I’m full of ideas, just ask me,” Vero replies.

Ellis steps forward. “Three . . . two . . . one . . . go!”

Noa and Lach take off at the same moment, cutting down the path with Vero on their heels. We all rush into the stunt arena to watch as they continue to run on the screen. Lach tries to trip Vero as he gets closer, and Noa laughs but keeps running. Noa’s mom is laughing hard, placing bets with her children on who is going to win.

They race through Sideshow Alley. Noa cuts between two buildings while Vero goes the long way. Lach follows his brother, and they shoot around to the graveyard where Noa has an advantage. We all watch as they circle through the cornfield, which is where the race gets closer.

All three men dart in between the trees at the same time, but we can’t clearly see where any of them are. Noa and Lach come out, side by side, both laughing, but Vero is nowhere to be seen. They keep running toward us when Valli spots Vero coming out of the cornfield, dirt on his knees.

Both brothers are neck and neck, but Noa reaches the stunt area first, with Lach hot on his heels.

Noa is still doing a victory dance when Vero finally makes his way back.

“You two cheated.”

Lach shrugs. “There were no rules stating we couldn’t.”

“Both of you coming at me at the same time is cheating.”

“Tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to,” Lach says. “The rules were that you could win by any means necessary.”

“Sometimes in life, when you’re competing against the best, you will encounter situations that feel unfair,” Noa says, placing his hand on Vero’s shoulder.

Lach straightens up after catching his breath. “It sucks to suck.”

Vero looks at Lach. “I want to run it again.”

“Absolutely not—all wins are final. There are no rematches,” Noa tells him.