“There will always be people—” I begin to say.

He places his finger in front of my lips. “Stop. We’re going to look at the positives. We know the truth, and that’s it.”

He hugs me into his arms, and I close my eyes as I rest my cheek on his chest.

“Can I ask you a question?” I look up at him.

He nods. “What?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the positive drug test? I mean, I don’t care, but—”

“I didn’t want you to worry. That little piece of information that there was a positive test out there would have been grown in the back of your head each day into something bigger than it was.”

I nod and take a deep breath. The secret is out, and there’s nothing anyone can dig up about Tanner McCain.

“You’re right. How do you know me so well?” I ask him, smiling.

“Because I’ve been in love with you for as long as I remember.” He bends down, and his lips press against mine.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach, and with a snap of his fingers, he places me back up on that cloud in the sky.

epilogue

THE PLASTIC BAGS DIG INTO my fingers as I fumble with my key in the lock. The snow banks are piled up on either side of the door, and my toes are freezing. I thought coming from the Midwest that I’d be used to the snow and cold, but I’ve never in my life seen this much snow at one time. The sun reflects against the window, and feeling the heat along my skin makes the slippery driving I just did from the grocery store disappear.

Once I’m in the building, my head falls in defeat in front of the stairs.

Two flights, I think to myself, adjusting the bags in my hands before stepping one foot in front of the other.

If those weren’t bad enough, Tanner has to be the last apartment on this floor. The glass jars clink together while the bread repeatedly tries to escape out of the bag while I walk down the long hallway.

“Should have waited for Tanner,” I mumble to myself, increasing my speed.

I insert the key into his—I mean, our apartment. God, what a foreign statement that is, even after all this time. My phone blares in the hallway, and I shuffle in as fast as I can, the door slamming behind me. I drop the bags on the table and then put the tips of my gloves into my mouth to shed them from my hands. Digging into a pocket of my parka, I retrieve my phone, seeing Brad’s name flashing across the screen.

“What’s up?” I ask, placing him on speakerphone to begin taking off my layers for warmth.

“She’s dodging me,” he says.

No, Hello. How are you guys? Tanner training hard? Do you ever see him?

Nope, good old selfish Brad is still alive and currently chasing down Taylor.

“Oh. Well, what did you expect?” I hang my coat on the coat rack I suggested we buy at the store even though Tanner was more than willing to have his coats hanging on the back of the kitchen chair all the time.

“I expected her to see my gorgeous face and my ripped body and run into my arms.”

I laugh. “Seriously?” I open up the plastic bags and begin unloading the groceries.

I cross my fingers and hope that the food will last for more than two days. But with an Olympic-training swimmer, food disappears faster than I can buy it.

“Why wouldn’t I think that? What are you doing?”

“I’m unloading the groceries. I just got back from the store.” I roll my eyes, waiting for his insult.

“Man, you have become domesticated. Your belly getting in the way? Are you wearing shoes?”

“Ha-ha,” I sneer at his typical jokes about me not having a job yet and being the stay-at-home girlfriend.

“I’m impressed. I never thought you’d take to the role so well.”

“Role? This isn’t a movie. Get on with Taylor. How did she react?” I open our pantry, already bare from us shopping three days ago.

“She ignored me. Walked to her car as though she didn’t hear me. Then, she got in, started it up, and drove away.”

I begin stocking our shelves, laughing to myself. Then, I hear a woman say something in the background. My arm stops mid reach. “Brad? Who’s that?”

I’ll fly back to Michigan and beat his ass myself if he’s with another woman after Taylor turned him down.

“Relax. I can hear the tension in your voice. You’d think since you don’t do much all day, you’d have less stress.” He chuckles.

Then, I hear a muffling sound.

“It’s my sister. Just razzing her.”

“I’m about to hang up now.”

“If you must know, I’m at the hospital. Ouch!” he screams. “It is still attached to my body,” he says to the woman, I assume the nurse.

“Brad?” I yell into the phone.

“She ran over my foot when she left me in the parking lot.”

I purse my lips together to stop the laughter begging to release.

“Go ahead, and laugh.”

“Are . . . are you okay?” I try to conceal any sound of amusement to his injury.

“I’m fine. Thank God it was my left foot. Ouch!” he screams.

I feel bad for the nurse.

“I gotta go. I’ll call you tonight.”

Dead air sounds a second later.

Shaking my head, I continue the chore of putting the food away, trying to remember if I had bought everything for tonight’s dinner.

Brad’s jokes toward my current situation with Tanner deepen, and I fear I’m becoming a burden on Tanner. It’s not him surfacing those feelings. It’s me and my own diminishing self-esteem.

Not to mention, I’m not killing it with all these household chores. I washed his down parka after he spilled coffee on it one morning, and I ruined it. I stripped his coffee table of the varnish when my nail polish remover spilled across it. Somehow, the vacuum cleaner started smoking the first time I used it, so I don’t even go near the new one.

Tonight is different though. Tonight, I’m making us a romantic dinner to celebrate our six-month anniversary of dating. It’s probably cheesy and something I wouldn’t do if I weren’t stuck in snow country with nothing to do but please my man.

Taking out the recipe, I give myself a small pep talk to boost my confidence. I can accomplish at least one domesticated thing. During the past few months, I’ve refrained from calling my mom for advice because I want to show some form of independence even if Tanner supports me financially.

After the kitchen is ready to go, I hop in the shower to shave every last hair off my body, except for the ones on my head. As the water cascades down my back, the heat warms my cold skin. My mind drifts to Brad and his quest for Taylor. In the last six months, both our lives have changed for the better.

The press conference wasn’t the end of the ordeal. Some people still point to Tanner, not believing the hard facts of his progress the last two and a half years. They want to believe he can’t be that good without using, but he is, and he seems to be at peace, knowing so. He takes it all in stride just as he has his whole life.

Bayli was sitting in her car, waiting for us, when we pulled up to our driveway. Brad took the beating she gave him after he quietly told her he couldn’t marry her. The rest of us remained in the house, but we could still hear her screaming at him. Needless to say, her parents are trying to bill Brad for the lost money. But he seems happier, and it took him a few months to seek Taylor out and find out where she went after college.

I smile, remembering the Skype call when he located her. The hope in his face had me cuddling up to Tanner a little closer that night in appreciation of having the one I love so close. Now, Brad has to hold tight and not give up since she’s dodging him. That’s not Brad’s strong suit. This time, he needs to channel his fighting instinct he used to have and win her over.

I escape the shower, and I immediately smile. My hand covers my heart as though his words have shot me with Cupid’s arrow.