“You sweaty, too!” Josh crowed, patting Aldo’s damp face.

“When are you gonna run a race, buddy?” Aldo asked him.

“I wanna be fast like you!” Josh pumped his arms back and forth. “Fast fast fast!”

Aldo chuckled. It was at that moment he spotted Gloria through the crowd. He set Josh on his feet. “Go find your mom and make sure you get a good spot for the parade, okay?”

“Okay!” Josh took off in the direction of Sophie yelling, “Caaaaaaaandy!”

Man up, Moretta, he told himself.

One look at Gloria in her red, white, and blue, and he was toast. Burnt, crispy, throw-him-in-the-trash toast. He’d worked hard these last few weeks, talking himself into accepting the fact that he and Gloria were over before they’d begun. That the timing and circumstances were proof that they weren’t meant to be.

But now?

A half mile was nothing to some men. To Aldo today, it was the world.

And now it was time to take his next step.

38

“Here they come!” Sophie shrieked in Gloria’s ear and took off toward the finish line with her phone set to record.

Gloria jumped to her feet to watch Harper round the corner onto Main Street, her cheeks flushed with exertion, her ponytail swinging rhythmically. The cheer Gloria had ready died in her throat when she saw the man next to her.

Aldo Moretta paced Harper on a gleaming running blade. He was sweating through his National Guard tank and grinning like a madman. He was running. On his own two legs.

Emotions hit her in a tidal wave. Pride and longing and that low-level anger stewed in her blood. He was magnificent. The entire crowd was on their feet, screaming their heads off as he and Harper loped toward the finish line.

Claire, tears streaming down her face, hollered at the duo. Charlie, always the quiet one, swallowed hard and clapped.

They hit the finish line together to raucous cheers.

Gloria lost sight of them as half of the crowd spilled off the curb into the finish zone for congratulations. Runners were still finishing, neighbors still cheering. And Gloria was surprised to find a stray tear tracking down her cheeks.

That running fool looked more like the old Aldo than the man who’d come home in his place.

“Go give your congratulations,” Sara said, reading her like a pop-up children’s book.

Gloria nodded, not trusting her voice.

She found Harper sitting on the curb, sucking down water.

“Hey, Harper! That was some finish.” Gloria called.

Harper, face flushed with exertion and victory, grinned. “You look gorgeous! I’d hug you, but I’d ruin your cute outfit.”

Gloria laughed. “You can hug me after you shower. I wanted to see if everyone wanted to sit with me at the parade? You can’t beat the seats.” She pointed back to her front steps. “The parade goes right past.”