By this point, JD was off serving his country, but he came home after each tour to help on the ranch and spend time with me and our bond stayed as strong as ever. High school turned out to be a repeat of middle school, with crueler bullies. I hid out in the library, losing myself in books. JD got fiercely protective when it came to boys—the few that were interested in the science nerd were scared away by him glowering at them.

I managed to get a scholarship to UCLA to study electronic engineering, supporting myself by doing electronics repairs in the evenings. I thought that finally, I’d be somewhere I’d fit in. But the other students all balked at my “hick” accent and country ways. While they were out partying and falling in love, I hunkered down in my dorm room and studied, feeling lost and alone.

I graduated and landed a job with a tech startup in Las Vegas making security systems for casinos. Like most startups, the money was bad and the hours were long but for the first time, I felt like I’d found somewhere I belonged. There were just six of us, all geeks from places like MIT and UCLA. We became friends, bonding over video games and weekly Dungeons & Dragons sessions. The CEO was a guy from LA called Toby. He had long, curly blond hair that gave him a romantic look and gorgeous, pale blue eyes.

I’d never been to Vegas before and when I first arrived, I was childishly excited about it: I had this stupid fantasy about putting on a cocktail dress and walking around on the arm of some gorgeous guy in a tuxedo, even though getting dressed up wasn’t normally my thing. Then I saw the casinos for the first time and they were nothing like they were in the movies: it was all grandmas playing slots and drunks hitting on waitresses. But the work was pure heaven and after a few months, I went to Toby with an idea for a new product: poker chips with tiny wireless transmitters that let the casino track them wherever they went in the casino, eliminating theft, fraud and fake chips. When we showed the casinos a prototype, they went nuts for it. And at the party to celebrate our first contract, on a balcony surrounded by fairy lights, Toby gently turned me to face him, leaned in and kissed me.