“Come on, Pebbles,” he said, and she obeyed. The wind was fierce, and his ears burned with the cold. He didn’t want Pebbles to get too cold. He certainly didn’t want her to be sucked out by the ocean.

They walked back up the path to the house. Josh let Pebbles into the car, and she decided then it was time to shake. With his shoes still squishing water, his pants plastered to his legs, he started the car and drove home as the darkness deepened.

29

Lauren

Fifty-one months left

November

Dear Dad,

I hope you’ve been watching, because you’re going to be a father-in-law again pretty soon! Sure, sure, Darius is perfect, but I’m 10,000 percent sure you’re going to love Josh just as much.

I’m in love, Daddy! First time ever, not counting Orlando Bloom (who will always have a corner of my heart, of course). But everything I ever hoped for is here with Josh. Everything. He makes me feel safe. Cherished. Beautiful. Like nothing bad could ever happen as long as we’re together.

Check us out, Daddy. I know you’ll approve.

Love,

Lauren

Fate. Destiny. Guardian angels. Tarot cards. Voodoo.

Whatever the case, Lauren knew that dating Joshua Park was just a formality. As soon as she saw him at the Hope Center, she knew—she just knew—he would be hugely important in her life. Their first date had only confirmed that. She had a lot to learn about the details of his life, but he was, as they say, the one.

They were extremely different. He worked alone, staring at his computer screen, headphones on, talking with a slew of subcontractors he rarely saw in person. He had one employee, a virtual assistant named Cookie, whom he’d never met but who handled things like his travel arrangements, meetings, billing and other mysterious assistant things. His business card said only Joshua Park, Biomedical Engineer.

In the years since their first and less-than-pleasant meeting, Joshua had gotten a master’s of science with a focus on biomedical design from Brown and a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT. You know. As one does. That thing he’d designed when he was eighteen, in his second year at RISD, because of course he started college young . . . that thing was a special chair geared for people who had to sit for long periods of time due to mobility issues. The chair monitored the occupant’s heart rate, blood oxygen level and weight; provided moisture detection in case of incontinence, excessive sweating or edema leakage; and had vibration settings to stimulate lower extremity circulation. It could cool or warm the person seated in it, and could also boost them out if they wanted it, and lower them back in. It was also quite comfy and fun, which Lauren knew, because it was one of two chairs in Joshua’s apartment.

The design had sold for just under $10 million.

Thud.