“Even though it’s hard for me to really … let go in that way.”

Alexa nodded.

“I get that. It was hard for me, too. Even after Drew moved up here and everything. It was hard to really trust him. Trust us. I’d had so many bad experiences before, I guess I started to believe that kind of love wasn’t for me—that no one would fall in love with me. So when Drew did, it took me a while to really believe it.”

Olivia looked at her little sister. She’d had no idea.

“That sounds … familiar.” She laughed. “It’s weird, but he gets me in a way no one has really seemed to. And the more he sees the real me, the more he seems to like me, which is pretty incredible—I can talk to him about work, or volunteering, or how much I love using power tools, or things I’m worried about, and where other men wouldn’t like all of those sides of me, or get bored, or talk down to me, he listens, really listens and wants to know more. The two of us are very different—he’s sort of an idealist, while I’m the conventional one, which is funny enough in itself—but it feels like we complement each other?” She bit her lip. “Things feel good.” She let herself smile. “Really good. I’m not sure I knew things could feel this good, actually.” She shook her head. “Oh God, I hate that I said that out loud, I feel like I’m jinxing things, but …”

Alexa shook a finger at her.

“No such thing. But … I do have another question. Who else knows about you two? And … are you ready for what might happen if and when it’s not secret anymore?”

Leave it to her sister to ask the hard questions.

“I know, it’s going to be a big whole thing when we get there, but I’m not going to worry about that yet. And in answer to your other question, only Ellie knows.”

Alexa started the car and smiled.

“You said when, you know.”

Olivia put her seat belt back on and raised her eyebrows at her sister.

“What do you mean, when?”

Alexa smiled.

“ ‘When we get there.’ Not ‘if.’ ‘When.’ I like it.”

Olivia opened her mouth to protest. Then she closed it without saying anything. Alexa drove on, a smug look on her face.

Before they walked into Alexa’s house, Alexa nudged her.

“Can I tell Drew about this? He won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

Olivia laughed.

“Yes, of course you can tell him, but no one else. And definitely not Mom and Dad, not yet!”

Drew had Olivia’s favorite Chinese takeout waiting for her, so they all sat down to eat. And then Olivia told an edited version of her Max story, this time to Drew, whose eyes just got wider and wider.