Dylan laid his hand over hers and pressed her palm to his chest. “If Judy didn’t die?”

Joy closed her eyes and nodded. The words hurt to hear, but they were true. “What we’re doing right now . . . what we’re feeling . . . this.” She motioned between them. “It arose from tragedy. I’m only here because of her. I never would have met you if she hadn’t died.”

“Yes, but—” He stalled and rubbed a hand down the side of his face. He sighed and his tone turned serious. “That’s not entirely true. We aren’t pinballs shot in a specific direction depending on how we’re hit. We get to choose how we react to tragedy. Don’t feel guilty about us. Whatever is weighing you down, let it go. We can’t do jack shit about the past.”

“But what if—”

Dylan gently pressed a finger to her lips. “No what-ifs.” He rolled with her to her back and kissed her neck, skimmed his tongue around her nipple, drew the bud into his mouth. He nudged her legs apart and she let him work his way inside. He lifted his head and looked down at her face. “I chose to ask you for a ride. You chose to let me come with you. I chose to be your friend, Joy, and this”—he pushed deeper—“I choose you. And you choose . . . ?”

“I choose you.”

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 26

AFTER

Joy

Joy hears Mark come in through the front door of their town house, home from the gym. He drops his workout bag by the door and keys on the table in the entryway. She glances at the oven clock. It’s after five in the evening. He’s been at the gym since two and, aside from a short break to watch the news, she’s been at the kitchen table working on her laptop since one. She should pull herself away, turn off the TV she left on in the front parlor, and start dinner. But the product spreadsheet she’s configuring for Surfari Soaps & Salves, the online organic skin care boutique she hopes to launch in a couple of months, is almost done. She’s been mixing formulas, testing products, and working part-time as a property manager at Larson Brokers, Mark’s family’s company, in the interim. She just needs a few more minutes on this spreadsheet; then she’s that much closer to seeing Surfari become a reality.

“I’m almost done here, then I’ll get dinner started,” she says, elated with her progress. She hasn’t felt this excited about her achievements since her competitive surfing days.