And so I dove headfirst into the deep, dark, scary waters. I pushed aside the thoughts of what could be waiting for me. I pushed aside the millions of ways it could go wrong (or that I could be eaten by a shark). And I came to the surface, back to my girl, the one whose arrival in my life had, in some ways, shocked me and, in others, seemed like the most natural progression in the world.

I pulled her to me, treading water. And her body went limp. “For a girl who almost drowned, you sure aren’t afraid, are you?”

She looked me straight in the eye, and I saw something shift in hers. “I have been terrified my entire life, Parker. But a man who saved me once isn’t ever going to let me drown. And there is so much comfort in that.”

And, just like that, everything changed. She was mine. I was hers. Sure, a part of me would always belong to Greer. But Greer was gone. And in my arms, in the dark water, was the woman I had dreamed of since I first imagined what love would be like.

Love was here. Love was now. There was no sense pining for what could have been. And there was certainly no use risking the perfection of these simple moments with the woman I loved for something as dangerous as the truth.

Elizabeth A SENSE OF URGENCY

I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES. At first, I wanted to call the police. Who were the vagrants swimming outside my house? I was about to walk outside to tell them to scram when I realized it: That girl laughing with wet hair streaming down her back? That was my daughter.

I got out my phone. LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW.

Olivia: I am trying to sleep, which you know is almost impossible these days.

Elizabeth: OLIVIA, GET UP.

Olivia: Is your phone stuck on caps again?

Elizabeth: No. I am trying to convey a SENSE OF URGENCY.

Olivia: All right. I’m getting up.

Olivia: Call 911! There are intruders in the sound.

Olivia: Wait. Is that who I think it is?

Elizabeth: Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?

Olivia: No way. Absolutely no way. They aren’t together. Are they? Wouldn’t they have told us?

This was getting ridiculous. I called her.

“Are they together together?” Olivia asked breathlessly.

“Yes,” I whispered sarcastically, tiptoeing out of the bedroom. “I’ve known for weeks, and I’ve just been keeping it from you.”

“Ha ha,” she said. “Okay, fine. I knew Parker was coming home, but I didn’t know he was coming with Amelia.”

“What if this is just a fling?” I asked. “Like, they met up at the airport and they are drunk and making out in the sound.”

“Don’t even tease about that,” Olivia snapped.

“I’m not teasing, Olivia.” I glanced down at my coffee table, my eye catching Greer’s last book. Other People’s Problems. I grinned, because wanting their kids to be happy… That was someone else’s problem. For now, it seemed that mine both were.