“No I’m not,” he said defensively, plunging his fork into a many layered bite of pancakes and downing it.

I cocked my eyebrow at him, and he relented.

“I dunno . . . weddings are weird.”

“They’re weird?”

He looked like he wanted to crawl out of his skin. We’d been together for years by then, and on the rare occasions when Luke decided he needed to discuss how he felt about something, he squirmed like a convict with a bad rash. The first few times, I was sure he was breaking up with me; now I knew better. Our mutual successes—though mine were a bit more modest—had brought us closer.

“Spit it out, Luke.”

He scratched the back of his head. “Blair was asking me when I thought we might get married.”

Now it was my turn to squirm. “Blair asked you what? Why would he ask you that?”

“He just said, you know, we’ve been together a long time. You probably like, wanted me to put a ring on it at some point, you know?”

“Blair said that?”

“Those weren’t his exact words. But girls get weird at weddings, so. . .”

“Oh yeah?” I smiled now. “Girls get weird?”

“You know what I mean!” He laughed. “I don’t want you to think . . . I mean someday obviously but . . .”

“Oh god, please stop,” I said. “I mean, yes, someday. But I want a matching gold medal before we start talking about matching gold bands, okay?”

A wide smile took over his face. “This is why I love you, Bomber. Well, one of many reasons.”

Luke wasn’t great about expressing himself, but I thought I understood. It was why I loved him too. His focus sharpened mine. We were skiing’s golden couple. Glory before anything else.

“What the hell, Blair?” I said, thinking out loud.

“It’s fine, he’s just being protective. He doesn’t want me wasting your time. Which, I’m not. Katie, you know that, right?” He turned momentarily serious again.

“Luke, of course I know that. Do you think I’m wasting yours?” Marriage was something I couldn’t wrap my head around yet at twenty-four. I wanted to make my own life mean something before joining it with someone else’s in such an official way.

Now, he laughed, and, at last, the tension dispersed. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The night before Penny’s wedding is one I’ll remember forever. I try to hold on to it because in some ways, it was my last glimpse of Penny as she was, the Penny I remember from my childhood.