She untucked her arm, and while she was still in the air, she held it out to me, our fingers now clasped. My forever sobber had tears streaming down her cheeks and the most happiness anyone could ever have on their face.

By this time next week, we would be taking her home.

Except the hand I was holding would feel somewhat different. She would be wearing the diamond ring Caleb had bought her a few months ago, the one I’d helped him design. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she would say yes. This year apart hadn’t been easy on them, but once Caleb had gotten strong enough to travel, he had visited her a few times.

They loved each other something fierce, and they made it work.

Once my best friend’s feet touched the ground, I hauled her into my arms, squeezing her with all my might. “I missed you. So much,” I whispered.

“You have no idea,” she answered back.

As I held her, one thought became so vivid in my mind. It was the same thought I’d recalled on the plane, a day from our past that I’d never brought up to her, but now seemed like the right time.

“Do you remember the morning of the marathon when I begged you not to answer your phone because I didn’t want you to go into work?”

She laughed, exhaling onto my shoulder. “How could I forget?”

I pulled back to look into her eyes, seeing how teary they still were. “You’ll never hear me say these words again, but I’m so happy you didn’t listen to me.” She smiled hard. “Because … who knows what would have happened if you had decided to go to the race instead.”

She glanced at Caleb, and then back to me, and I knew she was thinking about his injury. “Things aren’t perfect, but they’re my kind of perfect.”

“They definitely are, babe.”

Caleb put his arm around both of us. Whitney and I linked hands behind him, resting our grip softly against his back as we walked toward baggage claim.

“I’m starving,” I groaned even though I’d eaten the multiple courses served in first class.

“Wait until you see what I’ve planned for us tonight,” she replied. “This meal is going to blow your minds.”

Caleb glanced down at me and then at Whitney, his smile not fading at all. “When we met, I never expected this moment to happen.”

“Neither did I,” Whitney said softly.

But part of me had seen it the whole time. First, as she’d spoken about the guy in room 614 whenever she got home from the hospital, and then as he had become her boss and slowly the man of her dreams.