“It is, but you keep telling yourself whatever excuse you’ve thought up. That’ll be there long after you chase any other good person away.”

“Goddamn it!” She threw her head back, eyes blazing. “What the fuck is your problem? Why are you on my ass about this?”

“Because I’m changing to!”

I stopped, wide-eyed. I could feel the intensity in them. My blood was pumping. Everything stopped, and I felt it click.

“What?” Faith’s eyebrows pinched together.

Mason had to change. He needed to find the line with me, and hold it. But I had to change too. And Faith wasn’t another Kate. I had been looking at her, anticipating it, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t a great human being, but she wasn’t going to plot against me. She was all bluff.

I was calling her on it.

“You’re never going to actually hurt me, are you?”

“What?” Her head craned backward. “No. Who do you think I am?”

“People from my past.”

“What?” Her eyes grew wary.

“I have been plotted against. I have been hurt. Everything you’ve threatened has already happened to me. I took your threats seriously.” But I didn’t have to anymore.

I was changing.

I was growing up.

What happened to me before wasn’t going to happen again, and I could see it now. It was clearer.

“You aren’t Kate, Jessica, or Lydia. You’re not even my mother. You’re just . . .” I looked at her again, feeling my loathing gone. Faith just looked sad now. She was a girl, her brown hair pulled up in a braid. She had a pronounced jaw, maybe a little too square for a girl, and she was thin. I would’ve thought she had a problem if I didn’t know how strong her legs were. They were shaped and firm, like a professional runner’s. But . . . she was just a girl.

All the fight I had stored for her fled. “I’ve been picking fights with you, haven’t I?”

She closed her mouth, then lifted a shoulder, but she kept a cautious eye on me. “I’ve given you reason. I’m a spoiled brat, and I might tell people not to talk to you, but I’m not vindictive where I want you to actually get hurt. I just say things. My sister keeps saying my big mouth is going to get me in trouble. And you’re right.”

I glanced at her.

She rolled her eyes, her lips strained in annoyance. “You have made me question a couple things, and who I have in my circle is one of them. You’re right. Raelynn always had my back, and I knew she loved me, but she never did anything about it. She just supported me.”

“She just loved you.”

“Yeah. She did.” She let out a sigh. “I’ll make it right with her.” Her eyebrows pulled together. “You saw her last night? Where?”

“A nightclub.”

“Which one?”

I shrugged. “I wasn’t paying attention to much last night, but she was more drunk than I was. She walked right past me without blinking an eye.”

“She doesn’t pay attention. When she goes out, she purposely gets in her own head. I don’t know why she does that, but she does. Always drove me crazy.”

I heard the fondness and added, “She was holding hands with a girl.”

Her head lifted up. “Yeah?”

I nodded.

“Good for her, if that person is more, you know. She better be a damned good person. Rae deserves it.” She waved that off, or tried. Her hand stopped mid-wave. “She deserves more than me as a friend too.”

I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t think Faith cared. We stood in silence. Faith was with her thoughts, and I let her be.

After a couple minutes, she coughed and refocused. “Uh. Why did you want to meet this morning again?”

I gestured down the running path. “From here, if you follow this path until it stops, it’s seventeen miles. We both skip today’s race. This is ours. You and me.”

“Why? I mean, you’re just going to beat me.”

But she started stretching again, and so did I. My body had begun to cool. I needed to warm it up again.

I grabbed for my toes. “Because this is it. This is our race. I’m going to beat you—”

“Don’t get cocky or anything.” She laughed.

I ignored her. “But it’s up to you by how much. And after this, we’re done. We’re not rivals anymore. We’re teammates. All the petty, catty bullshit is over. Got it?”

She paused, her eyes narrowing, and then her head bobbed up and down. “Got it.”

After we finished stretching and started off, I said, “I should probably tell you something.”

“What?” She grew wary again.

“I haven’t run for two weeks.” I smirked at her.

She groaned. “You’re such a bitch.”

I didn’t care, and I laughed as I pushed forward. It wasn’t even thirty yards before I couldn’t see her anymore, and when I got to campus, I did another bitchy thing.

I had time to go and pick up some breakfast—for one. I went back to finish it, and I ate the last crumb when she showed.

“You’re such a bitch.”

I handed her some water. “I have to rub it in. This is my last time, remember?”

She groaned, but took the water.

It wouldn’t have been correct to say that Faith and I stopped being rivals after that race, but it was close. We weren’t friends, but there was respect for each other. And no matter how much she wanted to beat me, she never could. I always loved rubbing it in her face.

I’d run for years, but I never realized until this year how fast I was, how unique a runner I had become. I don’t know if it was family genetics—Garrett was athletic, but he told me he never enjoyed running. That made me think of Analise. Had she been the one to give me this gift? Or was it more complicated? Genetics mixed with practice? Maybe I was blessed, but I’d honed it into this ability to run longer and faster than anyone else I knew.

At least until I qualified for the Olympics.

After that, I was no longer the fastest person I knew.

But I was among them.

A year later.

I ran through the back hills near Fallen Crest, feeling the burn in my legs. I loved it, just like I always had, and I picked up my pace.

So much had happened over the last year.

Mason graduated and was drafted to the New England Patriots. His first year with them had been good, and he was happy to start a second, but he’d been restless. Logan and I had remained in California to finish school while he went to Massachusetts, and I knew it hurt. He was clear across the nation. The winter was hard, but every free moment we had, Logan and I flew out to see him. Then when it was off-season for him, he came back to live with us. But all that was done now.

Logan and I graduated last week.

I got a degree in health and wellness—yes, I’d finally picked a major. Logan was on to law school next, but for now we were back home for a couple weeks until Mason had to fly out for summer training. I was going to go with him this time. I could train wherever I was, and the Olympics were always on my mind.

Logan would join us at the end of August. He’d gotten in to University of Massachusetts School of Law in Dartmouth. We bought a huge house where all five of us could live: Mason, Logan, Nate, Taylor, and me.

Matteo had been drafted to the Los Angeles Raiders right out of school, and he was glad to stay in California, as it put him closer to his family, and closer to Grace. Those two were still together.

As for Courtney, she was headed back to Ohio for a teaching job. She’d only been there a couple weeks, but already life was boring. She wanted another dancing night with the girls.

I was all for that, and I pumped my arms harder at the thought. I kicked off with a bit more speed.

Mason and I had plans to hang out with Heather and Channing tonight. Heather wanted me to scope out a location for a second Manny’s with her tomorrow, but she said tonight we’d all get fucked up, laugh till our sides split, and take our men home to have hot and heavy sex.

Sounded good to me.

I still had ten miles to go, and I approached the clearing at the top of the hill where Mason first proposed to me. We hadn’t really discussed marriage since Mason had announced our engagement at his press conference—not at length anyway.