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It was all the stars in the sky.

Bix, who’d had so little to give, had opened her heart to him generously, and what had he done? He’d been a coward.

He had deserved everything she had shouted at him.

“So are you going to come back or what?”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think I will.”

“Are you going to patch things up with Bix?”

He stood there, in the darkness. And the most crushing, horrifying, terrifying joy he’d experienced began to filter through his body. “I could, couldn’t I?”

“Yeah,” said Denver. “You could.”

“I could be happy.”

“Yes, Daughtry,” Denver said slowly. “You could be.”

He could be happy. He could be with Bix. He could be in love.

And he realized then that it wasn’t about banishing all of the hard feelings. It wasn’t about not being afraid. It was just about knowing that loving her was worth it. Whatever the risk, the reward would be greater.

He loved her.

And that was all there was to it. There was no going back, no protecting himself from it. No changing it.

Bix Carpenter had changed him. His whole world. His whole soul.

And he needed to tell her.

Bix was down at the river throwing stones. Because what else could you do when your whole world had broken apart, and your heart felt like it was full of jagged glass, and you still needed to work the next day, and make plans for your whole future? She was proudof herself. Sort of. Because she was standing. So there was that.

She closed her eyes and let the wind ruffle through her hair.

She knew who she was. She was Bix. She had more now than she had before. She had more now because she loved Daughtry, even if he was too scared to admit he loved her too.

He did.

She had to believe he did.

She wasn’t in despair.

She would rather be with him than not. But she would be okay. She would be.

“I thought I might find you here.”

She turned around, and saw Daughtry standing there.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for you. Finding you. I stayed at the cabin until after dark. Then I went home and didn’t sleep much. I knew that I needed to talk to you.”

“Did you have more mean things to say?”

“No. I need to take back all the mean things. I’m sorry. Iwastrying to do that thing you said.”

“White Fanging.”