Page 43

Epilogue

GAbrIEL

T hree months later

April lay face down on someone else’s table, a tattoo gun buzzing relentlessly against her calf. I noticed April’s grip tightening on her elbows.

“You still doing okay?” I asked. She’d been a trooper, but I’m sure her skin was starting to get raw after three hours.

She turned to look at me. Her face was flushed, but she smiled cheekily. “Yeah, after being on your table, this is like a vacation.”

The buzzing stopped, and the tattoo artist quirked an eyebrow at me.

“She’s kidding,” I said.

April winked at me, but it turned into a wince as he wiped the area.

“Okay, all done,” the artist said. “Wanna see it?”

April was off the table in a flash, standing in front of the mirror. Her hazel eyes met my reflection for a moment, and I saw all the nerves there. I gave her an encouraging nod. She was going to love the ink on her leg .

April rotated her body until the tattoo came into view. An intricate and delicate butterfly stretched her wings proudly across April’s calf.

The tears were immediate. I knew they were mostly happy tears, but there was no mistaking the loss threaded beneath.

“Come here,” I whispered, pulling her into a hug.

“I love it,” she said wetly.

I looked at the butterfly in the mirror as I stroked her back. Instantly, I thought of the picture of her and her mom that hung at the shop. Her mom had her Ironman tattoo, and a young April had tried to draw it but had inadvertently made her own creation, which resembled a blotchy butterfly.

Seeing April stand there, an Ironman finisher with a more refined butterfly on her calf, felt like things had come full circle. Like this was the plan all along.

Hand-in-hand, we walked into what was once Just Tri—now Just Bikes. Chuck jumped up from his spot under April’s workbench, and she greeted him with under-the-collar rubs. Hard to believe he was the same scared dog Trevor had introduced me to. Now, he welcomed customers with his wide, tongue-lolling smile and spent his days curled up at April’s feet.

“Let’s see the ink,” Billie said, snaking between racks of refurbished bikes, which had replaced the shoe-trying-on area. Some triathlon customers had been sad to see the loss of the running and swimming sections, but the transition had attracted a new crowd of cycling enthusiasts. Things were still early, but April loved spending her days working on bikes without the interruptions of shoe sales .

April turned slowly as if showing off a ballgown.

Billie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, babe.” She knelt to get a better look. “It’s stunning.”

April looked over at the picture of her and her mom, her eyes shining.

“She’d be proud,” I said. And I wasn’t sure if I was talking about the butterfly or the shop or what she’d overcome to become an Ironman. All of it, I supposed.

April’s hazel eyes swung back to me, and her smile was so beautiful it made my heart pinch.

“Okay, you two got it from here?” Billie asked, going back to the counter to get her things. “Y’all got fuck eyes.”

“What?” I asked with a surprised laugh. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to Billie’s lack of a filter.

“We do not,” April said with an eye-roll, but when Billie bent down to pat Chuck, she gave me a suggestive look.

“Good night, Chuck.” He tried to give Billie a parting lick, which she barely dodged.

“Night, lovebirds!” Billie called, switching the sign to closed as she exited.

April surveyed her shop, looking pleased with herself.

“Come on. I’ll help you clean so we can get home faster.” Home being her house—after spending every night there for three months straight, April convinced me to officially move in with her. Tomorrow was my last official day to have the apartment, but it had been empty for weeks. After helping April rip up old carpet and renovate the bathroom, the house was starting to feel like mine, too. It’s something I didn’t take for granted—being able to pull into the driveway of a storybook home after a long day.

“Yes, Coach,” April said, grabbing a rag to start dusting. “Speaking of, did your newest athlete finish his FTP yet?”

“He did.” I threw away Billie’s empty bag of mushroom jerky before sweeping behind the counter. “He’s got a lot of potential.” All my athletes did because they were all new to the sport this year.

Word had gotten out about April’s comeback during the race, and the board decided that showed more about my coaching ability than my actual race time. They offered me the spot on A-Team, coaching elite athletes, but I declined and parried with the idea that April led me to.

Under my advisement, Triple Threat opened a whole new branch at the company specifically for those new to the sport or at finishing a certain distance. I realized helping ordinary people become a better version of themselves was really all I wanted.

The only problem about not accepting A-Team was that it left the spot wide open for Clay, that is until someone made April’s pedal theft known to the board. There were a lot of ears at Clay’s party, but I had my money on Trevor. Regardless, Clay was no longer coaching at Triple Threat.

April hooked up her phone to the shop’s speaker and started an audiobook. This one was in Spanish. She had to listen to it at half speed and paused a lot to ask questions, but she was a quick study, and she’d made leaps and bounds with her Spanish.

Not that I was in any hurry for her to become fluent. After meeting April, my mom started planning our wedding, and the other day, she broached the subject of becoming an abuela.

I always put a stop to the conversation, but the crazy thing was I could see it, getting married to April, having kids with her. Something I never would have dreamed imaginable for my life was now something I thought was possible. In fact, I craved it—everything with her .

When April stepped up on her tiptoes to dust a high shelf, I set the broom aside and placed myself right behind her, my palm at her navel to stop her from moving. She shivered under my touch, then relaxed into me as I pulled the rag from her hand and wiped the area. I handed the rag back to her, and she turned, her face angled towards mine. When my lips met hers, everything quieted—it was as though a blanket of snow fell on the rest of the world while I warmed up with April.

It turned out April hadn’t been the only one who needed a curse lifted. She’d demolished a wall I hadn’t even known was there. Now, a road stretched before us with endless possibilities, and I was ready to traverse each and every step with her by my side.