Page 145 of The Comeback Summer

It’s such a simple phrase, but it reminds me of something GiGi might have said, and I turn back to the stairs and take the leap. This time, I make it all the way to the top, then all the way to the bottom.

Success!

“Nice!” Hannah says, running up to me.

Josh is with her, and they’re holding hands. Alarmed, I glare at Josh, but he meets my gaze straight on, confident and calm, with a hint of a challenge in his eyes. Like he’s daring me to try to get between him and Hannah.

I blink, startled, and take a step back.

Hannah can explain it all to me later. Right now, my job—as her sister—is to trust her.

•••

AFTER HANNAH ANDJosh do the Stair Master, all we have to do is run the last half mile to the finish line. After everything we’ve done, it should be easy. But it’s not.

I feel like my body is made of stone. My shoes are squishing with mud, and I can feel a blister forming on the bottom of my foot. My clothes are stiff with partially dried mud, and strands of frizzy hair keep flying in my face.

Luckily, everyone around me looks just as wrecked. We’re all running together—Hannah and Josh ahead, still holding hands, then Adam, then me. I’m trying hard to keep up, but gravity keeps sucking me down. I want to cry, and then die, and then cry again.

Hannah glances back, her forehead furrowed with concern. “Libs? You okay?”

Adam looks back, too, and I flush with embarrassment. He said he wanted to get to know the real Libby, and he’s getting an eyeful now. We’re only two hundred yards from the finish, but I’m not sure I can make it even that far.

Just when it feels like my legs might collapse beneath me, Hannah drops Josh’s hand and runs back to me. She scoops her arm under me so she’s bearing my weight.

I try to shrug her away—I don’t want her to have to carry her big sister, but she’s insistent.

“Lean on me,” she says. “We’ll do it together.”

And so we go, one painful step in front of the other, half hobbling, half jogging. Tears are running down my face andeverything is so blurry that I hardly notice the finish line until we’re there, crossing it.

Cameras are flashing; people are cheering. Hannah lets go of me and I’m about to stumble to the ground when I feel strong arms around me and realize it’s Adam.

Before I can react, he pulls me in for a kiss. Not just any kiss—this is akiss. Worthy of a full paragraph in a romance novel, passionate and soul consuming. I lose myself in the moment until I hear something around us—laughter?

Are people laughing at me? But no, I realize as Adam releases me, they’re clapping and cheering. I glance over at Hannah, who’s beaming at me, tears in her eyes.

Main-character energy, she mouths, and I feel it. I truly feel it.

Then she runs up and hugs me. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispers. “I’m so proud of us.”

“Me, too,” I say, squeezing her back. For more reasons than just finishing this race.

We’ve accomplished so much this summer—although not what we expected when we started out. Our business may never make a comeback, but we have, growing as individuals and as sisters. We may not be able to see the path ahead, but like GiGi said, that just means we’re forging our own. Creating our own legacy, step by step.

Just like she did.

One Year Later

To:[email protected]; [email protected]

From:[email protected]

Subject:Your Anniversary

My dear girls,

This isn’t something I usually do—as you know, I designed my challenge for twelve weeks, not twelve months. But you sisters are... well, special. And not just because I knew your grandmother.

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