Page 107 of Savage Beauty

She presses her lips to the side of my neck, and I close my eyes, reveling in contentment. Her teeth tug on my earlobe.

“There’s one thing I want you to do for me, though.”

“What’s that?” I’m pretty sure I’ll do anything she asks me.

“Stop the injections. It’s an unnecessary risk, and they can harm your heart. I’ve only done a little research, but I don’t like you taking unnecessary risks.”

“Okay. Done.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” I like that she cared enough to research what I’m taking. I like that she cares. After all, I care about her. “I wasn’t doing any of the crazy stuff, anyway.”

She narrows her eyes. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

“Good. Because I need you to stay healthy. I need you in my life.” She says it like it’s an admission, a weakness, but hearing those words does good things for my soul.

“Right back at you.” She might not fully understand how true that statement is, but I have lots of time to show her.

EPILOGUE

Sloane

Three Years Later

“Sloane?”

Max appears in the doorway wearing an unbuttoned flannel shirt over a t-shirt that hugs his muscles in all the right places. He’s not as muscular as he used to be, but he’s still book-cover-worthy. He spends hours in the gym, which balances his newfound love of cooking. To ease some of his joint pain, he’s transitioned from triathlons and crazy extreme races to rowing. As expected, he competes when possible, and often wins. When he can’t get out on the water, he jumps on his rowing machine and competes virtually against folks all around the country. Some days he’s up at four a.m. to get his workout routine in.

His mom once asked me if his competitive nature bothered me, and it was the strangest question. He never complains that I don’t care for most food. Why would I complain about his habits? As long as he’s healthy, there’s no reason to complain.

That seems to be his take on me too. He’s constantly leaving chopped-up cheese or mini pizzas on my desk. He sets out vitamins for me every morning, and he’s perfected my all-time favorite morning smoothie.

He’s not even a scientist, but he’s become my favorite person.

For my part, I learned how to massage him, both with a handheld machine and my hands. I have cold compresses in the freezer and heating pads in the closet. He still goes regularly to a professional masseuse, but he says no one kneads his muscles like I do. We both get a lot out of his massage sessions.

His gaze falls to the present I’m attempting to wrap. The pale-yellow wrapping paper has little rubber duckies all across it. I had hoped the ducks would allow me to cut a straight line.

“Are you using a ruler?”

I’m wrapping presents for Sage and Knox’s baby shower. Max told me I didn’t need to buy everything on her gift registry, and I didn’t. But I did make a habit of checking it periodically and purchased everything others did not purchase within the first week. I’m her sister, and I’m allowed to do that.

It’s imperative she have everything she asks for, although I strongly disagree with her decision to wait to learn the gender. That makes absolutely no sense to me.

“I’m not good at wrapping presents.” It’s not something I typically worry about, but there will be a lot of people at the shower, and I don’t want these gifts to look like a child wrapped them.

“You did a good job on those.” He points to two presents I didn’t wrap.

“The one without a bow is from Tristan and Lucia.”

“Why’d they ship it here?”

“Because it’s a surprise baby shower.” I’m throwing the shower for Sage, and it’s the first party I’ve ever thrown. Knox handled the guest list.

Tristan and Lucia plan on coming to the States after the baby is born. Max and I are going to meet them in Asheville and then travel with them for a long weekend in Napa. Sage and Knox won’t be able to join us because they’ll have a baby.

---