Page 20 of One and Only

Greer didn’t speak for a solid minute, and I caught the slightest quiver to her chin before she did. “That one of his biggest regrets is that he won’t be able to walk one of us girls down the aisle. See us get married.” A tear slid down her cheek, and she immediately brushed it away. Like if she rid her face of the evidence, it never existed. “He started crying. Then my mom started crying,” she ended on a whisper. “He’s going to misssomuch. There will be years of events and moments—big and small—when we talk about him. What he’d say if he was there. How he’d feel. How much we miss him. And if this is my chance to give him even one of the moments off that list, I’m going to do it.”

It was insane.

I looked out at Olive on that field and thought about how far I’d go for her. The constant stretch of love that just kept going and going, no end in sight of what I’d do to make her happy and feel loved.

It was easy to get caught up in the love on my end, but for just a moment, I thought about how I’d feel if I knew I’d be missing out on the opportunity to see her fall in love, get married, and maybe have kids. My ribs clenched—a tight, aching vise, something impossible to breathe through, and then the moment passed. But it wouldn’t pass easily for Tim Wilder. He simply had to make peace with it.

And it told me exactly how much Greer Wilder must love her family if she was willing to do something like that, simply to allow a dying man a moment he didn’t want to miss out on.

She sniffed, blowing out a quick breath. “I know it’s nuts. But I don’t know what else to do.”

“Besides not fake a marriage?”

Greer gave me a dry look.

“Sorry.”

She shook her head. “I feel so helpless. And I don’t like when that happens. I need todosomething. So maybe it’s crazy, but his happiness is worth that to me.” Briefly, her face turned toward mine, a pleading sort of look in her eyes, like she desperately wanted someone to understand what she was doing. “Haven’t you ever had someone you love so much that you’d riskanythingto bring them happiness?”

I closed my eyes and breathed out through my nose. “Yes.”

Behind my closed eyes, it was Olive’s face I saw.

It was always her.

I tucked my hands into my pockets while I processed her words—how they stacked up against my own family history. Nothing about my relationship with my parents would ever have registered that kind of blind devotion.

It was too ambivalent.

And it was why I did everything I could for Olive.

When Olive whispered something to Parker, I had that familiar tightening in my chest whenever I saw her happy, saw her comfortable. Parker nodded encouragingly, and she turned toward where Greer and I were standing. My daughter wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at the beautiful woman at my side.

And she waved.

Greer exhaled a soft, wondering laugh. “Looks like I’m being summoned,” she said lightly.

I stayed where I was as she walked into the field and approached my daughter and Parker. Greer crouched next to Olive, somehow knowing not to get too close, to not touch her when it was clear how reserved she was. Greer held out her hand, and after a solemn, appraising look, Olive carefully set the football in her grasp.

Greer smiled and stood, using an exaggerated motion with her arm to explain something to my daughter. Olive nodded.

Greer stepped back, waited for Parker to take off running, and then did a little hopping step back, stepped forward, and threw a perfect spiral, which Parker pulled in with one arm.

Olive bounced on her toes and smiled.

Wide. Happy.

Parker back-flipped onto the field and, once he’d found his feet, tossed her the ball underhand. She tried to catch it, but it bounced right out of her arms.

Greer scooped up the ball and sat cross-legged on the turf next to my daughter. My chest warmed at how easily Olive seemed to take to her, taking a careful seat next to the woman with the pretty eyes and even prettier smile.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket.

Josie: I’m sorry I ambushed you like that. It wasn’t the right way or the right time.

Josie: Micah told me I needed to be honest with you, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

With clumsy thumbs, I tapped out a reply.

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