“Hey, Cap. You having a good time?”
“The best fuckin’ time,” he said. “The streak’s over. You’re my good luck charm.”
I laughed. “I doubt that. I’ve been here for the whole streak.”
“Yeah, but you were here tonight when it ended. And you’re always with me.”
I wrinkled my nose. “What do you mean?”
Colton hesitated. “You’ve never noticed?”
I cocked my head and waited for him to go on.
“Your ribbon,” he said. “I lace it with my skates. I take it with me everywhere.”
I was stunned. “What?”
“I’ve got it with me right now,” he said. “If it’s not on my skates, it’s in my wallet. If I don’t have my wallet, I tie it to something on me. I don’t go anywhere without it. Without you.”
“The blue ribbon?” I asked.
He nodded. “You left it behind. The first time.”
“You had it at the wedding,” I said. “I saw it hanging from your suitcase.”
“Yeah.”
Every game. Every day. Every place. Colton took a visual reminder of me everywhere he went.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel. It mostly felt like something pressed the air out of my lungs. “What if I never came back?”
He looked over my head, out into the bar. “I don’t know. I’m kind of superstitious about it now. It’s just part of my life. If I had the ribbon, I had a little piece of you. Even when you were gone, you were with me.”
My eyes watered. “Colton.”
“You’re unforgettable, Violet. Even when I wanted to forget you, I couldn’t.” His eyes, a steely blue in the bar’s low light, served a determined gaze. “And then I realized I didn’t want to forget you at all. Even if you never came back, I still wanted you in my life somehow.”
I cupped his cheek in my hand. “Colt?—”
A loud crash sounded in the bar. “Shit,” Colton muttered and headed toward the commotion.
It turned out to just be two of his teammates trying some balancing competition and both were failing, but it was reason enough to encourage everyone to get home safely.
Colton’s mood darkened after the bar ruckus, and I didn’t bother trying to make him feel better. He fell asleep in thepassenger seat while I drove him home, but I couldn’t stop replaying his words.
If I had the ribbon, I had a little piece of you.
FORTY
VIOLET
OCTOBER | COLUMBUS, OHIO
“I’ve got good news,”Margot sang.
I turned in my lab chair to give her my full attention. “Likethegood news?”
She waved her phone in the air. “I just got the email that our study is approved!”
