Another page turns on the calendar, April now, not March. Kendra visits. She and the inpatient team are putting together a transition plan for me so I can shift from inpatient care, back to real life.

"You're absolutely glowing, Juliet. You look incredible," she tells me, folding her hands around her coffee cup and tilting her head to the side, studying me further. "I'm proud of you."

I let her words wash through me like a calming cleanse, my own smile blooming. The truth is, I feel incredible. Lighter. Softer. Free and weightless.

The last months have been nothing short of challenging, filled with uphill battles, hours upon hours of counselling and mental health struggles, and a promise to myself every single morning that I will be better than I was the day before.

But today is the day I go home.

Back to my friends.

Back to Warner.

It's summer now so Warner got the keys to the house and Abby has been sending me emails with pictures of the house. She has already decorated her room and it makes me excited to do the same to mine. My own room. Living with my best friends and my boyfriend.

Kendra is the one taking me back. Warner tried to convince her to let him come but not even he could charm her into changing her mind. But now that I'm in the car with Kendra I'm glad she is with me, I'm glad I'm not being thrust back into the normal world without her.

We pull up to the house Warner showed me months ago and I see that they have strung up fairy lights around the porch and decorated the porch swing with some cute pillows.

The car stops and I freeze up when I get out of the car. I shouldn't hesitate in the front yard. I should rush right inside and run into Warner's arms. But I wonder how different he will seem up close in person. I worry about the awkwardness of being apart for so long. Will we fit the same way we used to? Will I feel the same in his arms? Or will everything be irreparably different?

I muster a bit of courage to walk forward. And by the time I climb the porch, the door swings open. I freeze on the highest stair and watch the screen door clatter into the side of the house. Then he emerges, wearing a pair of dark jeans, a black tee, and a necklace I gave him for Christmas.

I open my mouth to say something, but I can't stop my eyes from grazing every inch of him. The way his brown hair is styled, full on top, shorter on the sides. The way his cheekbones sharpen makes him look deadly and gorgeous. The way he reaches up and rubs his lips, as though hoping they'll touch mine. He rakes my body with the same impatience, and then his head tilts to the side, our eyes finally meeting.

"Hi," he says, breaking into a breath-taking smile. His chest falls heavily, nearly in sync with my uneven rhythm.

"Hi," I whisper. A large distance separates us, reminding me of when I first left for treatment. Picking up a foot and closing the gap feels like crawling up a ninety-degree angle. I need him to help me reach the top.

He takes a step near me, snapping the tension. All these sensations burst in my belly. I love him so much. I missed him so much. For months, I felt the pain of being separated from my best friend while trying to fight my disorder. I needed him to tell me everything was going to be okay.

And then he kisses me, so urgently, so passionately that my lungs suffocate. His tongue gently slips into my mouth, and I savour each and every movement. He kneads the back of my head, gripping my hair, yanking and sending my nerves on overdrive.

His hands fall to my ass, and he effortlessly lifts me up. I wrap my legs around his waist, squeezing tightly into a front piggyback. I hook my arms underneath his and press my cheek to his hard chest, listening to the unsteady beat of his heart. We're so close, but I still ache to be closer.

I hold on tighter, pressing my face into his chest. He swears under his breath, and then his arms are around me, crushing me to him. He buries his face in my hair and clings to me.

He is so warm, so solid. I hold onto him for dear life and will him to release some of what he has kept bottled up.

I pull my head back from his chest so I can get another look at him and he kisses my forehead before I can form thoughts, and when he pulls away, his lips brush my ear. "I missed you so much, baby."

"I missed you more."

He cups my jaw in his hands, and presses his forehead against mine, his eyes closing as his breath syncs with mine, our chests rising and falling like we're two waves in the same body of water. "I never want to be away from you again," he whispers, and I knot my fists into his shirt as if to keep him from slipping through my fingers.

A cough breaks us out of our loved-up trance and I forget that Kendra also exited the car. But when I glance at her she doesn't look annoyed, she looks happy for us.

"Hi Kendra, it's lovely to see you again." Warner puts on his charmer smile and holds out one arm to shake Kendra's hand. His other arm remains around me, holding me up to him in a front piggyback like he is afraid to let me go.

"I suppose I can't hog you forever, there are a few people inside who have missed you as well." Warner grins and reluctantly puts me down so he can grab some of my suitcases from the car.

As soon as he steps away Kendra comes up to my side. "I wish my husband would look at me the way he looks at you," she whispers. "Like he could be completely content if he never had to look at anything else."

I look her over – she is. Beautiful, more than deserving of an appreciative husband – and my heart gives an odd, hard thud at her words.

Then the door whips open again and my heart thuds again because inside the doorway are all of my friends. Abby nearly tackles me to the ground in a hug so tight I can't even get words out to tell her I missed her.

Abby barely lets go of me before Maggie pulls me into her arms. I can't believe she came down just for this.

Next, I am sandwiched between Sarah and Amy, followed by Adam and even Winston gives me a big bear hug. Just when I think I'm done being hugged to death I hear a familiar voice.

"You didn't think I would miss the big reunion did you Jmoney?" Kenji steps onto the porch and squeezes me so tight I think I let out a strangled noise.

"Don't break her Kenji we just got her back!" Warner joins us with my bags in hand and the smile on my face is so enormous it almost hurts.

This is what I worked so hard at healing for. To be surrounded by my friends and not let my memories be clouded by negative thoughts. To enjoy my life again.

I won't lie and say things are perfect now. I still have nightmares. I will still have days or moments where I worry or second-guess myself.

But I'm healing. I'm learning. I'm growing. And there's no going back to the person I was four months ago—not ever.

_________

THREE YEARS LATER

Warner and I have officially been together for three years today. I'm seated at my vanity while Amy clips the front strands of my hair back into a diamond barrette. My friends flutter around me like bluebirds in Cinderella.

"What do I wear?" I ask, suddenly nervous. What if I show up in sweatpants and it's a fancy dinner? Or what if I wear a ballgown and we are just watching a movie?

"What if he doesn't even have anything planned?" I suddenly spout my billionth fear of the morning.

"I'll rip off his penis," Sarah says flatly.

"I've got your dress right here!" Abby runs out of the room and comes back carrying a garment bag. As she unzips it I hold my breath and as she pushes the dress out the first thing I notice is the colour, red, Warner's favourite on me. Then I see the dress in its entirety, and I am wonderstruck because it's so unbelievably gorgeous and suited to my style. It's a maxi-length dress with a fitted waist, and a satiny sheath shimmering beneath delicate chiffon.

"Where did you get this?" I gasp.

I grab my beautiful dress, confused as to what is going on and a card slips out.

Juliet,

I always thought you looked beautiful in red.

I finish getting ready feeling ridiculously giddy. Once everything's set I slip into the dress which fits like a dream.

I look and feel beautiful.

I don't get to admire myself much longer because I'm being pulled out of the house and into a car.

"Where are we going?" I ask, trying to get any indication of what was going on.

"Warner forgot his cleats at the stadium, we are just going to grab them quickly before we go," Abby says but she doesn't look annoyed about it which is...weird.

When we pull into the stadium parking lot it's dead. Eerily quiet.

I walk up to the front gates and don't see anyone around. "Are you sure we can go in? It looks closed." I ask but my friends say nothing they just urge me forward through the gates.

I eye them suspiciously but continue walking until I'm stopped in my tracks because I have no idea how he's done it, but the entire stadium is shrouded in candlelight, the only source of illumination and flowers are spread all over the field.

The rest of our friends are dressed up and watching, including Warner's family.

And then time stops, freezes, roots me to the spot and everything around me suddenly goes absolutely still. The confusion comes first, as to why Warner is standing in front of me, in his suit no less, with roses covering the ground like some bachelor tv show, but they fade into the background. I focus on the man in front of me, trying to keep my eyes steadily on him otherwise my knees just might give in.

I should have realized that something was up today but in my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined this. He hasn't said anything yet but he doesn't need to, I'm already crying because I know what's about to happen just as much as I know that I love this man so much it hurts too much to even look at him.

In a perfectly fitted tux, Warner waits in the middle of the field for me, his hands cupped in front of his body. Those intoxicating green eyes never diverge from mine, never break or part or leave me.

I'm trying to drink in every little detail about it, trying to commit it to memory so that in years to come I'll always remember what he looked like on the day he asked me to marry him. Crisp grey suit, one that I'd never seen before and a black tie that must have taken him ages to knot if he did it himself. But what I'll remember the most is the look on his face right now that's radiating so much love that it nearly cuts me down the middle with the force. I'm afraid I will start screaming YES before he even asks because without even realizing it, I feel like I've been waiting for this moment forever.

He points to his heart and my heart clenches when I think of the code he made up for his games.

I love you

I walk over and magnetically, we cling together, his hand slipping into mine, our legs knocking as they find each other. We stand so close like we fear someone else pulling us apart. I subconsciously tune out the music, and Warner cups my face, his eyes dancing across my features.

Mine fly across his.

"Juliet, I fell in love with you the very first day of kindergarten." He's only just started speaking and I'm a sobbing, quivering mess that he needs to hold close or I'll fall over. He's struggling to get the words out too, overcome by emotion but he's stronger than me. "I wasn't aware of what love was at that age, but I knew that your laughter was a question I wanted to spend my whole life answering. I wanted to fight all of your battles. I wanted to give you all of your smiles and make you laugh. I wanted to be near you all the time and unfortunately for me, you were not having it." I laugh through my tears.

His chest rises with mine, and our breathing matches. Exhale for exhale. Inhale for inhale. He leans close like he aches to kiss me. His arms wrap around my waist. And in his sweetly edged voice, he tells me, "I never thought, in my wildest dreams that you would ever love me back or love me as hard as you do. It still takes me by surprise that through all the years and through all my fuck ups, you have stayed by my side and continued to love me. I thought this was the best place to do this because our real story started here. From the first day of practice where I kicked a soccer ball at you all the way to you being the first person I look for in the crowd." He takes a big gulp and I see a single tear drop from his eye which only sets me off more.

"You are my heart, my life, my first thought when I wake up and my last thought when I go to sleep." His lips rise. "I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you. I love you because you are the strongest women I have ever met. I love you because you make me a better man." Tears cloud my eyes, and they don't stop, especially as he adds, "I will do everything to make you happy for the rest of our days. I'll never let you go. I will never give up on you, on us."

"I am forever grateful to have you as my teammate. I promise to love you fiercely, to always protect and cherish you till my last breath," he gets down on one knee and the floodgates are wide open now, making it difficult for me to see beyond the tears but I see him. "You are my favourite part of me."

"Will you marry me?"

I say yes before he even manages to complete his question and the next thing I know he's slipping the most stunning ring on my finger that takes my breath away.

His fingers are lost in my hair, his large hand encasing my cheek. I think back to days upon days with him. "I love you too Warner. I can't tell you the day that I fell in love with you because there wasn't a single day that I didn't." My voice shakes with more joy than I've ever known. "I've never met someone who is so perfectly my favourite person. I love you so much. I love you more than I did yesterday, and I already know tomorrow I'll love you even more because every piece of you you give me is another to fall in love with. I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that's where I belong. I'll never belong anywhere like I belong with you."

I frame Warner's face in my hands and kiss him, trying to express everything that I can't say to him right now because I'm so utterly overwhelmed. He hoists me up in his arms so that my feet dangle off the ground and spins me around amidst the sounds of cheers. It wrecks me to see all of our friends and family cheering for us, some of them laughing, some crying and some, like Tracey doing both.

These people are what makes us, us, they're an important part of our story and I wouldn't want it any other way than for them to be here, witnessing this moment.

"Juliet, Warner," Kenji says, attempting to deter my gaze. It works after he calls my name a second time.

"Before you maul each other in one of the back rooms," Kenji tells us, "there's something we all want to say to you."

My brows scrunch and I look at Warner. He shakes his head at me like he wasn't warned about this plan. I scan my friends in the audience, and Tracey is already dabbing her eyes with tissues. Adam is beaming with pride and my girlfriends...I turn to them, and they've sincerely lost it. Sarah is passing a tissue box down the line and Abby has black mascara all over her face.

Kenji picks up where he left off. "I speak for everyone here today," he tells us, "when I say that you two—Juliet and Warner—are the strongest people we've all ever had the honour to meet."

My eyes well up. What? Warner squeezes my hand.

Kenji's grin is genuine and heartfelt. "You both have spent years praising all of us for our talents and our strengths, but you were too blinded by your own imperfections to even realize how much we've admired you. For years, we've watched you fight for this future, for each other, and you've conquered a larger battle in your lifetime than most of us will ever come to see."

I feel the tears roll down my cheeks, my chin trembling. I never ever believed someone could say something like that to us. About me. This is a dream, but I know it's not. Because Warner squeezes my hand again, his eyes are misted too.

"You are both amazing, and today, we are grateful to celebrate your love and your life together." Kenji finishes.

Warner wipes his eyes with his sleeve. "Goddamn, Kenji."

Everyone lets out tearful, emotional laughs. I do too, and Warner uses his thumb to dry off my face.

"Thank you, Kenji." I try to stop the tears from flowing.

I inhale a strong breath. I'm going to marry my best friend. I turn to Warner and our lips meet at the same moment, expressing the words we've spoken.

Our bodies attracting like magnets that've met for an unquantifiable time.

In the very happiest moment of my life, I learn three things:

I am strong.

My friends are my family.

And my soul meets Warner Brooks in every kiss.