We’re tucked inside a café in Manhattan, seated by a floor-to-ceiling window streaked with rivulets of rain. Outside, the city moves in a softened blur… umbrellas passing, taxis gliding through slick streets, headlights reflecting off wet pavement like scattered light.

We had every intention of sitting outside.

But the sky had other plans.

A sudden downpour forced us in, and now we sit across from one another, watching the storm settle into something almost peaceful. There’s something about the rhythm of rain against glass that slows everything down… softens even the sharpest edges.

Summer McKoy sits across from me, polished as ever, but there’s something different now. Still poised. Still confident. But lighter. Less rigid.

She lifts her coffee cup, her manicured fingers wrapped around it, a small smile playing on her lips.

“Our flight to Bora Bora was delayed the day we were flying out for our honeymoon,” she says, setting the cup down gently. “A downpour just like this… but for hours. I was so pissed. We had to stay in a hotel next to the airport, and I just knew it ruined everything.”

She pauses, her smile widening slightly.

“But oh my God… what an amazing night it turned out to be. I realized something then. All I ever need is Jayce… and I swear, paradise is everywhere.”

And just like that, we begin.