Chapter 9
The next six months were the happiest of my life.
Solar Reach hit 5 million people served.
We won the United Nations Global Climate Action Award.
I was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
But the best part?
My family was there for all of it.
Mom and Dad flew to New York for the Time gala.
Mom helped me pick out my dress.
Dad cried when they called my name on stage.
Derek gave a speech at our company all-hands meeting, talking about how proud he was of his big sister.
He quit his consulting job that spring.
Came to work at Solar Reach full time as our Head of Operations.
“Someone has to keep this place running,” he said, grinning, when he handed me his offer letter. “You’re too busy changing the world to worry about supply chains.”
Liam and I started dating.
It was slow at first.
We’d been friends for so long, it felt strange to cross that line.
But one night, after a particularly brutal week of failed field tests, he’d held me while I cried, and then he’d kissed me, and everything just made sense.
My parents loved him.
Dad taught him how to grill in the backyard.
Mom kept asking when we were going to get married.
“Slow down,” I’d tell her, laughing. “We’ve only been dating six months.”
But secretly?
I was starting to think about it, too.
Then, in June, we got the news.
The Kenyan government was awarding Solar Reach a national contract.
We’d be bringing microgrids to 2,000 more villages over the next five years.
Power for another 2 million people.
We threw a party at the office.
The whole team was there. Drinks. Music. Laughing.
My parents came.
Derek brought his new girlfriend, a doctor who worked with our medical partners in Kenya.
Liam pulled me aside, away from the crowd.
He looked nervous.
“Sarah,” he said, taking my hands. “I have something to ask you.”
My heart skipped a beat.
He got down on one knee.
Pulled out a small ring.
Simple. Gold. A tiny sun in the center.
“I have watched you build this incredible thing,” he said, his voice shaking a little. “I have watched you fight for every dream, even when everyone told you to quit. I have watched you forgive people who didn’t deserve it. And I have loved you for longer than I can even remember. Will you marry me?”
I didn’t even have to think.
“Yes,” I said, crying, laughing. “A thousand times yes.”
He slipped the ring on my finger.
Kissed me.
The whole office cheered.
I looked over his shoulder.
My mom was crying, hugging my dad.
Derek was whooping, holding up his phone to record.
For so long, I’d thought love was something you had to earn.
Something you had to fight for.
Something you’d never be good enough to get.
But standing there, in the arms of the man I loved, surrounded by the family I’d once thought I’d lost forever?
I realized.
Love wasn’t something you chased.
May you like
It was something that had been there all along.
Just waiting for you to be ready to see it.
