My sister was kind of ruthless. I kind of loved it.

"But what if he takes it out on you?" I asked, worried. "Withdraws his money for your school or...Europe?" I gestured vaguely to reference imaginary chalets and ski instructors.

She laughed at me, shaking her head. "I was left a million-dollar trust fund from my grandparents, Tess. Your grandparents, too, I suppose. So there's even more money my father screwed you out of. The least he can do is pay for your college."

I was speechless. A million dollars? I was ready to drop out of school over a couple of thousand. "This feels a little like blackmail."

"It is blackmail. But so was what Dad was doing to you."

This time it was Hannah and I calling the shots. Making the rules. Hannah and I. The very idea seemed impossible.

"He owes you this, Tess. He owes you a lot more, but this is a start. Please take it."

I regarded her carefully. "You know, you aren't acting like you hate me a lot."

"Let me try again," she said. "Please take it...bitch?"

I laughed and for a moment, I thought she would, too, but instead all the humor slipped off her face, leaving only raw pain as she looked at a place behind me.

I turned too, but what I saw only filled my heart up. It was Dylan, standing at the door of Verde and watching us.

"I think I should go," Hannah said, and motioned for the check.

I stopped her. "On the house."

She nodded and rose from her seat. I thought perhaps we'd hug or shake hands or something, but none of that happened. It was too soon.

And yet, it was real. I'd just sat there and talked to Hannah Swift for a good half-hour. And though it was horribly painful and terrifically awkward and very, very odd, the world hadn't ended. It had only grown, ballooning up so large I was afraid it might snap its strings and blow away.

I watched her walk toward the exit. Dylan met her halfway. They hugged, briefly, and she said something to him that I couldn't quite make out. And then she was gone. I ached for her. She might not have been in love with Dylan, but it still hurt. And there was nothing I could do. Not yet.

I threw some bills on the table for a tip-I was still a waitress, even if I could comp a couple of iced teas-and met Dylan in the aisle between the trees. Fairy lights twinkled down on us, white and golden as starlight. I'd forgotten how pretty Verde could be.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," he said. His black hair was mussed, wet with mist. His coat was wet near the shoulders, as if he'd walked through the rain. His hands in mine were cold to the touch. But I didn't care. "I went to the labs, your apartment. Your mom is back there, by the way. We should probably give her a call and let her know you're okay."

"I am okay." And I was. This time, I really was. "I'm sorry I ran off."

"So am I," he said. "But I guess you had somewhere to be?"

"I didn't know it," I replied. "Sylvia didn't tell me that she's been hanging out here looking for me."

"I'm sorry about that. I had planned to tell you about Hannah. After the presentation."

"Don't be sorry," I said firmly. "This...she and I needed this." I hadn't realized how much we'd each needed it.

Dylan took a deep breath. "Okay. By the way, Elaine was looking for you at the reception. She was worried you were snubbing her, and though I think she probably deserves it after what how she treated me freshman year, I have to say, you kind of looked like a sore loser."

Funny, I didn't feel like a loser at all. I didn't win the symposium tonight, but I still ended up with the best prize. A new sister. A life without secrets. And then there was Dylan. Dylan, who'd made me feel like I wasn't a dirty secret or a second choice. That being with me was worth waiting for, worth fighting for, worth shining a light on the lies that had ruled my life for so long.

"Thank you again, for everything you did," I said.

He shrugged. "The graphics? Whatever. My grand romantic gesture didn't mean too much in the end, did it?"

"That's not what I meant."

Dylan looked down at me, and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a little smile. "I know what you meant."

Then he bent his head to mine and kissed me, and my new life began.

EPILOGUE.

Six months later.

Dylan rearranged the last box in the back of the car and slammed the door shut. "I think that's all we're going to be able to fit."

I shrugged. The May sun bounced off the cars in the parking lot. It was a beautiful day in late spring, and classes had just finished. "It wasn't my idea to bring an entire box of kitchen utensils."

"You want to go a whole summer without my baklava?" He winked at me from behind his glasses.

I slid my arms around his waist. "Okay, chef. You win." I kissed him on the nose.

We turned and, hand in hand, walked over to my apartment building. Sylvia and Annabel had come with Milo to see us off and were waiting on the curb. I'd had a goodbye drink with Elaine last night. She was spending the summer working for Canton Chem and was subletting Dylan's campus apartment while we were away. In her opinion, the chance that he was going to move back in come fall was slim to none.

"You two will want a bigger place than a studio," she'd said.

"We aren't necessarily going to keep living together next year," I'd pointed out.

"Yeah, right."

As we joined my friends, Sylvia asked, "How far are you going to get today?"

"Kentucky," I said. We were budgeting three days to drive to Colorado, planning to take it easy and enjoy the countryside. We weren't even due to start work at Solarix until next week, so we had plenty of time to get there and settle in. "Dylan has mapped out a course based on all the local specialties he wants to try."

Annabel laughed. "Just don't eat one of those butter sculpture things, okay?"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Dylan. "Those aren't for eating. They're art."

My mom joined us on the walk. "You're sure you haven't forgotten anything?" she asked. She was dressed for class, with her bookbag over her arm.

"It's Colorado, Mom, not the far edge of the world. I'm sure they've got stores there if I need shampoo."

"Well, I still worry." She gave me a hug. "Call me from the road, okay?"

"You got it."

She pressed a wad of twenty-dollar bills in my hand. "For gas."

"Mom-" She needed this money for tuition. I knew very well how expensive school could be. She still had twenty credits to go to complete her master's degree in art education.

"Please," she said. "Let me contribute, too."

I took the cash. It meant so much to her that she was paying for things herself these days, even if it meant spa pedicures and designer clothes were things of the past.

"Are you going to be okay all alone here?" I asked her.

"Are you kidding?" she replied. "I'm so busy I don't think we'd even see each other."

That was true. It was amazing how much bigger your world got once you stopped letting it revolve around a man who wanted to keep you a secret. Between our respective friends, classes, and jobs, it had been quite a while since we'd managed even a simple dinner together.

Of course, it didn't help that I spent most nights at Dylan's place. Maybe Elaine was right.

It had all gone down back in December. My father hadn't taken too well to Hannah's ultimatum, but my sister had refused to budge. He'd railed at me, railed at Mom, and my guess was he'd railed at Hannah, too, but whatever happened, it had no effect. For the first time in his life, none of us were letting him have his way. In the end, he wrote me a single check large enough to cover the final four semesters of school, telling me gravely that if I squandered it, I was not to expect any more.

"I guess he doesn't know you very well, after all," my mom had said. "I've never seen you squander anything in your life."

I'd immediately opened up a high-yield savings account to handle the money until I needed it.

Soon after Hannah had left for Europe in January, Dad had stopped coming around. Mom never explained what exactly happened between them, but I got the distinct impression that she was done with his rules, too. She'd taken a full-time job at a gallery in town and enrolled in night classes to finish her degree. I was so proud of her I could burst.

Dylan had been right. The truth did set us free.

"I guess it's time to hit the road," I said now.

Another hug for Mom and she headed off to work. Sylvia and Annabel next, and a special cuddle for Milo, who was growing so fast I wondered if I'd still recognize him come fall.

We climbed in the car-Dylan had offered to take the first shift driving-and waved at everyone. As we drove off, I touched the silver T around my neck.

Dylan reached across the console and squeezed my hand. "Are you excited?"

"Yes."

And so was he. He'd been bouncing like a kid all morning, his eyes sparkling, his teasing grin a permanent fixture on his face. His enthusiasm was infectious. Then again, it always had been. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Careful, Tess," he teased. "We've got six hours of driving before we hit the hotel tonight."

"Drive fast," I whispered in his ear.

I was twenty-one years old when I found my true family, when I realized that no one, not even my father, could tell me who my sister was or what my life would look like or who would fight for me. This was the year I stepped out from the tangle of lies that had made up my childhood. Thanks to Dylan. To him, I was a girl worth bringing into the light, his first love, his one and only. And because of Dylan, I realized it was all true.

A Note From Viv.

Thank you so much for reading One & Only. I love to hear from my readers, so please feel free to contact me via Twitter, Facebook, or by email on my website. To find out about future releases, make sure to sign up for the Diana Peterfreund/Viv Daniels newsletter.

The next book in the Canton Series, Sweet & Wild, will be out in spring of 2014. (Spoiler alert: it's Hannah's story.) In the meantime, please enjoy my new adult Christmas story, The Silence of the Bells, in the holiday anthology One Enchanted Season.

Reviews are the lifeblood of the indie author, so if you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to leave a review.

Thanks for reading!.

-Viv Daniels.

Acknowledgements.

Even though it's called indie publishing, I did not pull this book together on my own. I am in debt to all those who gave me advice during this process, including (but by no means limited to): Julie Leto, Mari Mancusi, Carrie Ryan, Amanda Brice, Lavinia Kent, Rhonda Helms, Erica Ridley, Courtney Milan, Dahlia Adler, Cora Carmack, Jennifer Armentrout, Gennifer Albin, Simone Elkeles, Holly Black, Sarah Brand, Julie Kenner, my awesomely understanding and forward-thinking agent Michael Bourret, everyone on the NAAU! Facebook group, Marie Force and the members of her self-publishing email loop, the fabulous writers and conference organizers at NINC, and all the readers, bloggers, and fans of college love stories who have been cheering me on.

Special thanks to editors Rhonda Helms, Dahlia Adler, and Dan; and to cover designer extraordinaire Sarah Hansen of Okay. Creations.

As always, love to my family, who were very supportive during the feverish writing of this project.

And thank you, thank you to the loyal readers of the Secret Society Girl series. I hope you've found another couple to root for.

About the Author.

Viv Daniels is a pen name for critically acclaimed author Diana Peterfreund, who has written nine books for adults and teens that span the gamut from post-apocalyptic science fiction to contemporary fantasy about killer unicorns.

Yes, really.

As Viv, she writes love stories. She hopes you love them.

Viv lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband (whom she met in college), their daughter, and a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever named Rio. You can learn more at vivdaniels.com.

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