“
Beneath the table, Ryder releases my hand and lays it open in my lap, palm up. And then I feel him tracing letters on my palm with his fingertip.
I. L. O. V. E. Y.O.U.
I can’t help myself--I shiver. I shiver a lot when Ryder’s around, it turns out. He seems to have that effect on me.
“Are you cold, Jemma?” Laura Grace asks me. “Ryder, go get her a sweatshirt or something. You two are done eating, anyway. Go on. Take her into the living room and light the fire.”
“Nah, I’m fine,” I say, just because I know the old Jemma would have argued.
“Well, go work on your project, then. It’s warmer in the den.”
“My room’s like an oven,” Ryder deadpans, and I have to stifle a laugh, pretending to cough instead.
“Take her up there, then, before she catches cold. Go. Scoot.” Laura Grace waves her hands in our direction.
We rise from the table in unison, both of us trying to look as unhappy about it as possible. Silently, I follow him out. As soon as the door swings shut behind us, he reaches for my hand and pulls me close.
“Shh, listen,” I say, cocking my head toward the door.
“I still can’t believe it,” comes Laura Grace’s muffled voice. “The both of them, going off to school together, just like we always hoped they would. They’ll find their way into each other’s hearts eventually, just you wait and see.”
I hear my mom’s tinkling laughter. “I guess their plan to escape each other didn’t work out so well after all, did it, now? I’m sure they never even imagined--”
“I just hope they don’t kill each other,” Daddy interrupts.
“They’ll be fine,” Mr. Marsden answers.
“Well, I guess we won this round, didn’t we?” Mama says, her voice full of obvious delight.
I glance up at Ryder, dressed for Sunday dinner--khakis, plaid button-down with a T-shirt beneath. His spiky hair is sticking up haphazardly, his dimples wide as he smiles down at me with so much love in those deep, dark chocolate eyes of his that it lights up his whole face. And me? I’m so happy when I’m with him that Nan says I glow, that a bright, shining light seems to radiate off the pair of us wherever we go.
Despite their gloating, it’s easy to see that they didn’t win, our parents. Nope.
We won.
”
”