Page 109 of Legal

“Only for you.”

I thrust my arms around his neck and kissed him. “I love you.”

I noticed Perry staring at me with a scrunched-up face. My brother was eased back looking through game cards. Maybe he thought it was something kinky and didn’t want to know.

“It’s a fajita recipe,” I said.

“Uh… yeah.” Perry seized the cards from Stephen. “Stop looking at the answers.”

“I really wanted it,” I told her.

“Okay?”

I jumped up, waving the card. “I have to go put this in a safe place.”

I took a candle and went into the kitchen, Perry right behind me. “So, what’s up?” she said.

“Didn’t I just tell you half a second ago?”

She pulled me into the hall that connected the kitchen and my office. “I saw your face, Jills. It only lasted a sec, but I know what I saw.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That moment between thinking it could be a ring and accepting it wasn’t.”

“You saw the box. It wasn’t the right shape.” I went into my office and put the recipe into the desk drawer.

“That’s not the point here.”

I sighed, leaning back on my desk. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. I loved him, but it was too soon to make eternal promises. At least that’s what my head was telling me. My heart wanted it all. And my passion wanted it forever.

“It’s okay to feel confused, Jills. Sometimes you don’t know what you want until you don’t have it.” She took my hand. “Let’s go. It’s almost midnight.”

We returned to Chase and Stephen. Perry joined my brother on the couch, and I curled into Chase near the fireplace.

“Now everyone has to make a wish exactly when the clock strikes twelve,” Perry said. “But it has to be exact. That’s the only way it’ll come true.”

“You’re not superstitious,” I said.

“It’s not superstition. It’s fact.”

“What’s your wish?” Chase whispered to me.

“I wish…” I didn’t know. I wish you wouldn’t have given me the recipe because that might mean you won’t always be there to make it for me? That sounded silly.

He grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me up. “Come with me.”

Chase brought me into my office and closed the door. He placed a single candle on the desk, throwing shadows everywhere. I stood in front of the large window, watching the biggest pillow fight ever taking place in my front yard. Puffs of white mixed with sparkles, fragile but fierce. It was almost too beautiful to watch.

He came behind me and wrapped me tight, his jaw resting in the crook of my neck. “Thank you for the recipe.” I smiled. “I was about to give up asking.”

“That belonged to this year. I want new things to belong to the next.”

Chase held me as we watched the snowflakes fall. Stealing away a private moment together when the calendar changed. It was right where I wanted to be at the right time.

Exactly at midnight, we both said, “I love you.”Forever.

It was the perfect wish.

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