Page 33 of When You Wish Upon a Wideout

When she spotted Beau’s truck from a block away, Sienna pictured exactly how this should go. She would knock, Beau would open, and she would begin screaming at him.What do you want from me? Can’t you just leave me alone?She would shove the book against Beau’s chest and tell him that, rain or shine, he could still shove it up his ass.

But when Beau opened the door, Sienna couldn’t even catch her breath.

Beau wiped at his sweaty head before his dark eyebrows knitted together. “Hi?”

Sienna shook her head.This is what he looks like sweating?She knew her hair—which she hadn’t washed in two days—was matted against her forehead from the run. Her cheeks had to be beet red, judging by how much they burned. Beau was breathing deeply, but notasdeeply as Sienna, who was heaving. And him leaning against the doorway with his joggers hanging loosely on his hips did nothing to help the racing of her heart.

“Are you alright?”

“What...” Sienna pushed out through gasps. “What is this?” She held the book between them.

Beau scratched the back of his head. “I’ll get you some water. Come in.”

Sienna stayed put but leaned against the side of the door. Beau sighed before disappearing and reappearing with a glass.

“Did you run here?”

Sienna took the glass with her free hand, chugging it before handing it back to him. “I asked you a question.” She raised the book again and watched Beau press his lips together tightly. “Beau, whatisthis?”

His eyes flicked back to hers. “It’s something I should’ve given you a long time ago.” He waited for Sienna to speak, but when she stayed silent, he groaned. “It’s a present, Sienna. Most people say thank you.”

When her breathing finally evened out, Sienna opened the book to the first page. “You bought me a star?”

Beau ran a hand across his stubbled jaw. “No, not exactly.”

Okay, great,Sienna thought, relieved.I’ll be on my way then. See you never, hopefully.

“I bought you all of them.”

Sienna’s breath hitched in the back of her throat, and her eyes flew to his. “Youwhat?”

“Well,” Beau began, “I technically didn’tbuythem. They aren’t anyone’s to buy, you know, legally. They’re adopted, or whatever.Indefinitely,” he added. “And I didn’t get all of them, obviously. But enough for you to have limitless wishes when the night sky is cloudy.”

“Beau—”

“Ihateyou don’t do that anymore,” he admitted, painfully. “I hate you don’t do it because of me.”

“We were kids,” she reminded him. “That’s childish stuff. It’s stupid and—”

“It’s not stupid.”

“And it doesn’t even work.”

Beau shook his head. “You got Grace. I was there when you made that wish, when you wished for a family.”

There was a sadness to Beau’s voice, and Sienna knew why. That wish he was talking about was forever connected to an unhappy memory.

Sienna’s eyes dropped, and she tucked a wad of sweaty hair behind her ear. “A happy accident.”

Her daughter was more than a happy accident. Grace was Sienna’s total happiness.She took your place when I needed her to.After Grace was born, there wasn’t room for Beau in Sienna’s head, let alone in her heart. For once, it was full. And that love was unconditional, everlasting through sickness, and, now Sienna knew, through health.

“No,” Beau corrected her. “She was a wish from the heart. A dream come true. All of the above.”

Sienna swallowed heavily.

“I’m sorry I bombarded you last night,” Beau began after a minute of silence. “Seeing you at the game, meeting Grace, well, it was a lot for too short of a moment.”

Isn’t that how it’s always been for us?Sienna wondered.There’s never enough time.

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