Page 29 of Play With Me

When I lower my hands to the table, both Jude and Cap reach for me.

My freaking heart.

I look up to the ceiling, breathing deep. “I’m okay, guys!”

“Dad, maybe she’s sad about…you know what,” Cap says in a loud whisper.

I’m not sure if I was supposed to hear that, so I just take a breath and come back to myself.

But when I do, I see Cap’s looking at Jude like he’s in trouble. “Dad has something to say to you.”

I raise my eyebrows.

When I meet his eyes, I bite my cheek so hard to be unaffected, I taste blood. Being the center of Jude’s attention is intoxicating. I learned to live with it when we became friends. Now, it’s painful. I try to conjure up my go-to image for when this used to happen: that time I took care of him when he had stomach flu—pale, sweaty, his hair lanky and greasy; everything smelling vaguely of puke.

It doesn’t matter. He never stops being Jude.

“Right,” Jude says, his voice low. “Thanks for meeting us.”

Cap huffs, then gets out of his chair and walks around to Jude, cupping his hand over his ear to tell him something.

“I know! I was getting to that,” Jude says.

Cap stands beside his dad, hands on his hips.

“I’m sorry, Nora, for yesterday,” Jude says.

Cap whispers in his dad’s ear again.

Jude clears his throat. “We made you bonk your head and lose your glasses. And even though the librarian smashed them, that was our fault too.”

He checks with Cap, who gives him an encouraging nod.

“Also…” Jude meets my eye, and I can see that this part is from him. “I’m sorry for springing this trip on you. It’s just—”

“We missed you so much, Nora!” Cap explains, looking impassioned.

“You’re going to make the tears come back,” I say, blinking fast. Too late. They roll down my cheek.

This time, Jude whispers something to Cap, and he nods, then heads for the counter on the other side of the restaurant with lids and stir sticks.

“Nora,” Jude says quickly. “This week, we can make it all about Cap, okay? And you can just see us as much as you’re okay with. We’ll stay out of your way if that’s what you want. I don’t have to go to this party—”

“No,” I say quickly, blubbering as I see Cap pulling approximately one hundred napkins out of the dispenser across the room. “I’d be happy if you came, Jude. You know how I feel about all that small talk. But only if Cap’s okay with spending the night at his mom’s.”

“He’s excited,” Jude says, almost grimacing. He glances at his phone. “She is too, apparently. She keeps asking where we are.”

“I thought you weren’t meeting her until—”

“Four. Yeah.”

“Oh, if you want to meet her early, we can keep this quick?”

Jude presses his hand on mine on the table. “You shut your cake hole right now, Nora Albright.”

I’m distracted by the way his hand feels against mine. I pull my hand away, wiping the wetness from my face as best as I can as Cap stops to inspect a little lapdog on his way back to the table.

“Anyway…” Jude is clearly unperturbed. “I told her we were meeting you first, so she can just hold her horses. But I’ll remind her again.” He taps out a quick text, reading it out loud:

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