Page 49 of Wish For Me

“Prove it.”

I slam the nutcracker down on the table, making the whole thing shake. “Jesus, Enzo. Fine. Love is going to bed thinking of that person. Waking up thinking of that person. And spending the rest of the time trying to function without thinking of that person. Because every time you think of them, you get this warm fucking feeling that takes over everything.”

I clench my jaw at his skeptical expression.

“It’s wanting to share everything with them, even the ugliest parts of yourself, and being scared as hell to do it. It’s dreaming of being with them and feeling like you’re going to die if you don’t get to. It’s…” I look up, then at him again. “It’s the easy decision to throw everything away just for the chance—thepossibility—to spend a lifetime with her.”

Enzo’s silent, for once without something to say. He just stares at me, eyes wide.

But it’s only when I sense movement that I realize he’s not the only one. The booth’s vendor and customers have gone silent too, staring at us.

I look over to see two women wearing Rudolf ears and big lit-up Christmas light earrings, and a man with his arms folded, an eyebrow raised.

“Hello, Leif,” Noelle says.

CHAPTER13

Leif

Her face is so beautiful it hurts to look at her. But worse than that, she heard everything.

And so did her parents.

Noelle’s mom is the only one who looks genuinely happy to see me. Her dad is frowning, and I can’t read her expression at all.

“You’re here,” I croak. “You’re…early.”

Noelle gives a little smile. But it’s too polite. Too distant to be for me. “I live here now.”

Shock has me silent once again. She moved home? What about Broadway?

Why the fuck didn’t I Google her this year, of all years?

“I’m Enzo Kelly,” my cousin says, introducing himself to Noelle and her mom and dad. For once, he’s the perfect gentleman.

“Hello,” I say, finally remembering myself and tearing my eyes from Noelle. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“We saw you on the moon,” Noelle’s mom says as she shakes my hand. “We all watched it live. Dan was fairly obsessed he met a real life astronaut. All of us were, really.”

“Quite the thing,” her dad says, his grip firm. I realize his sternness isn’t a six-year-old grudge at finding me in bed with his daughter. It’s respect.

I guess all I had to do was go to the moon.

“Thank you.”

“What are you up to now?” he asks. “What do spacemen do when they come back to earth anyway?”

“They give talks at elementary schools,” Noelle says.

“Don’t they sometimes go back to space?” Her mom asks.

I run a hand over the back of my neck. “Yeah, they do all those things.”

“What about you, son? When’s your next mission?”

“I’m…uh” I clear my throat. All I want to do is talk to Noelle. To hold her in my arms. To tell her everything I’ve been thinking. Instead, I hear myself talking about the professorship at the Ivy League. How I’m very lucky to have received the offer.

“I’m sure any school would love to have an astronaut teaching them!” Noelle’s mom says. “Heck, I bet Greenville College would fall all over themselves at the chance to have you there.”

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