Page 51 of Wish For Me

Half our family is booked to go on a sleigh ride up in the hills tomorrow. It wouldn’t exactly be a low-key place for us to talk. Clearly he wants to get back at me for telling Noelle about the ghost.

I glare at Enzo. To Noelle, I say, “You don’t have to—”

But Noelle nods. “A sleigh ride sounds nice.”

My heart lifts. Whatever’s up with her, it can’t be all bad.

We make arrangements for me to pick her up at her place—she’s got an apartment downtown. I hesitate, then pat around in my pockets, finding a pen and a pack of gum. I scrawl my number on the gum and hand the whole thing over to her. “That’s my cell if anything changes.”

I dare her to hand it back to me. Exchanging numbers is against our rules.

“Unless you have a landline?” I ask.

Her lips pinch.

She takes the gum and pockets it. “Thank you.”

A moment later, Enzo and I are walking away from the booth after Noelle’s dad made a beeline for the parking lot.

“Was that—” Enzo begins.

“Noelle’s the woman I was talking about earlier,” I say. There’s no point hiding it now. “I’m in love with her. I have been for years.” I glance at Enzo. “So I guess I’m moving to Quince Valley.”

CHAPTER14

Noelle

Ihold the pack of gum in my hand, running my thumb over the number as I lie in bed later that night. It’s just bright enough to see them in the twinkle of the Christmas lights on the miniature tree Mom dropped off last week.

“This is against the rules, Leif,” I whisper.

It’s not the numbers I’m staring at though, it’s his handwriting. The words he scrawled under the number.

—Your spaceman.

The numbers blur as I think about the words he said to his cousin before he knew I could hear.

It’s the decision to throw everything away just for the possibility to spend a lifetime with her.

Then my mom, of all people, suggesting he drop everything to work at the community college!

The whole thing is farcical. But it only underscores what I have to do.

I set the gum onto the box next to my bed that acts as a bedside table and pick up my cell phone. I moved into this little apartment six months ago, but I still haven’t fully unpacked. It’s like I’m in denial. I have to remind myself Iamin fact a grown woman, and just because I’ve moved back to my home town and working for my mom doesn’t mean I’ve given up everything.

Even if I have to give up the one thing I want to hold onto most of all.

I punch in the numbers he wrote. Six years after the day we met, I text Leif Kelly for the very first time.

NOELLE: I’m sorry about my parents.

Three dots pop up only a few seconds later, as if he was holding his phone.

Despite my resolve, my stomach does a little flip when his reply pops up.

LEIF: I’m sorry I broke our rules.

Three dots.

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