Page 55 of Wish For Me

“You were five,” Leif says.

Griffin shakes his head. “I saw a lot during my career. Horrific stuff. But none of it compared to how it felt seeing Leif on that hospital bed.”

Leif gives his lopsided smile. “I got better.”

But I can see something bigger going on here.

“It was touch and go for a while,” Griffin says.

“Your father took the only leave I ever saw him take,” Sasha says. “He started making up travel plans to get you to a hospital in Switzerland, where he’d found the best respiratory clinic in the world.”

Leif gives a disbelieving laugh. “No way Dad took a leave.” He looks to his father. “Your business was everything to you.”

Griffin shakes his head. “No. You were, Leif.”

Under the blanket, I take Leif’s hand. He grips me tight.

Tears well in my eyes, and I see I’m not alone. Do they all know how strained things have been between Leif and his dad? Do they see the way Leif’s whole worldview is tilting as we watch?

Enzo turns to his father. “How come you never say anything like that to me?”

Everyone laughs, the mood instantly loosening. A few people wipe their eyes.

“I gave you the family business!” Eli says.

While Eli and his son bicker playfully,

Griffin claps his hand on Leif’s shoulder, and after a moment, Leif presses his hand on his father’s.

I squeeze Leif’s other hand again and he clears his throat, shifting his hand so his fingers interlock with mine. It feels so natural, so good, I lean into him. This isn’t what friends do. It’s not what people who are ending friendships do.

But this is no normal friendship. I’m in love with Leif Kelly, and it’s getting harder and harder for me to pretend I can put that aside.

“Do you have to get back to anything after this?” Leif asks.

I swallow, nerves making my palm damp against his.

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

“I have something I want to show you.”

CHAPTER16

Noelle

To my surprise, we don’t leave the Rolling Hills Ranch alone. We follow Enzo’s SUV down the hill and toward the iconic red bridge that stretches over the Quince River. “My Uncle Jude proposed to my Aunt Nora here,” Leif says as we hit the apex of iron span.

“What, on the sidewalk there?”

“Yeah. He stopped traffic. He was kind of a local icon—still is—and all these people slowed down to take pictures. He was in the newspaper.”

I laugh.

“And Cass’s husband proposed to her out there.” He points to one of the bigger sandbanks in the river, lined with trees.

I laugh, but I can picture it, somehow. Cass seems like she’d deserve a grand gesture.

“There are a lot of love stories in your family, aren’t there?”

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