Page 92 of A Winding Wave of Magic
Nick offered me a grim smile and straightened his tie. “Sorry. It’s just that we’ve all been sitting here in the sun for five hours, and it’s wicked hot. I mean, you gotta be baking in those things!”
I looked down at my gloved hands. They were just black muslin, but with the cap and gown, he wasn’t wrong.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I have to return this thing anyway, so maybe you should go. I’m taking Reina to the Public Garden for lunch, so we’ll just catch you later.”
Reina and I watched Aja and Nick disappear into the crowd, and then she turned to me with a wryly arched brow. “Are you really going to take me on a whole picnic? Out with people and everything?”
“There’s a pond if I need to jump in,” I joked. “It’s outside. We should be fine. Plus, I know you’re crazy aboutMake Way for Ducklings.”
Reina grinned. “Good. I did want to see a little of the city before I fly out tonight.”
I smiled back. “I still can’t believe you came. I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”
“Of course, I came. Who else would but me?”
“Well, I did.”
We both whirled around to find another face that had been popping in and out of my dreams for the past months parting the crowds on the football field like it was the Red Sea. But there he was. Dressed in a light gray linen suit and a straw fedora that made him look a little like Jay Gatsby.
Reina blinked with delayed recognition. “Ohhhh, now I get it.”
I didn’t have to ask what she was wondering about. She’s teased me about our almost kiss more than once.
“You could try again,” she muttered beside me.
“Hush,” I said, but I was already grinning. “Jonathan.”
And then, before I could help myself, I tackled him in a bear hug.
He was as surprised as I was, though his arms wrapped automatically around my shoulders and squeezed. Confusion—threaded with joy—rippled through my fingertips. Well, at least he was glad to see me, too.
“I am, yes,” he replied as I stepped away.
Reina just looked between us, looking confused by what had just happened—probably by the hug as much as Jonathan’s response to it—and ability to read my mind with touch too.
“You can still do that?” I asked him.
Jonathan took a moment to look me over as if to assure himself that I too was all in one piece. “It would appear so.”
“Ahem.”
“Jonathan, this is my best friend, Reina West.” I gestured toward her.
“Hello.” Reina managed to look imperious despite being more than a foot shorter than Jonathan. “Not feeling so feline today, are we?”
Jonathan froze and looked at me.
I shrugged. “She’s a seer, and we have no secrets.”
“Then apparently, I don’t either.” He cleared his throat, then turned back to Reina. “But I’d appreciate it if you would keep that particular bit of knowledge to yourself. For Cassandra’s sake, if nothing else.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about me, kitty,” Reina said. “I’m always on Cassie’s side. But you have some explaining to do. Like where have you been for the past three months?”
“Ma sa aach’ol, aj ke,” he pronounced carefully with a slight tip of his hat.
Reina stared.
“What?” I asked. “What did he say?” I turned to Jonathan. “What was that?”
