Page 39 of Choosing Her
I lunged for the paper, as if that could undo what she already saw, but she twisted away, keeping it annoyingly out of each. I practically climbed on top of her as I reached for the paper but she held it out at arm’s length and kept moving, so I couldn’t get a grip on it.
“It’s not what you think!” I said in my panic.
“So you haven’t been tracking what iced coffee flavours I like?”
I sighed and dropped my arm, falling back off her chair. There was no point in stealing the paper back if she already knew what it meant. Somehow, I’d been hoping that she wouldn’t put it together. Because this had to be one step below stalker behaviour, right? Tracking what she liked to drink was probably beyond creepy and now that she knew I was, she was going to be so freaked out that she would refuse to tutor me anymore. Actually, she’d probably refuse to be in the same room as me anymore. And our iced coffee tradition would definitely be ruined.
"Well, I..." I cleared my throat. "Kind of."
She untwisted herself so she could sit normally in her chair and ran her gaze over the paper again. "What do you mean, kind of? I would say you absolutely are."
"Okay, so I am." I exhaled. "So what?"
Maybe if I acted like it was no big deal, she would decide it was no big deal, either. Probably a long shot, but worth a try, right?
She gaped at me. “So, what? Crossy, this is…”
She shook her head and looked at it again. I chewed on my lip, wishing I could snatch the paper back out of her hand but knowing the damage was already done. My heart clenched as I thought about giving up what we had going right now. Things had been going so well for us and here, I’d gone and ruined it by being a creep. She already hated me for going out with Naomi,but now, she would definitely be warning every girl in a hundred mile radius to stay very far away. Goodbye to Mako’sKeep dating until you break the Saylor Curseidea. I’d just thrown any chance I had away.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Saylor let out a long sigh and her expression softened. At least she didn’t look livid. It didn’t seem like she was planning the best way to kill me and hide my body without anyone knowing.
“You were tracking what flavours I like,” she repeated. Her voice wasn’t hard anymore. It was soft and almost… awed.
She folded the paper in half and handed it back to me, her fingers brushing mine momentarily. Just like every time she touched me, I felt it—that little spark that I’d felt for the first time when I handed her a coke on New Year’s Eve and that had continued ever since. And instead of pulling away, she let her hand drop onto my knee, like she wasn’t totally ready to let go either.
Then, so softly I almost didn’t hear it, she whispered, “You’re a good friend, Caleb Cross.”
I blinked at her, sure that I hadn’t heard her correctly. Even though I’d guessed at the beginning of the year that the way to break the Saylor Curse was to become friends with her, I’d never actually entertained the possibility that Rebecca Saylor would ever find it in her heart to say that we were anything beyond begrudging acquaintances. And yet…
I think I might love you, Rebecca Saylor.
CHAPTER 20
saylor
NEW YEAR'SEVE - 11PM
I thought Crossy would get tired of carrying me as soon as we hit the first floor, but he let me stay on his back the whole way through the house and the backyard. He had to elbow people aside as we walked past the outdoor pool—because, of course this house had two pools, along with a hot tub—and there was a near slip as we went down the wooden steps at the back of the house that led onto the beach, but we made it in one piece. Crossy put me down once we were on sand and I took my heels off, letting my bare feet dig into the ground as a breeze blew by. I closed my eyes and breathed in the salty night air, loving the peacefulness I felt down here compared to at the party. The beach would fill up with people in the next hour, I was sure, as everyone came down to watch the fireworks, but for now, there was just me and him for the whole stretch that I could see.”
I walked toward the water, with the straps of my high heels hooked between my fingers and my hair blowing loose from the wind.
“Planning to go for a swim?” he asked.
“Just want to feel how cold it is,” I said. I poked a toe in, half-expecting it to be freezing and was surprised that it was almost comfortable. “You ever do a polar plunge before?”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw him kick off his own shoes, so he could join me. Together, we both walked into the water until it was over the tops of our feet.
“No,” Crossy said. “Is it fun?”
I shrugged. “Depends on your definition of fun, I suppose. When I was a kid, my parents used to make us do a polar plunge in the backyard. We'd have to swim the length of the pool, and then if you got across, you could go in the hot tub to warm up."
"And if you didn't get across?" Crossy asked.
"I guess you'd just drown," I told him. And then I smiled.
I had some memories like that, those early day ones, where everything about my family hadn't seemed so bad. Before Naomi had grown up and outgrown me. Before my parents had decided that their careers mattered more than their family. It was nice to look back on them, to tell them the stories without him knowing who I was talking about. He didn't know the way that it all went wrong afterward. All he would know was the good parts.
"Maybe I should convince my family to do that this year," he said. "When do you usually do it?"
