Page 81 of Stay With Me
“It’s the only way my mom will eat them, so this is how I’ve always eaten them. Plus, peanut butter makes everything a little better.” I unwrap the candy to build my s’mores. “One more, Jess, I don’t want you to get sick from so much junk food. Your sister will get mad at me.”
“Two more?” She counters.
“One more, and maybe we can make more another day this week,” I tell her.
“Deal,” she says as she finishes Sam’s nails and takes a bite of her s’more. “That color looks good on you. I think I did a really good job.”
“Yeah, Sam, your nails look great. It’s for sure your color.” Carter?laughs.
“You’re just jealous she didn’t offer to do your nails,” Sam retorts as he starts to make one of his own s’mores.
I laugh because I know all of us wouldn’t care if she painted our nails. As we’re all talking, my phone vibrates. Looking down, I see it’s Luna.
Luna: Do you mind picking me up? Well, us, Am is texting Luke to come pick her and Pam up.
Me: Of course I can. What about Abby? I can take her home, or I can bring Carter?or Sam to drive her home.
Luna: She said to ask Carter .?.?. She said she needs her car tomorrow for an important meeting in the morning and doesn’t want anyone going out of their way and Carter lives by her.
Me: That tracks. Carter and Sam drove together, so Carter doesn’t have his car here?.?.?. I’ll ask Sam to stay with Jess while we come get you. See you soon, my Lunabella
Luna: See you soon, Noah.
Sliding my phone into my pocket, I see Luke doing the same, and he smirks. “Did you get the same text as me?”
“That they’re ready to be picked up?” He nods, so I say, “Come on, you’re with us. Sam, can you get Jess to bed and put the fire out?”
I see a tic in Sam’s jaw before he says, “Of course. Jess and I got cleanup duty, isn’t that right, kiddo?”
“Yeah.” She yawns.
“I’ll be right back. It shouldn’t take that long.”
“No problem, man, we’ll be here,” Sam says without looking at us.
I look at Luke, who shrugs, and we walk through the backdoor to the kitchen. I grab my keys. “What was that about?” I ask him.
“I don’t know. I told him not to piss off Abby, but here we are.” Luke grabs his keys by the door.
“I did tell Abby if she needed a ride, to let me know. We live two blocks from each other, and since she drove, that’s why I didn’t,” Carter adds.
I just shrug. “I hope they figure it out. Now, let’s go get the girls.”
We walk to my truck and head to The Bar with Luke following us.
THIRTY-FIVE
Noah
AfterwepullintoThe Bar, I park and hop out. Once inside, the music is louder than normal and the girls are singing along like they’re the only ones here. Seeing her so happy and carefree makes my heart skip a beat. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Luke beeline to Am, and I quickly follow him.
As soon as Luna’s eyes meet mine, they light up with an emotion I’m not ready to name. I’ve known from almost the moment I met her that she would be important to me, but my feelings for her surpass anything I’ve ever felt before.
“Hey, baby, did you have a good night?” I ask as soon as I’m by her side and bend down to kiss her. As soon as the kiss breaks, she nods her head.
Carter talks to Abs, but she looks over his shoulder toward the door like she’s looking for someone.
Weird.
