Page 26 of Knot Your Sugar Rush
Theo clears his throat up front. “Gram Rosie once caught Jamie skinny-dipping in her koi pond. You want lucky? That man is still alive.”
Cam turns to me with wide eyes, a ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. “Please tell me that’s true.”
I grin, relaxing into the moment. “In my defense, it was a heatwave, and I was fifteen.”
“She gave you lemonade and then made you scrub algae out of the pond with a toothbrush,” Dane adds, voice dry but amused.
“She was surprisingly chill about the nudity,” I say.
“She was not,” Theo corrects.
Cam laughs, and it’s this soft, tired thing that hits me right in the chest.
“Tell me more Starling Grove horror stories,” she says, a little lighter now.
“Oh, I’ve got one,” Dane offers. “Remember when Theo tried to build that treehouse in the old pine out back?”
“It was an engineering marvel,” Theo deadpans.
“It collapsed on Jamie.”
“Itsaggedon Jamie. Big difference.”
“Sprained my ankle,” I remind them, for dramatic effect.
Cam shakes her head, a genuine smile forming now. “You three have been friends forever, huh?”
“Since we could walk,” Dane says, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. “Which is exactly how long Jamie’s been the most dramatic person I’ve ever met.”
“And yet, you love me.”
“Debatable.”
Cam’s smile falters a little as we pass through downtown and its shops, undoubtedly filled with memories.
“You okay?” I ask again, quieter.
She nods, brushing a knuckle under her eye. “Just... memories.”
“Want to tell us one?”
She’s quiet for a beat, then says, “Zae and I once tried to make our own caramel in our mom’s microwave. We ended up welding the sugar to the inside of the bowl. It took three days and every cleaning product in the house to get it off.”
Theo hums. “Worth it?”
“Definitely,” she says. “Even if Mom made us write apology notes to the microwave.”
I feel something tighten in my chest again, some mix of admiration and heartbreak. She’s been through so much, and she’s still choosing hope. That does something to me.
But behind all the soft edges of this moment, there’s a knot of fear in my gut. Because I see the way Theo looks at the road a little too long. Hear the way Dane’s voice gets a little distant when we talk about the future. I’ve caught them both researching places outside of Starling Grove.
I don’t want to lose what we have. I don’t want to be the last one standing.
Cam’s presence feels like gravity. Like maybe she could be the reason we stay. The reason we stop drifting.
But I don’t know if she’s ready. Or if she’ll want us. Or if we’d be asking too much.
We pull into Gram Rosie’s driveway, the porch light casting a golden circle over the path.
