Page 94 of Steel & Jenna
“Are you nervous, Jackie?”
He glanced to his sister before turning his eyes back to the road. “What? Why would you ask that?”
“You’re doing that thing with your nose.”
Jack blinked. “My nose?”
She nodded, very self-assured. “Whenever you’re nervous, your nose does this little flaring thing. But it’s not a constant. It just flares every few minutes.”
Jack looked at his sister quickly. “What?”
“Trust me,” she pressed. “You do it. So what are you nervous about?”
“I’m not,” he insisted. Lilly moved over on the bench seat and touched her fingertip to his nostril, pushing it into his nose. After a second, he asked in a nasally voice, “What are you doing?”
“Wait for it…” They were nearly home when she shouted, “Ha! Nose flare!” She took her hand away. “You’re nervous. Spill, Jackie. Is it about Jenna?”
Jack let out a long groan, pulling into the driveway. “You should work for the CIA. They wouldn’t need to torture prisoners of war if you were their interrogator.”
Lilly beamed at him.
He turned off the truck. “I’m not nervous,” he repeated. When she raised her pointer finger as if to touch his nose again, he leaned back out of her reach and said more forcefully, “I’m not! Really! It’s just…” He sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. “I love Jenna and I want to marry her. But what if I’m rushing things? What if marrying hernowis a mistake and we should wait? I mean, at least until I graduate from boot camp.”
“Hmm…” Lilly tapped her finger against her chin in thought. “I have two questions for you.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Shoot.”
“First, would it make a difference? Would you love her more or less if you married her on Tuesday or in August?”
Jack shook his head. “No.”
“So it’s your pride then that’s giving you cold feet. You want to marry her as a ‘big bad Marine’,” she used air-quotes, “and not a high school senior.”
Jack hadn’t considered the fact that he wasn’t out of high school yet. Neither of them were. When he’d done the same comparison a few minutes ago outside Lilly’s school, he’d called himself a ‘bagboy’.
But she did have a point. It was the fact that he wasn’t yet a Marine that was giving him cold feet.
Lilly continued without pause, “If being a Marine is more important than marrying Jenna, then wait. She’ll do it if it’s what she thinks you want. But if you love her like I think you do, then it won’t matter, Jackie. High school senior or senior citizen, you’ll still love her.”
Jack stared at his little sister. She was getting so freaking tall. Jenna and Lilly loved to cook together on the weekends, but Lilly’s little chubby body that she’d had as an infant then a toddler and then as akid was thinning out with her height. She was going to be a knockout when she hit high school—and Jack was going to be right there with his service rifle to scare off all the boys.
“When did you get so smart?” he asked her softly.
She smiled at him. “I’ve always been smart. You just refused to believe your little sister could be smarter than you.”
Jack shook his head at her silliness. “You’ve always been smarter than me, Lillypad.” He opened his arms to her. Lilly scooted over to throw her arms around his neck. He crushed her to his chest. “Thank you. You’re right that it was my pride talking, making me question what I already know.”
“That’s why you need me around,” she told him, clinging to his neck with all her might. “I know how to see through your pride and tell you when you’re being a dumbass.”
Jack chuckled. “I always need you around.” He rubbed his palm against her back. “You know that, right? No matter that I’m getting married on Tuesday. I will always need my little sister.”
Lilly nodded onto his throat. “I know. And one day, when it’s my turn to get married, you’ll be the one to give me away.”
Jack cringed. “No man will ever be worthy of you.”
The siblings held each other for another long moment before Lilly moved back. Jack rubbed his thumbs under her eyes to wipe away her tears.
“What was the second question you wanted to ask me?” She’d already helped him see through his mind’s bullshit with her first, but he was still curious.
