Page 83 of A Heart Worth Finding
“See you upstairs, Jessica,” her mother said as she walked off.
“It’ll be fine,” Jack said, leveraging her head up to meet his gaze with his thumb pressed under her jaw. “We just…don’t sleep tonight.”
“No sleeping, huh?” Jessica said with a raised brow and a smirk.
“That’s not what I meant,” Jack said quickly, his panicked expression softening when Jessica laughed. “But I mean, I’m not opposed…”
Jessica shoved him away. “We’ll just have to wait and see what the night brings.”
The truth was, she wasn’t opposed to the idea of spending the night with Jack, either. Not one bit.
For dinner that evening, they chose the fanciest restaurant at their resort. Jessica’s mom kicked off the evening by ordering a bottle of red wine for the table, and though Jessica didn’t typically drink wine, she did so tonight.
Jessica raised her glass to her three companions and said, “Thank you, Mom and Lisa, for this amazing trip. I couldn’t have asked for a better graduation present, and I love you both so much.”
“Ditto!” Bethani quipped.
“We’re very proud of both of you,” Jessica’s mom said.
“To our graduates,” Lisa added, and they clinked glasses.
After taking a large swallow of her wine, Jessica’s mom said, “So, Jack seems like a really—”
“Hot guy?” Bethani asked. “Because we know.”
“I was going to say he seems like a really nice boy,” Jessica’s mom said, “but sure, that works, too.”
“Mom,” Jessica sighed. “Can we please not do this?”
They’d only just sat down, and Jessica wasn’t in the mood for an interrogation, though her mother had likely been working up to this very thing for days
And, God, had it really only been three days since this boy had walked into her life and turned the whole thing upside down?
“Do what? I’m simply making an observation.”
“You have an agenda, and I know exactly what it is.”
“And what’s that?”
“You’re trying to feel me out,” Jessica said. “You want to see how serious I am about this boy, and whether or not you should tell Dad about him when we get home.”
“Well…should I?”
“No,” Jessica said firmly. “There’s no need.”
“And why not?”
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Jack last night. This”—she swung her arms around her—“is vacation. This isn’t the real world. We’re trapped inside this giant bubble right now, and the minute we step foot on that plane to go home tomorrow, the bubble pops. Where does that leave me?”
“Honey,” her mom said gently. “There’s nothing that says you can’t stay in touch with him when we leave here.”
“Personally, I think you should keep talking to him,” Bethani piped in, and Jessica shot her a death glare that had her friend raising her hands in surrender.
“I don’t understand where this is coming from, anyway,” Jessica’s mom said. “What’s wrong with staying friends with this boy?”
“What’s wrong is I can’t!”
“Jess…”
