Page 124 of Betting on the Best Friend
“Here’s another fact.”Click. A picture of us dressed as Dorothy and the Tin Man for Halloween at the library appears, and a song starts playing. “Long Time Coming.” The band did a rough cut for me. For this.
I click to bring up a zoomed-in section of Charlie’s Tin Man costume as a pop-up box next to the full picture. It shows the heart he has pinned to it, the one the Tin Man got from the wizard.
“You know what shade of red that heart is, Charlie?”
“Ruby red,” he says softly.
Madison gives a small, happy sigh.
“You didn’t choose that just to match my slippers, did you?”
He shakes his head. “No, Ruby. I did not.”
“I know my own heart when I see it, Charlie. Just like I know my own mind. And I love you with all of both. Will you let me?”
He stands but doesn’t move closer. Instead, he glances from the picture to Ava. “You know why I didn’t pick the scarecrow, Ava?”
“Because you are not dumber than a box of rocks and you have a brain?”
He nods. “I am not, and I do.” He shifts his gaze to me.
The heart under discussion pounds in a way only Charlie has ever made it do.
He takes a step toward me. “Maybe I was cosplaying as a cowardly lion this last couple of weeks.”
“Better man up,” Madison says.
“I’m sorry, Ruby.” Charlie’s gaze is steady. “I messed up.”
“I meant like destroy her lipstick,” Madison says, “but apologies are good too.”
He doesn’t break eye contact, but a smile turns up one corner of his mouth.
I walk around the table. “Are you going to let her boss you around like that?”
His answer is to take one more step toward me and haul me against him. “Only because it’s such a good idea,” he says, smiling down at me. “I love you, Ruby Slippers.”
“I love you too, Charlie Bucket.”
The peanut gallery breaks out in cheers.
Still not taking his eyes off me, he says, “You’re making them change our ship name, right?”
“Obviously.”
“You can’t make us change it,” Sami says.
I don’t look their way either. “I have to. I need to cut up those shirts and turn them into sparkly sashes because you all win.”
I think they cheer again. I don’t know.
I’m too busy helping Charlie destroy my lipstick.
Epilogue
Four Months Later
Vicente Fernandez sings aboutEl Rey while my dad mans the grill and argues with my Uncle Carlos over technique. Both of them run off Joey every time he tries to get in on the grilling action too.
