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“It’s kind of nice seeing them in real life, isn’t it?” I said. “To be in the presence of something that inspired such beautiful stories and touched so many lives.” Wes and I grew up in such different homes, and yet we were connected through the books that had been read to us. Even Noah had recalled a quote from the stories the other night. There was something almost magical in that. I couldn’t help but wonder if Noah had come here before and admired the toys too.

“Yeah, it is,” Wes agreed. He shared a soft smile with me, and my heart did a small flip in response.

My phone started ringing, interrupting our moment, and I was somewhat glad for the distraction as I pulled it from my pocket.

Cress’s name lit up the screen, and I glanced up at Wes. “I think the girls have finally noticed we’re gone.”

He grinned brightly. “Took them long enough.”

I laughed and walked out into the stairwell as I answered the phone.

“Where are you?” Cress asked.

I put her on speakerphone so Wes could hear too. “Wes and I may have called mutiny and abandoned ship.”

“Well, that’s not cool. I want to get off the ship too. Even I can’t keep up with Anna’s shopping today.”

“Hey!”Anna complained in the background.

“Where are you guys?” Cress asked. “We’ll come meet you.”

“We’re at the library.”

“The library? What on earth are you doing there?”

“I needed to borrow a book.”

“Really?”

“No.” I laughed. “I just wanted to see it, and it was close by. We’re just about to leave though so we can meet you guys somewhere else.”

Wes reached out a hand and beckoned for me to pass him my phone. I handed it over to him.

“I have an idea of what we can do,” he said. “Go find my brother, and I’ll text you guys where to meet us.”

“Okay, catch you soon.”

Wes hung up the phone and passed it back to me.

“So, what are we doing then?” I asked.

He gave me a cryptic smile in response. “It’s a surprise, but I think you’ll like it.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

It wasn’t just one surprise. It was a whole afternoon of surprises. Wes played tour guide and took us to all the nearby attractions. We took silly photos in Times Square, ate our bodyweight in pizza slices for lunch and went to the top of the Empire State Building. Wes even forced us all to buy matching “I heart NY” T-shirts. We all looked ridiculous in them, but they made everyone laugh as we darted about the city sightseeing. I loved every minute of it.

By the time we arrived back at Cress’s place, it was already getting dark, and I was exhausted. We’d walked all over New York today, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle a night out on top of that.

Anna, Cress, and I collapsed on the bed when we reached Cress’s room. The boys had both gone home to change before the evening’s activities, so it was just the three of us.

“I’m exhausted,” Anna said. “I have shopping stamina that lasts for days but absolutely no endurance when it comes to sightseeing.”

I nodded firmly in agreement. “Yeah, my feet are toast.”

“It was a fun day though, wasn’t it?” Cress said. She was lying on her back staring up at the ceiling.

“It was the best,” I agreed. I’d barely stopped grinning all day, but it wasn’t the sights that had made me so happy. It was my friends.