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“Hey, did you know ‘kiss’ means to touch with the lips as a sign of love, and also, in billiards it means a slight touch of a ball against another ball?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Stop talking about balls and kiss me.”

“You drive a hard bargain, James,” Axel says, before leaning in.

“I want a picture,” Olivia shouts, breaking up our very public display of affection.

We turn to face Olivia, and Axel slips his arm around my waist. Butterflies. Millions of them.

“Say Betty White!” Olivia commands with a knowing wink.

“May I?” Ben asks Olivia, holding out his hand. She lifts her shoulders slightly before passing him her phone.

“Smile,” Ben says, positioning the phone to capture the moment. Instead of facing the camera, Axel and I stare at one another, butwe do hold up one end of Ben’s request. We are most certainly smiling. In fact, I’m pretty sure my eyes are tiny slits from grinning so widely, but my eyes will still be big enough to know. Big enough to know, when I stare back at this photo a month from now—or years from now—exactly how I felt and what I was thinking.