Page 98 of Touch the Sky

By the time we finish our drinks, Jacinthe and I only have half an hour before we need to leave for Shel’s school. Hanging back at the table without Natalie and Brooke feels way too suspicious, so Jacinthe and I have no choice but to trudge after them to the parking lot. It’s dark enough now that I have to squint to make sure I don’t trip over any roots on the path through the trees while I clutch a few of the lackluster pumpkins.

The other customers from the bar are long gone, the field empty except for Jacinthe’s truck and Natalie’s Toyota. We pile the pumpkins into the trunk and then say our goodbyes. Jacinthe urges Natalie to head out first since she still needs to pull up the directions to Shel’s school, but once we’ve climbed into the truck, she doesn’t reach for her phone.

Instead, we sit in silence until Natalie’s taillights have faded into the distance. I twist to check the back window and ensure we really are the only ones left in the lot before turning back to Jacinthe.

“Do you think they know?” I ask. “That we…?”

I don’t know how to finish that sentence.

“I don’t think so,” Jacinthe answers. “They just, uh, think I have a crush on you.”

She stares down at the steering wheel instead of meeting my eyes.

“We have to go soon, don’t we?” she asks before I have a chance to say anything else.

She hasn’t turned the truck on, so I can’t see the time on the dashboard, but I know we’re probably down to twenty minutes before we’ll be late getting Shel.

I nod.

Twenty minutes doesn’t feel like long enough to figure this out. An entire day doesn’t feel like it would be long enough, but we’re never going to get a day together. All we’ll have are these stolen snatches of time when no one else is looking for us.

“I’m sorry we missed our chance,” Jacinthe says. “I didn’t know how to get rid of them.”

I shake my head. “It’s not your fault. There wasn’t anything else to do. Besides, it was nice talking to them, even if it was bad timing.”

Bad timing.

I wonder how often we’re going to run into that.

I wonder if anything about this could ever be good.

An ache rocks through my chest, so sharp I have to press a hand to my heart.

“Quoi?” Jacinthe says, leaning over the console to peer at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I tell her, even though the pain is now gnawing at my sternum hard enough to have me rocking in my seat. “It’s fine.”

She leans even closer, her expression hardening.

“Tess.”

My name is a command, and I can’t resist any longer.

“It hurts,” I say, my voice choked. “It hurts to want you so much and not know if I can have you.”

She freezes, her expression going blank. She leans back into her seat, and for a moment, my pulse surges with the panicked thought that I’ve ruined everything.

All she does is unclip her seatbelt.

Then she’s leaning back in. Her hand comes to rest on top of mine where it’s still pressed to my chest.

Over my heart.

I shiver. I hear her breath catch, but I can’t look at her. I stare at the dashboard instead. Her fingers flex where they’re clasped around mine.

“I already told you, Tess.” Her voice is somehow soothing and electrifying all at once. “You can have me. You can have me whenever you want.”

For a moment, I just breathe. Our hands rise and fall to the rhythm of my lungs. I close my eyes.