Page 83 of Wish Upon A Star

I huff a laugh. “I’ll give you her number. Talking about me is her favorite thing. Especially if it’s talking shit.” I laugh again. “She means it with love, though, so I don’t mind.”

A long silence. “Wes?”

“Hmmm?” I’m sleepy, now. I haven’t slept well, if at all, since she took sick.

“Before I got sick, you said you’d take me on a date. Did you mean it? Can we…can we still do that?”

I trace circles on her scalp with my fingers. “Already have it planned.”

She makes a happy little sound. “Yay.” A pause. “Never been on a date.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“The exact shade of chocolate brown of your eyes.”

I snort. “No one’s favorite color is brown,” I say, shaking with laughter. “That’s sweet of you, but try again.”

“Green. The green of pine needles and oak leaves and chlorophyll and life. Green is the color of life.”

Something about that makes my heart squeeze, twist.

“Favorite food?”

“Pizza.” Her answer is immediate. “The kind that comes out of a wood-fired stone oven. Margherita, specifically. Big fat gooey chunks of mozzarella and tomatoes and basil.”

“Favorite band?”

A pause. A smile in her voice. “I’m not being sweet, here, but…you. You’re my favorite musician.”

“Well that’s just ridiculous. I haven’t released any music in years.”

“If I had to pick another? Swan Song. Legit. I love their music, and I always have. And not just because they discovered you.”

I hold her closer. “Get some rest, now.”

She hums, nuzzling as close as she can get, burrowing into my throat and against my chest.

In this moment, I feel complete.

The shattering is on the horizon—I can feel it approaching like a tidal wave. But I’m only focused on the here and now, this moment, this feeling.

It’s all there is.

It’s all that matters.

Love—A Rise, Not A Fall

Jolene

I can’t quite bring myself to feel bad that I only spend a few days with my family—I include Macy and Beth as family. I just…I’ve had my whole life with them, and only a few days with Wes. So I’m a little greedy, I guess.

We do the Hollywood tourist thing. Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, a comedy show—all guided by Wes in celebrity disguise. He even brings us on a golf cart tour of the Warner Brothers sound stage area, and we do indeed meet several well-known actors and actresses.

There’s lunch at a well-known Hollywood cafe, where even Wes isn’t the most famous person in attendance. A trip up the coast to Malibu, and a day at the beach. A day in Wes’s backyard, at the pool, where Mom, Macy, and Grandma sit in the shade and chat, and Dad shows Wes how to use his outdoor grill to cook steaks and burgers and we feel like one big family, and Beth and I splash in the pool and smirk at each other as we exchange looks and jokes—mostly Bethany teasing me about Wes and trying to get salacious details about our sexy times.

I tell her some things, in whispers, replete with laughter and sly looks at Wes. But most of it, I keep to myself. I just tell her enough to make her happy; she’s my best friend and the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever had, and I can’t not tell her anything.

I know I’ve only got so many good days in a row, though, before another wave of shittiness attacks me. As much as I love them, I want more time alone with Wes.