Page 78 of Tell Me It’s Right

His gaze flicks to my lips, and a small smirk appears.

“What?” I murmur.

He shakes his head, his fingers weaving through my hair. “I just have the feeling you’re going to flip my entire life upside down.”

“In a bad way?”

The smirk grows as he leans in to kiss me again. “I don’t know. But it’s a way that I want.”

The front door opens, and we lurch apart.

Leo and Keava appear around the corner a moment later, smiling and holding hands.

“Oh, hey!” says Keava as she peers at the fireworks overhead. “Wow, good thinking. Much better view up here.”

Leo lifts their intertwined hands. “We’re gonna head to the beach for a bit.” He points at Liam. “Still on for the game tomorrow?”

Liam salutes him.

Leo pauses with one foot on the steps as he takes in the driveway. “Unless…Gracie, do you need a ride home?”

“I’ll take care of her,” says Liam.

“You sure?”

Liam waves him off. “It’s on my way.”

“See you at home, kid,” calls Leo as they take off.

We sit in silence until their taillights disappear into the night, and even then, neither of us says anything. But the ghost of a smirk lingers on Liam’s face as he reaches over and takes my hand.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

LIAM

We stay for another hour or so after Leo leaves, watching the fireworks and eating Mrs. Collins’s masterpieces. I sit on the porch with Mr. Collins as Gracie and her mom laugh and dance around each other with their sparklers in the yard. It opens a hole in my stomach that I try, and fail, to shove down.

I’ve been coming to the Collins house for holidays for years, but the Fourth of July is one that started long before my mom died. She’d come with me, sometimes my siblings too, before they got old enough that it was cooler to go do things with their friends instead. Sparklers were always her favorite part. Some of my favorite pictures of her are the ones we took together every year on this day.

The lights smear across my vision, and I can picture her out in the yard too, one in each hand, beaming so wide you could see every last one of her teeth. I didn’t inherit much from her, unfortunately, but that smile is the one thing I do have.

And, well, I have her to thank for the family that basically adopted me. Leo and I never would have become friends without her and Mrs. Collins conspiring together after they met at a baking class and realized they had kids the same age.

Not that we hit it off immediately. That first playdate was a disaster, and I couldn’t shoo Leo out of our house fast enough. I was in a superhero phase, and all he cared about was the stupid train set—which belonged to Taylor, so I wasn’t even allowed to touch it.

I don’t know what it was that made my mom insist we try again. She must have seen something that we couldn’t. Maybe she could tell, even back then, that I was never going to fit into that life like the rest of them and I needed someone on the outside.

I clear my throat and shift in my chair. Mr. Collins lays his hand on my shoulder without looking at me, like he can tell what I’m thinking.

Gracie looks over midlaugh, the light from her sparkler making her face glow and her eyes shine. She looks so fucking beautiful it makes my chest hurt.

When it’s time to take her home, I keep my hands to myself as we climb into the truck and her parents wave us off. But once we’re down the street, I can’t help but reach over and lay my hand on her knee. I feel her looking at me and spare her a quick glance before returning my attention to the road. Even in the dim light, I can see the faint blush on her cheeks, and I like the sight far more than I should.

We sit in comfortable silence with nothing but the low hum of the radio in the background and the glow of the stars overhead. But as we get closer to Leo’s house, I feel the energy shift. Gracie bounces her leg and chews on her lip.

Before I can ask her what she’s thinking, she says, “There’s no point in telling Leo, right?”

I glance at her as we pause at the stop sign a street away.

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