Page 54 of Can't Help Falling

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

FINSTEPPEDINTOthe storage room of Mary’s store and smiled at the sight of Kylie sitting on the break table, cross-legged, flipping through a catalog and eating Chinese from the carton. In the perfect personification of what it meant to be a teenager, she looked bored and entertained all at once.

It was swampingly good to see Kylie. Fin had received another rejection letter that afternoon. It hadn’t been a shock. But still. Even as prepared as she’d been, it was hard to want something this much and not lace the cocktail with hope. In the back of her mind, she’d stayed open to the idea of opening the email and finding a miracle, everything she’d ever wanted. Instead, she’d buried her face in her hands, took twenty deep breaths and decided to surprise Kylie at the store tonight. She needed to do something caring for someone who needed to be cared about.

“Hey.”

Fin stepped forward as Kylie’s head snapped up. “Hi!”

“Taking a break?”

“Yeah, it’s actually a slow night tonight. Mary said I could take off early, but Tyler’s at the Nets game so I figured I’d stick around until Mary was done.”

“I brought something for you.” She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a little fabric drawstring bag that she’d sewed just for this occasion.

Kylie’s eyes lit up as she took the bag from Fin’s hand. “This is cool. Did you make it?”

Fin nodded. “And there’s lavender sewed into the lining so if you’re having trouble sleeping, you can put this next to your pillow. It’ll help.”

“Okay. I—Wow. Fin. I love them!” Kylie had upended the bag and out came the two bracelets and the necklace that Fin had made for her. All of them had the hematite that Kylie had picked out before, silvery and opaque. The necklace was a pendant on a long silver chain that Fin figured Kylie could hide under her shirt if she wanted. The bracelets were chunky and matching, made of many stones strung together.

“I hoped you would.” Fin helped her put the necklace on, and Kylie slid one bracelet onto each wrist. The color suited her pale skin and red hair.

She explained how to cleanse them and though Kylie looked a little skeptical, she didn’t crack any jokes the way Tyler had.

“Hey, have you done any New York Christmas stuff?” Fin asked. “We could go see some.”

Kylie’s smile froze. “Um, I’m actually not that into Christmas.” She forced a smile on her face. “But I guess the Rockefeller tree could be cool.”

Fin laughed. “Such a polite girl. But no, that’s not what I meant. Here.” Fin pulled out her phone and googled an image of Rockefeller Center at Christmastime. “There, now you’ve seen that. What I have in mind is much cooler. Trust me. Even if Christmas isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll like this.”

“All right,” Kylie shrugged. “Let me check with Mary. And will you let Tyler know?”

Fin closed the storage room door so that her phone call wouldn’t disturb any of the customers in the store and for the second time in a week, she dialed Ty’s number.

“HELLO?” he shouted at top volume into the phone. The roar of the crowd nearly drowned out his words and blew out her eardrums.

“Wow. Hi.”

“FIN?”

“Yes, Ty, can you hear me?”

“HANG ON.” There was the sound of a door slamming, footsteps, more yelling, one more door and then quiet. “Hey, sorry. I’m at the game.”

“What? I can’t hear you, I’ve lost all hearing in my left ear.”

“Oh, sorry, was I shouting?”

They both laughed.

“I’m at Fresh with Mary and Ky.”

“So jelly. That sounds fun.”

She rolled her eyes and suppressed her smile. She didn’t know a single other grown man who used the word jelly. “Sounds like things are pretty dead here and I was wondering how you’d feel about me taking Ky to see the Dyker Heights lights.”

“Oh. Huh. I forgot about them. I haven’t been for years, but I guess they are pretty kick-ass.”

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