Page 44 of Promise Me Sunshine

“God.” A huge feeling is rising in my gut.

“Mom didn’t let him come visit me anymore after that. She…was the proudest mom of all time. She told me all the time how much she loved me and how proud of me she was. She never missed a basketball game. Saved for years to be able to buy me a used car for my sixteenth birthday. Taught me how to tie a tie and what to say to my first crush. She understood what it means to be someone’s secret. It means that you’renottheir pride and joy. And she wanted me to feel that I was hers.”

I tug him to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk and squeeze him around the middle. My cheek is pressed to his sternum and I do my best to melt my feelings out through my body and into his.

For someone so prickly, he sure is a good hugger. Firm arms and his hands spread wide.

“It was hard for Reese too, you know,” he says. “That’s why I give her a lot of slack to be so…”

“Much of a butthead to you?” I supply.

He laughs and his arms finally loosen. “Yes. Let’s keep walking.” We break apart and keep going. “Her dad had a stroke, her whole life was tumbling down, and then out ofnowhere she had a brother. She…had a certain view of how her parents’ marriage was. How her childhood was. And my existence kind of exploded all of it.”

“Oh, man.”

“We’re here.”

“Where? This bakery?”

“Have you ever been here before?” There’s a slight sparkle in his eyes, and I’m not sure why.

I shake my head.

“I just found it recently,” he says. It’s a few blocks from Reese and Ainsley’s but I’ve never thought to duck my head in before. As we stand outside in the grainy evening, the scent of lemon poppy seed mixes with warm vanilla and cinnamon, and it physically draws me toward the door.

We pause at the sign that says they close at seven.

“Dang. Five minutes late!”

But then the door swings open and a young man, maybe early twenties, sticks his head out the door. “Y’all can come in. Plenty left.”

I double-take. So does the young man. Our mouths drop open in perfect unison.

“Jericho?”

“Lenny?”

Me and Sparkly Backpack Guy run into each other’s arms like we’ve crossed oceans to get to each other.

“I’m so glad to see you!” he crows. “I regretted not getting your number that day.” He turns back into the bakery. “Mom! This is the girl who defended my honor when the car smashed my bike!” And then back to me. “Come in! Come in. Everything’s on the house.”

I’m being tugged into the bakery and when I look back over my shoulder, Miles is grinning, hands in his pockets. That wily minx planned this.

“So you’re Lenny!” Jericho’s mother calls from behind the counter. They have the same coily black hair and big brown eyes. Hers have gone wide, taking me in. “Little miss, you arewaytoo small to be picking fights with grown men in the street!”

I step up to the counter sheepishly. “Ah. Yes. Well, actually, I agree with you. It’s not gonna happen again.”

She narrows her eyes at me.

“Really! I swear. It’s not something I would normally do.”

“Huh.” Jericho leans against the counter and eyes me. “Because it seemed to come very natural to you.”

That makes me laugh but I shake my head. “No, I’m…a little off my rocker these days? I lost somebody very close to me this year. Not to explain away my momentary insanity…” No one quite knows what to say to that, so I put my grief wingman to good use. “But. Yeah. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got Miles. He’s making sure I keep things a little more…manageable.” I put one hand on his back and shove him forward into the spotlight. It works.

She turns to Miles. “Oh, hello! You’re becoming a regular.”

He puts his hands in his pockets and ducks his head. “Yes, ma’am.”

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