Page 65 of Promise Me Sunshine

She reaches up and takes his hand, tugging him out of the room. “I’ll show you.”

He looks back at me as she leads him away by the hand and I swear, if there’s a word that means shock, elation, and trepidation all at once, it’s him, Miles Honey.

Chapter Seventeen

Is hysterical laughter typically the sound one makes while watchingJeopardy!? I thought it was more of a civilized show.

Reese called me out of the blue to babysit this morning. I came prepared with all sorts of Saturday activities up my sleeve, but Ainsley and Miles disappeared down to the courtyard for badminton and, as she called it, “dancing boot camp” (“He needs a lot of work, Lenny”). But now they’re back upstairs and posted up in front of the TV together.

I balance a bowl of popcorn on one hip and drinks in my other hand, stopping cold when I get to the door of the living room.

Because Ainsley is laughing so hard her face has gone red, her knees pulled into her T-shirt as she overbalances to one side like an Easter egg. Miles, meanwhile, is reclined on the couch, one arm over the back, legs outstretched, and his other hand covering the bottom half of his face as he—and I mean this—howls with laughter.

I have never heard either of them make sounds like these.

I set the food and drinks down and turn to the television. They’re watching a man attempt to run across a moving platform ten feet in the air. He jumps, clings like a koala to a gigantic greased-up ball. There’s a moment where I think he’s achieved the impossible, but then he slides down the sideand then belly-flops into what appears to be a pond filled with Jell-O.

I chuckle, but they absolutely explode with laughter.

“Oh, my God,” Ainsley gasps weakly. “I can’t believe he’s trying again.”

“This is—” Miles tries to say, but his voice does that high squeaky thing that happens when people try to talk through hysteria. “This is the fifth time he’s tried.”

I’m bemused and delighted. “I take itJeopardy!reruns were a bust?”

He wipes his eyes and takes a deep, wobbly breath. “We never even made it there. We found this instead.”

I’d love to stay and laugh, but it’s going so well between them that I decide not to intrude.

I putter around the kitchen and a few minutes later Reese gets home. She puts her bag down on the table and then halts.

“Is that Ainsley making that noise?” Her eyes are wide.

“And Miles. They’ve been dying laughing at one of those shows where people get greased up and try to complete an obstacle course.”

“Wow. I’ve never heard her laugh that hard.” She goes and peeks at them and then comes back looking equal parts befuddled and charmed.

Iknewshe was only about two chess moves away from loving Miles.

An hour later Miles and I leave together, and as soon as the door closes I jump to face him.

“I have to tell you something.”

“Okay…”

“It’s good! I think! But also, when I think about it I might puke!”

“Okay?”

“And also—”

“Tell me, Lenny.”

Instead of telling him, I show him. I click into my phone, to a text thread, and hand it over.

He’s squinting and scrolling my original text and actually it takes a few swipes because…it’s long.

“Skip all that!” I demand, and scroll the phone down to the bottom. “The important part is whathesaid!”

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