Page 127 of Promise Me Sunshine

His face brightens. “I was gonna drop by your place, actually. I wanted to see how dinner went with Jericho.”

“I think he fared better than you did.”

His face falls. “Well, he’s charming.”

I quickly course-correct. “My mom said to tell you that she wants you to come next week.”

He perks up. “Okay.” There’s not much space but he steps a little closer. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

I’ve been racing around town trying to figure out how to feed and water myself, and it hasn’t left a lot of time for pestering Miles.

“I’ve been trying this thing where I take care of myself. And I’m actually doing a pretty good job.”

I give in to what every single molecule of my being is screaming for me to do. I press my face against his chest, my arms banding around his rib cage. He doesn’t even pause before he matches my hold. This is the kind of hug that would keep our front halves dry in a rainstorm.

At this very second I’m elated and warm and I don’t care if we’re supposed to be waiting or I’m supposed to be wowing him with my self-sufficiency. He bends a little and rests his cheek on the top of my head.

“And how’s that been going?”

I tip back and catch him by surprise, his head still bent down. If I went up on my tiptoes, I could take a bite out of his smile. “Nothing’s gone disastrously wrong. Actually, everything went right. And every day I still end up sad,” I say with a little shrug. “Go figure.”

“You are blocking foot traffic,” Emil says from the doorway of the building.

Miles and I loosen our grip to glance around the basically deserted block. “What foot traffic?” I ask. “That lady down on the corner? I think she’ll be able to manage.”

“Move along,” he says, shooing us inside, a little smile on his face.

Miles and I board the elevator and the very second the doors close, I resume our hug. “Hey, I’m hungry,” I tell him. “Will you feed me these cookies from my purse while I tell you about my day?”

I can physically feel his smile. “Of course.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Emil is holding two palms up for Ainsley to shadowbox against. “One. Two. One. Two,” he says in complete deadpan.

She stops boxing and puts her hands on her hips. “You gotta pump me up, I said!”

“I believe that is job for Lenny,” Emil says, and honestly, I might have agreed with him if I hadn’t also failed at the task.

We’ve got half an hour until we’re due at her school for the big dance, and we already stomped around the living room, fist-pumping and kicking couch pillows into the wall while we listened to the entirety ofJock Jams.I expected Miles to complain, but, shockingly, he had his eyes closed on the couch mouthing the words to “Whoomp! (There It Is).”

When that wasn’t enough for Ainsley, she dragged us all down to the lobby. “Don’t you know any soccer chants or something you could do?” she demands of Emil.

These nerves seem out of proportion to me for a school dance, but Reese has been gone for two and a half days already and I want to keep Ainsley’s mind off it.

“Come on, tiger,” I tell her, pulling her away from Emil. “We don’t want to be late.”

It’s funny to be heading to a dance with the birds still chirping, but this is elementary school, so the shindig starts at five.

When Ainsley sees her school down the block, sheremoves her hand from mine and pushes her hair back from her eyes. Her chin comes up, her shoulders go back, and she starts strutting. She takes off her purple glasses and from her pocket, materializes my cheetah-print heart-shaped sunglasses that Miles gave me.

“Where’d you get those?” I ask in shock.

“You left them on the counter a couple weeks ago,” she says. “And tonight they’remine.”

I can’t argue because she’s channeling rock star and it’s a good look for her. Apparently she’s going to sit with her class, so we wave goodbye in the lobby on the way in to the talent show that’s going to happen before the dance.

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