Page 28 of The Friend Game

I would totally join him there.

Just for a watermelon-flavored kiss. Nothing untoward. After all, he’s a pastor. And I have the promise ring my parents gave me on my thirteenth birthday to think about.

“These trees are one of Jill’s favorite things,” I inform Luke as he rubs the spot where he hit hishead. I’m throwing him the same bone he threw me earlier when I popped out from under the table, the pretend-nothing-he-just-said-or-did-was-weird bone. “I’m pretty sure she has three entire Pinterest boards dedicated to her pomegranate trees, one about the care and keeping of them, one for inspiration, and one for recipes.” I lean in a little and whisper, “And Brooke and I think she has an Instagram account for her trees. We can’t figure out what the handle is, but once I walked outside to find Jill narrating a video of the trees, and another time Brooke caught her staging pomegranates in the kitchen.”

Luke grins, looking relaxed again. “Did you try searching their names?”

I freeze. Luke knows they have names? Maybe even knows what those names are…this could be big!

“Their names?” I ask innocently.

“Yeah, she sent Max and I out here to grab a few pomegranates for the salad off of Wilson and Ethel.” He gestures to the two trees next to us.

“No!” My sister’s voice screeches from a few feet away, just as I pump my own fist in the air and shout, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

“Wilson and Ethel,” I crow victoriously in Jill’s direction. “Wait until I tell Brooke I found out their names!”

“Don’t you dare tell Brooke,” Jill replies hotly. “Hannah Caitlin, you will not tell her!”

“Clearly I’ve put my foot in something,” Luke says apologetically.

“Oh no, no,” Jill, ever the hostess, hurries to assure him even while shooting red hot laser beams at me with her eyes. “This is not your fault, Pastor Abbott. I should’ve warned you that while most humans are mature enough for me to tell them the names of my pomegranate trees, my sisters are not.”

“Wilson and Ethel.” I ignore her, shaking my head giddily. “Thank God Max had input on your kids’ names, Jill.”

“Wilson and Ethel are perfect tree names, Hannah,” Jill retorts. “Max thinks so too, don’t you, babe?”

“Of course,” Max says loyally. “Perfect tree names.”

“Personally I liked Annie the oak and Dash the ash, the trees of our childhood, a bit better,” I pipe up.

“Trees are living things, Hannah.” Jill sets her hands on her hips. “It’s normal to name living things.”

“I agree.” I adopt a serious expression and take the pomegranates Luke’s holding into my own hands. “That’s why I named this pomegranate Luke collected Bob.”

Next to me Luke holds his lips together against a laugh and behind Jill Max stifles a snort.

“I know you’re making fun of me,” Jill replies coolly, taking a few steps to close the distance between us, “but I actually think Bob is a great name for a pomegranate. Now I’m going to take Bob inside and cut him open so we can have pomegranate seeds on top of our salad.” She yanks the pomegranate out of my hands and stalks inside. Max follows after her, muttering something about damage control.

Across the lawn Holly and Goldie are still playing with Liam and Ellie, so it’s just Luke and me standing here. Well, Luke and I plus Wilson and Ethel.

I turn to Luke unable to contain my glee. “Three years!” I tell him. “For three years Brooke and I have been trying to find out their names, and you just waltz in and solve the mystery.”

Luke chuckles. “People will tell a pastor anything.”

I laugh too, even though his words make me uneasy. They’re a reminder of what I’m not telling him.

His dad told you not to tell him,I remind myself, but it doesn’t make me feel better.

“Hey so, speaking of telling people things,” Luke goes on, “there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” I feel like Holly, my ears perking up eagerly. “What’s that?”

“Not now,” Luke amends quickly, “but could we maybe meet up for lunch at school tomorrow?”

My heart rises hopefully in my chest. “Meet for lunch?” I repeat, just to be sure I heard him correctly.

“Yeah, just as friends,” he adds quickly.

---