Page 8 of Follow Your Bliss

“I did help you dig up my property in the middle of the night.”

“Girl. It’s not even one.” For a moment, she only stared back. “Fine. Okay. Deal.”

A corner of my mouth quirked up. Did she call megirl? “And I’m gonna hold it while you read it so you can’t run off with it.”

She shrugged. “Whatever. Can I see it now? What mortifying things did twelve-year-old me write?”

I brought the list down to her level and leaned in with it.

She slipped her hand around my forearm and gripped it, probably so I didn’t take the list away again. Thank God it was dark out here, or she’d see exactly what that simple touch was doing to me.

“Okay, I grew out my bangs.” She ran a finger with chipped purple nail polish down the list, as if trying to find all the worst ones before I could. “I’ve lived in New York City.”

But I found it first. “Number five: ‘Make J.S. fall in love with me.’ Who’s ‘J.S.’?” My heart rate went up with my eyebrows as I met her wide eyes.

Her face, already bright pink from the heat, turned a vibrant shade of red as she removed her hand. Her breath hitched.

It was totally me.

I couldn’t stop my slow smile. Didn’t somebody tell me she had a crush on me when we were in school together? This and her deer-in-headlights stare just might be confirmation.

That was kinda…cool. I felt my smile spread wider.

“It wasn’t you,” she blurted. “That was, oh, what was his name?” She scrunched her eyes shut and pressed her fingertips to her brow. “Jonathan Santos. Yeah. Huge crush on him in middle school.” She crossed her arms and fixed her eyes on me.

“Oh yeah, Jonathan Santos.” Sure it was. “The first openly gay boy in our class.”

She shrugged, her stare daring me to challenge her. “The heart wants what it wants.”

The church’s clock chimed one o’clock. She broke her gaze and started shoveling everything back inside the capsule. “I’ve kept you up long enough. Thank you so much, really. Is it okay if I come back tomorrow to bury it again?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ll seal it up and bury it for you.”

“Are you sure? I’ve already put you out enough.”

“Yeah. I don’t mind.” I stuck her bucket list back into the capsule and experimentally laid the silicone seal back over the mouth of the cylinder. “I probably ought to clean this first and let it dry so it seals back right.”

Kasey had sanded me down a little each day so I wouldn’t snag under her thumb, but the last few minutes with Rose had me feeling like a fresh-hewn cut of wood, full of splinters and promise. And I didn’t want it to end.

“Do you want to come in and cool off before you go?” I asked. “Let me get you some more water.”

“No,” she said forcefully. “Absolutely not.”

She didn’t have to turn me down with such vehemence, but okay. I crossed my arms and nodded as if I agreed that was best.

She downed the rest of her water and tossed it into a nearby trash can, then edged toward the steps looking positively miserable. “You already took me to my prom because your sister made you,andyou helped me dig up your yard. I’ve imposed on you enough for one lifetime.”

I laughed. “My girlfriend at the time was pretty mad when she found out.”

She covered half her face with her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“No worries. She was kind of mean anyway.”

“Oh good! I mean, not good. But. Yeah. Um. I have some third quarter moon manifestations to do anyway. Goodnight. Thank you again!”

Ooh, that’s right. She was a “godless Guidry girl,” as Mom called her and her sister. Even if she hadn’t shot me down so hard it stung, Mom would never approve of me dating her.

She took three steps off my porch.

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