Page 57 of Love is a Game

Silence.

Then—

“Penelope.” His voice sounds far away. And amused.

I frown. Something about his tone…

“Down here.”

I look down as the flashlight captures my midair predicament.

And there he is. Not at the window.

But on the ground.

Arms crossed. Head tilted back. Staring directly up at me.

Flashing a light against my ass.

I squeeze my eyes shut. “Kill me now.”

He laughs. “Oh no. I’m enjoying this way too much.”

“Tuck,” my voice is strained, “rescue me. I’m stuck!”

“No shit. What were you thinking?”

“Clearly, I wasn’t thinking. Can you stop gawking at my ass and get me down?”

“I’m just assessing the situation. Checking angles. Formulating a strategy.”

“Well, can you speed things up a little, Einstein? We’re battling some major challenges here, namely,gravity.”

“You didn’t notice that giant branch by the window got trimmed off years ago?” he wonders. “It was scraping against the guttering.”

“That update is so not useful to me at this point. Now that I’m up here,yes, I can absolutely confirm there is no access to the window.”

“Yeah. So…you’re straddling that forked section. If you shift your weight, slide lower, and get your left foot on the next branch.”

“You couldliterallybe speaking Swedish right now. That’s how much sense that makes to me. Ican’tmove. I amstuck.”

Tuck sighs. “Okay. Hold on a second.”

“Really, that’s your advice?Hold on? Geez Louise, I would never have thought of that. Stuck in a tree? Better hold on! Golden advice, Tuck. Real insightful.”

Silence.

Great. Now he’s abandoned me. Now I’m stuck up here with sweaty palms and shards of bark imprinting my backside, and Tuck’s just decided to wander off somewhere. Perfect.

I blink. “Tuck?”

More silence.

“Are you kidding me right now?”

Then a sound. Movement.

“Tuck?”

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