Page 101 of Fighting

…this has Lee written all over it…

Nessa:

Will there be red yarmulke Santa hats?

Bad Idea:

I’ll make sure of it.

Nessa:

I’m in

Nessa:

Ema! What did you do?!

Ema (Dassi Rabin ICE):

What do you mean?

Nessa:

You’re throwing a party with Susan. We just started dating!

Ema (Dassi Rabin ICE):

And I know my girl. She’ll want to be with her siblings on Christmas for a movie marathon and Chinese takeout, but she’ll want to make her boyfriend happy and be at their party, so I made it one event

Nessa:

Ema (Dassi Rabin ICE):

You’ll be amazed what happens when you trust & let go, sweet girl.

forty-six

Mateo

On Christmas afternoon,after we’ve slept off the late-night Noche Buena with Mom’s church friends, time seems to have slowed. I’ve been anxiously pacing, eager for four p.m. to arrive.

“Brosef,” Lee teases me as I wear a hole in the carpet, “I brought my supplies and sketches. Want to kill a little time?”

“Have you inked skin yet?” I ask. Either way, I want to do this. I just want to make sure he’s truly prepared.

“I have marked every grapefruit in the greater Manhattan area, and also this.” He slides his sleeve up, revealing a new design on his forearm. The delicate letters are immediately familiar.

“Did she write it first or did you free-hand?”

Stef appears, wearing a smile, and traces the words on his skin—love you most—with a glowing smile.

“Total surprise, but he took it from a letter I wrote on our wedding day.”

After a heated look between them, she breaks into a wicked grin. “Also, you aren’t Lee’s first. I get that title.”

I shake away the double-entendre while she slides her watch up her wrist to show me the two tiny hearts with the lettersLandSinside.

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