Page 98 of The Do-Over

I looked at Rox and could barely find my voice to say, “What are you doing?”

“It wasn’t until he cleaned out his truck and could still smell her perfume on his brother’s jacket,” Trey said, “that he was almost suffocated by how much he missed her.”

“What is this?” I sniffled and blinked fast as Nick stopped walking and looked directly up at us.

At me.

Alex continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “He knows he screwed up his chance, but he just wants to give her a present for her birthday. Then he’ll go.”

I looked down at his face, handsome, and the only face in the world that made me want to cry. As I watched him, he swallowed and gave me the intense stare that I could feel from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

I shook my head and looked away from the window and into the faces of my friends. “I don’t think my heart can take this game anymore.”

Chris said, “Just go hear him out.”

I took a deep breath. Then I stood and walked across the restaurant and over to the front door, throwing it open and stepping outside. I was about to walk in the direction of where we’d seen him through the window when I heard, “Em.”

I looked to my right and there he was, standing beside the door, waiting for me.

It wasn’t fair how handsome he was. He was still wearing the black hoodie, and I hated how the sight of him negated every little bit of fun I’d been having with my friends. Looking at Nick just made me want to go home and cry.

I crossed my arms and said, “I’m trying to have dinner with my friends. What do you need, Nick?”

He gestured with his head for me to follow him over to one of the outdoor seating tables that was vacant because it was too cold for anyone to eat outside. I rolled my eyes and walked behindhim, irritated that he was somehow managing to be bossy on my birthday.

“Open it.” He set the box on the table, looked at me with those eyes that’d haunted me in my daydreams, and he said, “Please.”

He seemed so… intense. His jaw was clenched, his eyes laser-focused on me. I took a deep breath and told myself that I didn’t know why my stomach was full of butterflies. I reached out and pulled the edge of the red ribbon that was tied into a perfect bow, but when I pulled the lid off of the white box and looked inside, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I glanced at him and the only word I could come up with was, “How?”

He shrugged as I put my hands in the box and pulled out the cake.

The purple unicorn cake with the sparkly frosting.

The one I’d wanted on my ninth birthday.

I couldn’t believe my eyes as I lifted it all the way out and set it on the table. The shiny golden horn, the glittery unicorn, the sparkly purple frosting. It saidHappy Birthday, Em, the way I’d desperately wanted it to when I was in the fourth grade.

But… Nick had never seen the cake before.

“How on earth did you do this, Nick?”

He gave a little shrug of his shoulders. “I got help.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” I said, putting my shaking hands on my hips and trying to figure out this guy who might’ve just gotten me the most thoughtful gift I’d ever received.

He said, “Max knows the bakery owner.”

“Max?”

“Your grandma.”

My brain wasn’t firing fast enough for me to keep up. I squinted at him and said, “My grandma helped you?”

He nodded.

“Um, as far as I’m aware, the one time you met her she asked you to get off her porch.” I searched his face for an answer, but his mouth slid into his tiny smirk, the one that made him look pleased with himself but not quite friendly. I said, “Please explain yourself, Nick Stark.”

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