Page 65 of The Second Kiss
“Gage. Just before we left. He came over and we sort of made up. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is, but I thought after Gage tried what he did in the car you were done with him.”
“What do you think he tried?” Jasmine looks confused.
Now I’m confused too. “I thought he tried to push things too far, physically.”
Jasmine looks down for a second. When she looks up, she seems different, more vulnerable somehow. “Not physically. Emotionally. He told me he thought he was falling in love with me, and I kind of freaked out on him.”
That takes a second to process. That doesn’t sound like Gage or Jasmine. No wonder she freaked out. “He told you he loves you?”
“Falling in love, so maybe not quite.” She adjusts her bracelet without looking up.
“And now, now that you two have talked things out and made up?”
“I dunno. Maybe I’m falling in love with him too.” She breathes in and then talks fast before I can say anything. “It’s stupid though, right? Because he’s leaving and it can’t be anything. I won’t do the distance thing.”
“Jasmine. I don’t know…"
“Yeah, me either, okay.” She takes a breath. “But we weren’t talking about me being stupid in love. This one’s about you. Where is Nate now?”
Part of me is dying for more details about Jasmine and Gage's sudden relationship, but I barely have the brainpower to analyze my love life, much less theirs, so I let it go. “On his way back to the airport. They're spending Christmas in South Carolina, but flying back for New Years.”
“And Jacob?”
“He’s staying here. He couldn’t get the time off.”
“So, let’s see, you have a week to make Jacob forget you kissed his brother and fall madly in love with you, or find someone else for Nate by New Years.”
The depth of everything I've done makes my heart heavy. “Something like that.”
Jaz shakes her head like I’m a hopeless cause. I’m starting to believe I am. Someone calls her in Spanish. “Sorry, gotta go. I have to get ready for Midnight Mass. I’ll think about your little problem and get back to you. In the meantime, try not to kiss anyone else.”
“Thanks a lot,” I answer. “Merry Christmas.”
“Feliz Navidad.” Jasmine says. “Talk to you soon.”
thirty-one
Afraid
Mom wipes her hands on her apron. “Do you know what happened to Jake, Matthew?”
Matt answers from his nest on the couch next to Kendra.“He was walking around outside last time I saw him.”
“Could you go find him? We’ll have dinner as soon as Dad’s back from the airport,” Mom says.
“Send Jess. I’m sure she’d rather go find him than I would,” Matt says.
I send him a dark look, but reach for my coat. “I’ll go.”
I grab a flashlight out of the garage and head outside. The rental house is dark, and I don’t see Jacob anywhere. I pull my coat closer. A cold, drizzly rain falls. “Jacob,” I call. No one answers. There's a light in the barn. I’m not sure why he'd be there, but I follow it anyway.
When I close the door, his voice comes from upstairs in the hayloft. I stand at the bottom of the stairs and listen.
“Yeah. I heard. Thanks for calling anyway. Yeah. I know, tough. Yeah. Two kids. Saturday? No way I can get there. Tell Katherine I’m sorry, and she’ll be in my prayers. Thanks again. Yeah. Merry Christmas.”
I wait a few more seconds, but whoever he was talking to must have hung up. Something slides along the wall and thumps upstairs.
