“Of course,” I say, turning to look at Declan. He smiles at me. I smile back. “How are we going to do this?”
“I’m thinking midnight. Mom will take me to the garden’s gate entrance across from her apartment. You meet me there, and we’ll slip into the gardens again.”
“That sounds great. I’ll meet you at midnight.”
“Sophia?” Belle asks just before we hang up. “Do you think you could take me to your hidden garden too?”
“You want to see the garden tonight?” I say, glancing up at Declan. I look around at the beauty that surrounds us. “I don’t think it’ll be as breathtaking if it’s at night. It’ll be too dark.”
“I just… I’m afraid I’ll get back to my dorm and be too scared to leave it again.”
“Then we’ll go tonight,” I say.
I can hear Belle’s smile through her voice. “You’re the best.”
“That was my cousin,” I say to Declan after getting off the phone.
“I figured,” he says. “Is she coming back home tonight?”
I nod.
“And she wants to see this garden?”
I nod again. “I promised I would take her one day but going at night just doesn’t seem worth it.”
“I’m sure it’ll still be great.” Declan looks up at the sky. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll be a full moon. It’ll light up the area better.”
“Maybe I’ll just bring a flashlight? I don’t think the light would get through these thick walls.”
Declan considers this for a moment. “True.”
He stands and reaches for my hand. “Let’s get you home.”
“What? Why! It’s only eight,” I protest, sticking out my tongue.
“Yeah, but you should get a little sleep before your midnight excursion.”
That reminds me of the last time I was out here in the middle of the night. “Declan?” I say as we walk back out of the hidden door, locking it behind us. He hands me the key. “What were you doing out here that time I was taking Belle to her mom’s and I saw you in the middle of the night?”
He shrugs. “The gardens are my favorite place. I come out here a lot.”
“But in the middle of the night?”
He squints at a rose bush and then kneels down and plucks off a few bad leaves. Then he shrugs again. “Sometimes I can’t sleep. I come out here and think about girls.”
“Girls,” I say, feeling my chest tighten.
His arm slides around my back. “Well… if I’m being honest, it was one girl.”
“One girl?”
He grins and squeezes me close. “The only girl that matters.”
* * *
Aunt Kate stares intentlyat me as she and my cousin quickly cross over the street and meet me at the garden gate. Her brow is furrowed and little worry lines crease her face. Belle is carrying two backpacks full of the stuff I had brought her from our dorm while she was staying at her mom’s house. Now it’s time to bring it all back to Shelfbrooke.
“What’s wrong?” I ask because my aunt looks like she’s about to crumble into little pieces of anxiety.
