Jude wanted Gemma to be his. Gemma, who he'd do anything for. Hike across mountains. Sail across seas. Sacrifice his job, if she wanted him.
“Do you have any Jude stories from your younger years for me?” Gemma asked Max.
“So many.”
“Pick one, please.”
“Well, there was the Easter when Jeremiah and I thought it would be hilarious to throw four dozen confetti eggs at the gardener's greenhouse. We tried to convince Jude to be our accomplice, but he wouldn’t, of course.”
“He was eight going on thirty-eight,” Jeremiah put in from where he sat on Max's far side.
The whole Jude-is-an-uptight-bore theme was wearing thin.
“What are confetti eggs?” Remy asked.
“Empty eggshells filled with confetti,” Max said.
“You weren't into destruction of property?” Gemma asked Jude.
“No. Nor really any of the stupid things elementary school boys are into.”
“Jeremiah and I,” Max continued, “hid behind the bushes near the greenhouse and threw the confetti eggs one by one. When we were done, we started back toward Jeremiah and Jude's house. On our way we passed Jude, heading toward the greenhouse with a broom, a dustpan, and a trash bag.”
“We heckled him,” Jeremiah said, “but he walked past us with his chin up, like he was too dignified to respond. Which he was.”
“You were going to clean up their mess?” Gemma asked.
Jude hefted a shoulder. “I didn't want the gardener to have to do it.”
“So what happened then?” she asked. “You cleaned it up and tattled on Jeremiah and Max?”
“No,” Max said.
“He should have tattled on me a million times, but never did,” Jeremiah confessed.
Max leaned his elbows against his knees. “Jude cleaned up the mess but didn't say a word about it. Because of him, Jeremiah and I didn’t get in trouble.”
A softening moved across Gemma's face as she looked at Jude. Her cheeks and lips were pink. Sandy smudges marked her jeans. Every inch of her body glowed with health and vitality.
He held her gaze. She was brave, feisty, funny, and bold.
At Undercover School they'd repeatedly said,Remember who you're lying to and try your best to be honest with yourself.
This was him, being honest with himself . . .
He loved her. Exactly as she was.
Precisely because that's how she was.
He wouldn't change anything about her. None of it. Every aspect of her made up the whole. And the whole was worth more than anything to him. Priceless.
Jeremiah asked Max a question and Jude took the opportunity to lean toward her. “Come inside with me?”
“Sure. Why?”
“My grandfather asked me to bring out some . . . stuff,” he lied.
“Stuff?”
