“What are you smiling about?”
Aidan’s voice jerks me out of my text conversation with Kendall. I shove my phone back in my pocket.
“Nothing.”
I look up at him and Micah staring at me.
I clear my throat. “Just, uh, talking about the best man speech with Kendall. She’s helping me write it.”
Micah smiles. “That’s so nice.”
Aidan frowns at me. “You’d better not tell any embarrassing stories about me.”
I pat my brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’re gonna love what I’ve got planned.”
Chapter 12
Kendall
“Okay, everyone. Nice work today. Be sure to leave your assignments on my desk on your way out.”
The students in my poetry composition class start to pack up their things and stand up.
“We’ll be talking about Ella Wheeler Wilcox next week, so make sure you finish the reading by Tuesday,” I tell them.
They file out of the room, and I grab the stack of papers and place them in my bag. My phone buzzes, and I check it.
I smile when I see a text from Liam. I lean on the edge of the desk and tap my screen to read it.
Holy. Shit.
I burst out laughing and text him back.
Me: Is that a good “holy shit”? Or a bad “holy shit”?
Liam: Good.
Me: I’m guess that means you liked “I Carry Your Heart With Me”?
Liam: I loved it. This E.E. Cummings dude can write. Damn.
My head falls back as I laugh.
Me: Yeah, he was pretty incredible. One of the greatest American poets.
Liam: He sounds completely in love with the person he’s writing the poem about. Like, he’s attached to her, but in a good way. Like he feels responsible for taking care of her heart forever. Like he’s going to carry it with him forever.
I rest my hand on my chest, touched by the way Liam speaks about this poem.
A tiny pang of guilt hits me.
For so long, I dismissed Liam as a shallow, superficial guy. As soon as I distanced myself from him in college, we stopped hanging out one-on-one, but I’d see him whenever our mutual friends would hang out together. He was always drinking or flirting with women or talking about hockey. I assumed he didn’t care about much else.
But clearly he does. The way he reads and talks about poetry shows how thoughtful and smart he is.
Me: Are you sure you’ve never taken a poetry class? Because you’re nailing it with your observations.
Liam: You think so?
