“Yeah. I’ll make a reservation,” I say.
“Melody?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
He pauses. “For calling, I guess.”
“See you tomorrow, Beckett.”
“Night, Mel.”
“Bye.” I gulp.
I set the phone on the nightstand, flip the switch on the lamp, and lie down, clutching his book to my chest with one hand and the hacky sack with the other hand.
“You okay?” I hear Mom say.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly.
“He wrote you a book, Pretty Girl.”
“I guess. But that was a long time ago.”
“Sweetheart?”
“Yeah?”
“I think it’s time you stopped punishing yourself.”
Chapter 31
The next day, I miss a call from Evan during the end-of-the-year assembly. I call him back on the way home from school.
“Hi Mel. It’s about time we circled back. This week has been such a blur.”
“Right? Same here.”
“School over?” he asks.
“Yup. Today was the last day.”
“Well, that’s good. Let the summer begin, right?”
I shrug. “I guess.”
“So, I’ve got updates. Jax and Shelby nailed down a date for thePeopleinterview.”
“Oh?”
“A few, actually. Need to run them by Beckett, too, obviously. But for now, we’re looking at the 29th or 30th of June.”
“That’s next week,” I point out.
“I know. They want to put it in the print mag the second week of July. It’s such great timing, publicity wise.”
