There she is.
“They’re visually stunning, though.”
“Stop.”
Bea didn’t. And for once, it looked like Lillian might not actually want her to.
Nico strolled in, backpack slung over one shoulder, tanned and two inches taller than she remembered. His face was sharper, his posture more sure. Still Nico, but slightly more grown, like the edges of boyhood had been sanded down over the summer.
His eyes landed on her t-shirt. Black. Expensive fabric. Capital letters across the front that read: ‘I’M NOT A MILLIONAIRE YET.’
He’d given it to her last Christmas—printed with the line she’d used a dozen times to drag him back on track whenever he got lazy or smug.
He grinned. “You wore it.”
Bea grinned back. “Didn’t want you to think I was gonna let you coast this year.” She stood and gave him a sideways hug. “You grew.”
“Of course I grew.” He dropped into the seat across from her. “El Jefe thinks I’ll be taller than him by the time I’m out of the military.”
“If you’re taller than El Jefe, you’re going to be a skyscraper,” she said lightly.
“Works for me.”
“Speaking of El Jefe…why didn’t you tell me your godfather is Rafael Griffin?”
“You know him?” Nico sat up.
“He’s a year above me at St. Ives.”
Nico smirked. “What do you think of him?”
Bea’s heart did things it had no business doing. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he’s El Jefe. You’re a female.”
“He’s…fine.”
Nico blinked. “Fine? You’re the first girl I’ve ever met who said El Jefe isfine.”
“How many girls do you know that aren’t in high school?” she asked dryly.
Nico’s mouth opened as if to rebut. “Not the point.”
“You remember I have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, the one you left for ten weeks,” he said pointedly. “How’d that go?”
Not so well, actually.
Might’ve gone more or less exactly as he had predicted. So he’d been right: he did understand men more than she did. Humbling, that.
But she was still the adult in the room. And adults were allowed to lie to themselves.
“I ended up coming back early for that internship,” she said primly. Then, before he could interrogate her more, “Did you bring your textbooks?”
He pulled them out with exaggerated solemnity.
She started flipping to the right page.
