His eyes grew wide. “It’s not?”
“No. You’re going to have all sorts of far more important tests in your life. None of them you complete with a pencil. Choices you’ll make, moments when your integrity is tested to the limit, and you can’t get a do-over.Thoseare the life-changers. Not the LSAT. You can redo the LSAT in a few weeks.”
He stared at her for a second, then said, “Well now, you’ve made me nervous about my entire life.”
Giving him a sympathetic look, she said, “Oh God, that wasn’t my intention. But honestly, Lewis, you’ll ace those too because you’re a good person.”
“Thanks.”
“And you’ll ace the LSAT today.”
“I hope so.”
“I know it.”
The man who was administering the test stood up. “Okay, everyone, time to flip over your papers and begin. Good luck!”
28
“I get by with a little help from my friends.”
~ Joe Cocker
Jess pulled into a stall right in front of Ambrosia’s entrance. It was ten minutes to eleven on a beautiful spring Sunday morning and she was going to spend the next few glorious hours with her friends, eating and chatting. As a gift to herself, she’d ignored the laundry in favor of arriving early enough to get a good parking spot. Today she’d be the one bringing the good gossip, so even if she had shown up late, it wouldn’t have mattered that much. She’d update them on how things went when they took Noah to the Pattersons’ with his apology letter. How they’d accepted his offer of doing their yard work for the next year and replacing the door, and how they’d dropped the charges. She’d fill Rachael in on her big decision, and she couldn’t imagine a topic getting more mileage than that today.
Diana arrived just as Jess was getting out of her car. After quick hellos, they hurried into the restaurant together. Rachael was already at a table when Jess walked in, and Jess’s heart lifted at the sight of her beautiful friend. When they hugged, Jess held on a little longer than usual, inhaling the cookie dough scent that she now decided was both delicious and comforting. How dare Ted give up on her beautiful friend like that? What an idiot.
They all took their seats and Rachael smiled at Jess. “You look amazing.”
“Really?”
“You do.” Turning to Diana, Rachael said, “Doesn’t she look amazing?”
“She does.”
“Well, I can’t think of why. I haven’t done anything new with my hair, or my face for that matter.”
Rachael nodded. “You’ve got that confident girl air about you—like you had when we were in school.”
“Thank you,” Jess said, blushing a little. “Ifeelconfident.”
“That’s because you kicked ass on your LSAT,” Diana said with an excited shrug.
“164. Not bad, right?” Jess asked. “I didn’t beat my twenty-year-old self, but I’m okay with that. I proved to myself that I’ve still got it.”
Destiny was their server again, and she showed up just at that moment with a tray of drinks.
Rachael grinned at them. “I took the liberty of ordering bellinis for all of us. I thought we should celebrate.”
“Oh, what are you celebrating?” Destiny asked.
“She scored in the top ten percent in the entire country on her LSAT.”
Destiny’s eyes glazed over, but she said, “Wow, that’s terrific. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you ready to order?”
