I lean into his ear, “Sing with me?”
He kisses me on the forehead, and a giant grin spreads across his face. “Always.” I raise the mic stand and we take our places around it.
“You guys want to hear a song?” I ask the crowd. “Or did you all just come here to help embarrass me?”
The crowd erupts in cheers and whistling and I begin to play “This Girl,” feeling for the first time like the words are a declaration and not a wish.
There’s this boy, oh this boy,
who’s got me all tied up
in the best kind of knots.
There’s this look you’ve gotta see,
when he’s starin’ at me,
it’s his hands on my hips,
and in the way that we kiss.
I can’t help but smile
’cause he’s lookin’ at me,
oh he’s lookin’ at me.
There’s this boy, oh this boy—
I think he’s the boy for me.
EPILOGUE
CAM
As I step through the giant automatic doors of Lake Terrace with Vee, I consider—for maybe the hundredth time—how I’m going to handle this. Vee hadn’t given me a choice when she said, “You’re going to meet Nonni on Sunday.” There was no question asked. I had known it wasn’t optional by the way she scrunched her eyebrows together and squeezed her lips into a thin little smile, daring me to argue with her.
That was two days ago, as we sat in standstill traffic on the interstate, trying to make our way to Riverton. To spend the weekend with Vee’s parents. Back in the day, Vee’s mom took me in with open arms. Fast-forward, after I ran off with no notice, broke their daughter’s heart, then inadvertently made her look like a cheater on national television—and I don’t quite know what to expect. I’ve basically been covered in a cold sweat the last forty-eight hours. Since the moment she told me we’d be making this trip. She told me that if “whatever this was” between us was going to work, I would have to face her family eventually.Face her family.The way she said it hadn’t exactly donewonders in assuring me that I wasn’t being driven straight to the firing squad.
But eating dinner with her parents and making awkward small talk with her aunt, who spent most of the meal ogling me—I am a rock star now, after all—had beennothingcompared to the crush of panic I’m feeling as we walk down the floral-papered hallways of the nursing home. I’m not sure if it’s just in my head, but I swear I can smell the familiar scent of room 207—eucalyptus, baby powder, and lavender—before I even see the door. While Vee enters, announcing loudly, “It’s VA Day, Nonni!” I stand frozen in the doorway.
There are so many memories wrapped up in that room: the first day I showed up to visit Gram and told her about the fire, and she cried for the strangers that were my dead parents; the loneliness and emptiness I felt when I came to Riverton, feeling like I didn’t deserve anything else. And then there was Vee and the strange curiosity I had felt when I heard her that first day; the way she made me want to be a part of something again, the burning pain I feel every time I think about how much I hurt her and almost lost her in the end with my secrets. Will she think I’m a total stalker when she finds out how Iactuallymet her?
Then I hear a raspy voice inside the room.
“Is he going to come in, or is he just going to stand over there?”
“Nonni, be nice,” Vee scolds.
“Hush. I’m teasing. Come over here.” She’s waving her hands in the air, ushering me over.
Hands in my pockets, I join Vee next to Nonni’s bed. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” I hold out my hand and she swats it away.
“Pshh, you call me Nonni. And give me a hug.” She puts her arms out and I lean into them, hugging her awkwardly as she sits in her bed. As I stand up she grabs my arms in her hands,squeezing my biceps. “Nice arms on this one,” she says, winking at Vee.
Vee bursts into laughter and I can’t help but join her. “Stop harassing my boyfriend, Nonni.” Her smile falters and she gives me a sideways glance. Neither of us is used to saying it—we never used to. I slip my hand around hers and squeeze.
“Don’t listen to her,” I say. “You can harass me any time you want, Nonni.” I give Vee a smile that she returns.
