‘Do you need anything?’ he asked, kissing the top of my head when I tested my limbs, rolling my head and stretching my legs. ‘Water, Advil? I’m not sure what’s the best cure for unexpected time travel.’
‘It’s this,’ I said, resting against his chest. ‘Best possible treatment. At least until the twins get back.’
He didn’t move but kept me in his embrace, shifting his weight on the bed. Despite the chuckle that found its way out of his chest, I could see the tight set of his jaw and the grim scowl that marred his beautiful face.
‘Maybe we don’t tell them,’ I suggested through a yawn, suddenly drained. ‘Jackson and Lydia, I mean. No need to freak them out.’
‘Whatever you want,’ Wyn replied. ‘I trust you.’
Relaxing into him as I closed my eyes, I clung to those last three words, almost as sweet as anI love you.
The next morning finally dawned after a difficult night. Wyn wasn’t nearly as good at playing the everything-is-fine game as I’d hoped and even though Lydia marched us through the rest of the day without stopping to ask what had brought on his reflective mood, her brother didn’t miss a beat. All afternoon and all evening, he’d kept his eyes on me and Wyn, hurt, maybe, suspicious, definitely.
When I padded downstairs, the sun was only just up but already chasing the moon out of the sky and I was glad of it. I didn’t want to see the moon after it stood so idly by, watching what happened to my ancestor, doing nothing to change her fate.
‘Didn’t have you down as a morning person.’
Jackson stood in the middle of the kitchen, sipping a glass of something green. There was a bullet blender on the counter, alongside leftover parts of assorted fruits and vegetables.
‘Juice?’ He nodded to the upturned blender cup. ‘It’s fresh.’
‘I’m thinking coffee,’ I replied, sloping over to the other side of the room and wishing I’d thrown something over, or under, my Braves jersey. Jackson only wore a pair of low-slung sweatpants and they clung to his chiselled hips like they were hanging on for dear life.
‘Didn’t get much sleep, huh?’
I shook my head, fighting with the lid of the coffee grinder. Of course the Stovells had a fancy barista-type machine, of course there was no instant coffee in this house.
‘In a good way or a bad way?’ he asked.
‘There’s a good way?’
‘At least one I can think of.’
It took me too long to catch his meaning and when the realization dawned on my embarrassed face, he laughed.
‘It’s a joke, Em,’ he said, strolling across to take over my poor attempt at coffee making, expertly filling the machine to pull a shot of espresso. ‘You really aren’t a morning person, huh?’
‘I’m really not,’ I agreed.
After the incident in the pool, Wyn had stuck to my side like glue, wearing the kind of expression that would make anyone think he’d received the worst possible news. All afternoon, at dinner, around the firepit afterwards, while Lydia handed out chunks of chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers for s’mores, he had one hand on me at all times, a protective talisman, as though he could stop anything bad from happening to me by sheer force of will. But I drew a line at sharing my bed. This wasn’t how I wanted to wake up with him for the first time.
‘Good thing you’re done with school,’ Jackson said as I moved over to the fridge, relieved Ashley wasn’t here to judge me for how sweet and milky I took my coffee for a change. ‘Class starts at eight fifteen.’
‘I would fail everything,’ I replied, placing a huge cup in the microwave.
He gave me a disappointed look, removed the mug and started up the steamer on the coffee maker. I made no move to stop him, I was not in the right frame of mind to be messingaround with a steamer; third-degree burns were not the thing missing from this vacation.
‘Only two more years to go,’ he said loudly over the sound of the frothing milk, moving the cup up and down until it was thick and foamy, then he poured the shot of espresso into the milk, a pretty coffee-coloured heart sitting on the surface.
‘Impressive,’ I said when he presented it with a flourish and a bow.
‘It’s easy once you know how. Work in enough coffeeshops and you soon figure it out.’
‘How come you’ve had a bunch of different hobbies and jobs and Lydia’s only extracurricular is fighting people on Reddit?’
Jackson smiled into his juice glass while I added an obscene amount of sugar to my coffee. ‘I love my sister but she doesn’t pay attention to boring old things like finances. Sports and things like the historical society go a long way with a lot of colleges, part-time jobs go a long way with living expenses. I’m hoping to get a scholarship but, if I don’t, I want to be able to pay my way.’
‘Oh,’ I said, wrapping my hands around my perfect cup of coffee. ‘Right.’
