“Ah, yes.” She nodded. “Final item on the list.” She looked me dead in the eye, her mouth a straight line. My goose bumpsreturned. “James, are you the boy Isa talks to every night? Keeping her up late?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said calmly as I mentally freaked out and tried to pull together anI’m Not a Distractionspeech. I knew the word was coming.
My stomach spun in surprise when it didn’t. “Thank goodness,” Mrs.Cruz said, that straight line turning up in a smile. “I hoped it was you.” She set her iPad and mail on Mr.Cruz’s workbench so she could hug me. I was startled, but I hugged her back. “I was concerned it would be some other boy who’d only be a distraction…”
Okay, so the word did come.
“…and not fully support Isa’s commitment to her goals.”
“Well, I promise that’s not me, Mrs.Cruz,” I said. “I’m here to help her achieve them.”
And distract her. I was definitely going to distract her, but that would stay between us.
Isa’s mother smiled, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Isa start to smile, too. “Would you like to stay for dinner?” Mrs.Cruz asked. “I got the urge to cook today, so I went to the grocery store in betweenBillionsepisodes.” She gestured to the house. “The oven is already preheated.”
“Yes, stay!” Isa said enthusiastically, but it was all for show. There was no excitement in her eyes, and I caught the imperceptible shake of her head. She planned to tell her mom about the affair over dinner. If I stayed, she wouldn’t be able to do it. She’d gotten up the guts; this was her shot. I wasn’t going to stop her from pulling the trigger.
“Oh, wow,” I said. “Thank you for the invitation. I’d love to, but unfortunately, I can’t. My dad is also pulling out all the stops for dinner tonight, and I’m sure my mom mentioned Grace is sick.” I shook my head. “I should head home soon.”
Mrs.Cruz nodded. “Another time, then. I’d like to help find you a direction.”
A direction?I thought as Isa groaned. “Mamá…”
“What?” her mom said. “Boston University has plenty of strong programs, but I would like James to have an idea of what he’d like to pursue.” She looked at me. “Personally, I think you should pair cybersecurity with a music minor—”
“Mamá!” Isa exclaimed, cheeks reddening. “Stop!”
Mrs.Cruz smirked, then held up today’s mail. Three big envelopes with three iconic college crests. “These are addressed to you, Isabel,” she said as my heart heaved. She’d done it. Princeton, Harvard, Yale—Isa had gotten off of their waitlists. My guess was she had a trio of emails in her inbox, but after putting down her deposit at Brown, she turned off notifications for it. “Do we need these?” her mom asked. “Or should I go ahead and shred them?”
Next to me, Isa went completely still. I, too, was shell-shocked.Whatwas happening? Mrs.Cruz had made Isa feel guilty about getting wait-listed for the last month, yet now that Isa had the so-called top schools at her fingertips, her mom was letting herchoose? Was this a weird-ass test?
I heard Isa exhale. “You can shred them,” she said confidently. “This is amazing news, Mamá, but Brown is the right place for me.”
Mrs.Cruz’s lips twitched, as if she was desperate to make a counterargument, but she didn’t. “You are the best of the best, Isa,” she said instead. “I hope you know that.”
“I do,” Isa replied. “And I think the school that recognized that first is the one that deserves to have me.”
Her mom nodded. “I need to go start dinner,” she said. “But I would like to talk more about Brown later.” She paused. “As you know, your father took you on that tour.”
“Of course, Mamá.” Isa nodded back, then dropped my hand so she could step forward and hug her mom harder than I’d ever seen. “I’d love to tell you all about it.”
Once we had the garage to ourselves, Isa offered to drive me home in her Mini. “Wait, why not this old gal?” I asked, gesturing to the Rolls-Royce. “Shouldn’t someone be driving her,too?”
Isa rolled her eyes. “That old gal has seen her day.”
“But what did your mom say?” I mused. “About making memories?”
I put a thoughtful finger to my lips and waggled my eyebrows suggestively.
Isa blushed and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Yes,” she said primly. “I believe that’s the gist of what she said.” She took a few steps over to the charging Tesla, then leaned against its trunk. “And I’d say plenty of memories were madetoday.”
“Oh, for sure,” I agreed, and let a beat pass. “But I think it could use one more.”
“One more?” She tilted her head, a smirk spreading across her beautiful face.
“Yeah, Izzy.” I moved close, and Isa grabbed my shirt to pull me even closer. “One more.”
“Okay, then kiss me.” She smiled. “Kiss me, James Barbour.”
