When Jade arrived home, she found Toby sitting on her front steps. Her heart skidded to a stop. Was something wrong? Had Nate left without saying goodbye? She removed her helmet and locked it in the back compartment of her moped and rushed over to him.
“I still can’t believe you ride that thing. And why yellow?” He shook his head.
She had more pressing matters to discuss than her awesome machine. “Why are you here?” Her voice trembled, and she cleared her throat. “Has Nate gone?”
Toby rose. “No, not yet.”
Her shoulders slumped with relief. “Is everything okay? I don’t normally find you sitting on my front steps.”
She walked past him to unlock the door, and he followed her inside.
“I wanted to see how you’re doing. A lot has happened these last few days.”
Jade dropped onto the couch, and Toby took a seat next to her. “I’m fine.” Her mouth tried lifting into a smile only for it to wobble.
Toby removed his glasses, placed them on the coffee table, and rubbed his eyes. “I tried to talk to him. But I’m not sure if what I said sank in.”
Confused, Jade turned to look at him. “What did you say?” She didn’t need to ask who he was talking about.
“We were at his grandmother’s house. She knows he’s not doing what he really wants with his life. He’s living his father’s dream, not his own. She knows it doesn’t make him truly happy. I know it doesn’t make him happy, so I asked him to think about letting the band go.”
She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. “And what did he say?”
His expression looked hopeful. “He said he’d think about it.”
The palpitations in her chest kicked up in speed, and she had to clear her throat before asking, “He really said that?”
“Yes. And if you forget about that family curse and tell him how you feel, he might stay.”
“The curse isn’t real.”
“What? You’ve been telling me for years it is.”
“My mother told me it was an old tale my ancestor made up along with a bunch of others. When I told her Dad left because of the curse she realized I’d taken it too seriously and explained what really happened.”
Toby’s mouth fell open for a beat. “You’ve never spoken about that to your mother before?”
She lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. “I guess it was easier to believe in a curse than my father leaving us because he wanted to.”
“Now that you know the truth you can do something about it,” Toby suggested.
A nervous sensation fluttered in her belly. “Like what?”
Toby threw his hands in the air and shook his head. Then he looked at her like she was an idiot. “What would the two of you do without me? Go tell him you love him.”
Jade bit her lip. “How do you know how I—”
“Because sometimes I know you better than you know yourself. Change his mind. Nate’s crazy if he walks away from you.”
“I can’t ask him to leave the life he’s worked hard for. It’s important to him,” she said.
“It’s making him miserable.”
“What if…he doesn’t…” What if he doesn’t love me? she wanted to ask.
And like Toby read her mind, he said, “You’ll never know unless you try. I can’t tell you what you want to hear, but he has strong feelings for you too.”
Her stomach clenched. Could she lay her heart out? What if he rejected it? But what if he gave her his too? Could she let him go without ever knowing for sure?
