Page 69 of Romeo

Don’t ruin it.

A smile pulled at my mouth.

Maybe patience wasn’t just keeping my hands off her until she was ready. Maybe it was this too. Not demanding the pieces she hadn’t offered. Not turning every problem in her life into one I had to solve.

Just being there when she decided she wanted me.

I could learn that.

For Fiona, I’d damn well try.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Fiona

The kitchen smelled like rosemary and garlic, the kind of warm, familiar scent that normally made it impossible to feel bad about anything for long.

Normally.

Granny stood at the stove, humming as she stirred something in a large pot, while I sat at the kitchen table with my calculus textbook open in front of me. My pencil rested against a problem I’d already read four times without understanding a single word.

Another scholarship rejection had arrived that afternoon.

Third one this month.

Fifth overall.

I’d opened it at lunch while sitting alone in my car because apparently, I’d already learned to schedule disappointment somewhere nobody could watch me react to it. The email had been polite, professional, regretful.

We received an overwhelming number of qualified applicants this year. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a scholarship at this time. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Future endeavors.

Such a nice phrase.

It made everything sound wide open, as if my future were some endless stretch of possibilities instead of a collection of dollar amounts I kept calculating in my head. I pressed harder with my pencil until the tip snapped.

Perfect.

My phone buzzed beside my calculus book.

Jasper: You disappeared.

I stared at the message. Of course he’d noticed.

Me: I’ve been studying.

Jasper: For four hours?

Me: Some of us take school seriously

Jasper: I take many things seriously.

Me: Name one

Jasper: You.

I closed my eyes. He really needed to quit doing that. One sentence. Sometimes one word. Then I’d spend the next ten minutes staring at my phone like it contained the secrets of the universe.