Page 109 of How (Not) to Conjure a Boyfriend
“So again. Mackenzie Nicholas Jackson.” He pauses and a thought strikes my brain.Oh my gods, it’s way too early for a proposal! Please tell me you know that! Please don’t ask that!“Would you do me the honor of being my date to the Winter Formal?”
My eyes bolt open. The dance! A tear pokes from the corner of my eye and I’m sort of grateful I didn’t put on makeup this morning. It’s a happy tear though. This boy sees me beyond my mistakes. I don’t know how he does it whenIcan’t even do it, but he does. He sees who I want to be. He sees my heart. I’ve never known what that feels like until this moment, and it’s better than our first kiss. It’s a joy that I don’t know I’ll ever be able to express.
“Say yes!” Mr. Franz yells, now across the shop.
I’d forgotten about them being here, and retract a little, but Zachary doesn’t let go. I give Mr. Franz a nervous grin.
“Listen to that man,” Zach laughs.
“Uh. Yes! Of course!” I finally say it. “Yes, I’ll go to the dance with you!”
“Awesome,” he giggles. “Oh and, would you maybe be my enbyfriend too?”
Excuse me? Why else would I go with you to the dance?
“I thought that was evident.” I stick out my tongue.
“So that’s a yes, right?” he chuckles.
“Yes!” I say so he’ll stop asking.
“Thank you, Mack,” he says, and pulls me toward him.
Just like that night in the old, empty, dark house, everything quiets and I swear his eyes close in slow motion, or maybe it’s everything else that’s going slow. I don’t know which, and I don’t really care, as our lips touch and I lose myself in his kiss. That same vanilla-mint soothes my senses while his warmth pushes through my skin and he squeezes me closer.
“Thankyou, Zach,” I say when we part.
Not ten minutes ago I felt like my life had ended, but here I am in the arms of the most genuine guy I’ve ever met, and he said he loved me, and more importantly I believe it. But there’s always something else; it’s not just him that I lied to.
“What about your family?” I ask, bringing some tension back into the situation.
“Oh yeah! About them…” He grins mischievously, and taps his phone a few times.
“Huh?” I purse my lips, but before he can answer, the door chime rings and my eyes light up.
It’s Mary-Anne and Mr. Marcus. Holly, and Eliza, and Catina, and Jeffrey. They’re all smiling, rushing into the store, hands up and yelling, filling the tiny shop with a raucous laughter and joy. Then there’s Super Old Gran hobbling in behind them, yelling,“Kiss them again!” and my heart practically melts all over again. I love her so much. Gramps and Kiki are behind her, helping her get through the door. Then at the end of the entourage is Hayden. He's the only quiet one, but he’s grinning.
“Kenzie!” It’s said so many times by so many people I don’t know who’s talking until Mary-Anne rushes around the counter and engulfs Zach and me in a big hug.
“I want you to know that youarefamily, Kenzie,” she tells me, looking between us. “You have been for weeks. We just didn’t know how to react.”
“It was a lot to take in, you know?” Mr. Marcus admits. “But you reallyarepart of the family.”
I’m awestruck. I don’t know what to say. How do you handle such unconditional love?
Hayden walks around them and stands across the counter the way he has so many times before. It’s weird seeing him, really seeing him, but even more so now that the obsession is gone. I squeeze Zachary as the thought puts a grin on my face.
“Of course we wish you would have told us earlier, but you really grew on us,” Mary-Anne says.
Eliza cocks her head to the side and smiles with bright white teeth. “I told you you were family.”
I laugh and nod back at her.
Yeah, I effed up. I shouldn’t have let all this happen. I should have told the truth at the beginning. I’m not trying to excuse that, but somehow, it all worked out. It’s beyond anything I could have imagined. Maybe Freyja is smiling down on me right now. Maybe it’s fate. Maybe it’s something to do with my spell. I don’t know, and honestly I’m not sure it really matters.
“Kiss them!” Holly screams.
I look at Zachary and smile. He’s laughing right back.
