Page 126 of On His Mind

I go up on my elbow to look at him, and there it is on his face — the thing I feel too, the anticipation of it. We won’t need to hide anymore. We’ll have the whole summer together without being seen.

“A whole summer,” I say.

He smiles. “Yeah.”

I put my head back down on his chest, and I let myself imagine it. What if I don’t go back to Chicago? What if I don’t go on one of my mother’s extravagant vacations? What if I stay here with him?

It sounds like the kind of summer I want.

Chapter 43

Percy

FinalsendedlastThursday.I got the grades back Friday, sitting in the library on my phone, and I read the line twice before I believed it — a 4.0. All A’s. I didn’t tell anybody what I accomplished. There’s nobody to tell it to, not in a way that matters — Josh would be glad but far away, and the guys would chirp me and mean well, but none of them would understand what it means for me to reach this level at a school like this.

But I shared it with Penelope that Friday, and she kissed me hard until I felt dizzy. Then she made a whole dinner about it, and that was enough. That was more than enough. As long as I have her, it’s enough.

The guys clear out the second week of May.

I stand in the driveway and watch as Stanley loads his truck like he’s moving out for good, three duffels, a mini-fridge, a speaker, hugging everybody twice, telling me to air out his room and hold down the fort. He’s stopped with the Mon Petit Percy nickname. Now I’m just Pers. He tells me that he’ll see me in August, and how we’re going to make sure as hell to have the best senior year possible. Benson is already gone with his family. Gianna came around, said bye to all of us, and then went with him. Rowan left that morning. Blue has gone home.

The goodbyes come easy now, easier every year. I watched them go and I know they’re coming back in August, all of them are, no question — and that’s still a strange thing to be sure of, that people come back. Next year’s the last one for Stanley, Benson, and Rowan. They’ll be seniors. Blue and I will be juniors. We’re supposed to make it count.

I walk back in the house because Penelope is planning to be here within the hour, and she’s staying with me. Not just for a night. We’ll be together for the whole summer. Hawthorne is ours, Linden is ours, and we have all the time in the world to be together.

She shows up a little after noon with a bag over her shoulder and a box of her stuff in her arms — pencils, a couple of books, the good coffee she likes that I never buy. She stops just inside the door and looks around the empty house, the quiet kitchen, the couch, the stairs, all of it ours now, and she sets the box down on the counter.

“You’re sure I can stay here?” she asks.

“For three months.”

“Three months.” She turns and looks at me, and there’s something huge and careful under how light she’s keeping it. “We don’t have to hide for three months.”

I cross the kitchen, pull her in, and kiss the top of her head. She wraps her arms around me.

“No,” I answer. “We don’t.”

She kisses my mouth, and I still can’t fully believe I get this.

A few weeks into it, I wake up before her. I’m on my back, her half on top of me, the whole day empty ahead of us, the way every day’s been for weeks.

“Are you watching me sleep?” she mumbles.

“Yeah.”

“Stop.” She smiles into my chest, and the light’s on her, gold and soft, her face still loose with sleep.

“You’re kind of heaven-sent, you know that.”

She keeps her eyes closed, but a smile plays on her lips. “Like an angel?” she murmurs.

“Yeah.” I move my hand up into her hair. “Like an angel.”

She stretches and then wraps her arms around me.

“Are you religious?” she huffs.

“God, no,” I answer. “Definitely not.”