Page 101 of A Summer of Stars

“You’d be on the balcony in your underwear if I didn’t love you so much.”

There was athudin my chest. Had she just—I immediately reared back.

The curve of her brow looked tense, fearful. “I didn’t—”

My phone vibrated on the nightstand. I groaned in frustration. If this was a work thing, I was going to be pissed.

I twisted to catch the name:Padre.

When I returned my focus, I found Luna looking at the phone too. “It could be important,” she said.

Only one thing was important, and it was her. Her and those words. But that didn’t look like a conversation she wanted to have right now.

I closed my mouth and reached over to grab my phone. “Hola, Padre.”

My father’s voice sounded tired and tense. “Alexander, Abuela is in the hospital.”

The cloud of joy I was riding on was pulled out from under me. Bile sat in my throat. The last time she had been rushed to the hospital, they were putting her under for an emergency surgery that was going to happen whether or not I could get there in time.

“I’m leaving right now.”

“Luna Aldridge Looks Smitten Meeting Boyfriend Kieran Alexander’s Family on Trip to Spain”

—ModeSense

MY STOMACH RESEMBLEDthe inside of a carved-out melon. But somehow, even in its emptiness, there was still sourness crawling up my throat.

The stark white light that lined the hospital’s hallways burned my vision. But every time I winced and closed my eyes, the image appeared of my mother resting in a white bed as the doctor broke the news to my father that the car accident was fatal.

Eyes open, I saw her. Eyes closed, I saw her.

It was such a glaring difference from the woman I had been picturing on the court. I could have vomited if Kieran weren’t holding my hand.

“You holding up okay?” His voice broke me from my thoughts. He didn’t slow his long strides toward the hospital room the nurse had directed us to, but he had turned enough to catch the uneasy look on my face.

“Of course.” The last thing he needed to be worrying about was me. The grip he had on my hand said enough.

From France to Spain, the whole flight here, I held his hand. It felt like the only solace I could offer. He accepted it without hesitation, running his fingers over my rings as he told me I could back out at any point.

“Just because of what happened last night doesn’t mean I expect you to drop everything. I can get you to Madrid the moment I leave the hospital. I know the tournament is soon, so I—”

“Kieran, stop. I’m here because I want to be. There’s nothing more to it,” I had cut him off. Any discussion about tennis or what I had said in that hotel room could wait. I wanted to be a comforting presence when we got there, not an inconvenience.

He took a minute to absorb my words before explaining who would most likely be at the hospital. Names, ages, personalities, relations.

“Room nineteen,” he confirmed. His shoulders rose with tension as he knocked on the door and pushed it open.

And it was… well, nothing like the picture he had painted me.

I had expected to see his brother Franny, sister Mila, their dog Rosco, his parents, and possibly an aunt, uncle, or cousin. But only two people, who must have been his parents, sat beside the hospital bed. His resemblance to his father hit me in the center of my chest. They shared the same dark hair—only his father’s was laced with silver—blue eyes, olive skin, strong nose, and sharp jaw. Kieran in thirty years.

Beside him, sitting atop the bed in casual clothes rather than a hospital gown, was his abuela. She looked surprisingly healthy. And, unsurprisingly, happy, judging by the youthful smile painting her face as her grandson entered.

I remained in the doorway shielded by Kieran’s height, feeling like an intruder in the intimate space.

“Alejandro!” she cheered. He immediately softened at the name. It made me realize how much I still didn’t know about him. This new version had been developing in my mind for months, but even now, it was still evolving. Like a movie shot on film, developing beneath layers of chemicals. I’d only been granted corners and edges of a full scene.

“What are you doing here?” she cooed, instantly grabbing his face, and laying a kiss on his cheek.