Page 45 of Save a Wish

“He didn’t use his phone on our date,” I said. “We had fun walking through the maze and had cider donuts and a slushie. It was a nice afternoon.” I left out the part where we shared a kiss hot enough to torch the cornfield.

“And he kept his attention on you the whole time?” Sylvie asked.

“Yes.” My cheeks heated, maybe because of the fire pit but more likely because of the memory of that kiss.

“This is unprecedented,” Vanessa announced. “My baby brother is normally glued to his electronics. He’d rather have his hands on tech gadgets than anything else.”

“Except for Sadie, it seems.” Carina held up her hand from her seat on my other side. “High five, girl. You did it. You proved to be more interesting to Beckett than technology.”

I lightly slapped my palm to hers—a gesture I only understood because Amelia had shown me how to do it the other day. It was meant to be congratulatory, and apparently having Beckett’s undivided attention was a big deal.

Sylvie raised her beer bottle. “Cheers to Sadie for unplugging Beckett.”

The other women raised their drinks as well and I felt as if I’d accomplished something important.

“Thank you.” I saluted them with my own drink before taking a sip. “I’m not sure I did anything, but—”

“Oh, you did,” Vanessa interrupted. “Not only did you improve his aura, you also put that look on his face.”

I looked over to where Vanessa motioned with her drink to find Beckett staring at me while Hunter showed him something on the screen of his phone. When he realized I’d caught him looking at me, he winked and sent me a charming smile that melted me a little in my seat.

“He’s smitten,” Flora said. “I recognize that look. It’s the same one Darius gives me right before we—”

“All right, all right!” Vanessa put one hand over her ear. “I know you’re all in love and shit, but I don’t want to hear anything about Darius’s sexy times look.”

The other women laughed.

“Sometimes I forget that our guys are your brothers,” Carina said. “It feels as if we’re just one big friend group.”

A friend group. What a delightful notion. And did the fact that I was now sitting among them—that I’d received a sexy times look from a Hartley brother—make me an official part of the friend group?

I wished for that to be true. Wished for it with every part of my heart.

Chapter Sixteen

Beckett

The sight of Sadie sitting and laughing with the other women around the fire pit filled me with a deep contentment. Everything felt right in the world with her here as my date.

And it was more than finally being a part of a pair like my other siblings. That aspect was awesome, of course, but knowing Sadie and I were involved altered something inside me.

For example, normally, I’d be fiddling with my phone right now as we waited for the food to be ready. I’d be checking my favorite tech blogs for reviews of the latest and greatest technology. I’d be texting with my gaming buddies, desperately trying to set up a date to play together. I’d be posting to Hartley’s Nest’s social media channels or my own personal ones. I’d be firmly invested in the virtual world.

Instead, I was here, in the real world, enjoying a cold beer with my brothers and gazing at the most beautiful woman to ever cross my path—or to lie in a grassy field, looking as if she was dead.

“Beckett?”

I shifted my gaze from Sadie to my brother Darius.

“Yeah?”

My brothers all glanced at each other then focused back on me.

“What are you all looking at?” I asked after taking another sip of my beer.

“That is the question,” Logan said. “What are we looking at? Because it kinda seems as if we’re looking at a man who can’t take his eyes off his girl, doesn’t it?”

Isaac, Joshua, and Darius all grunted their agreement.