Page 90 of Light Up My Life

“Well, I’ll let you get to work,” I said.

“You want a hot chocolate?”

“No, I’m good. Thank you, though.”

He smiled.

“Jasmine?” a voice called from beyond Will’s trailer. “Is that you?”

“Mr. Lenny?” I asked, stepping around to see him.

“Did you see this?” he asked. He held up one of the red flyers that Mrs. O’Leary had been leaving on our doorsteps. Well, maybe not her personally, but they were authored by her. Always signed with her name.

“Is that the latest one?” I asked. I hadn’t seen it yet.

“Yes,” he said.

“What does it say?”

He handed it to me. And I read: Absolutely no live animals can be used for yard displays per county ordinance.—Mandy O’Leary

“What’s this about?” Mr. Lenny asked. “Is someone planning on bringing in live animals?”

“I don’t know.” I wasn’t about to admit that I did know. And last I heard, Mr. Moreno hadn’t found any reindeer.

“Wouldn’t that be something,” Mr. Lenny said.

“It would,” I agreed. And everyone else would agree too. Reindeer would be something different, something cool, something vote worthy. My eyes caught on the flyer. But Mrs. O’Leary didn’t think so. Surprising. Did that mean something? The fact that all her flyers this year limited what we could do? The fact that she was passing out flyers at all?

The sound of a car moving down the street drew my attention. I thought it was just someone looking at the lights. But it was Ryan, finally pulling into his driveway.

I pulled out my phone. Walk with me for a sec? I texted him.

Back to Mr. Lenny, I said, “Good night.”

“Night,” he said, shuffling back up his walk. For a moment I wondered why he’d come out in the first place. Maybe he’d seen me out here and wanted to ask about the flyer.

I walked toward the end of the street. Ryan hadn’t responded to my text, but I figured he would follow. I made it around the corner and past one of the dark houses when he caught up.

“You walk so fast,” he said, catching me by the hand and kissing my cheek. “Like, freakishly fast.”

I smiled. “Thank you. I agree.”

He laughed. “I tried to find you at school today. You don’t sit in the stairwell at lunch?”

“No, just that one day you saw me. I’m normally in the art room.”

“That’s right. You told me that.”

“I was looking for you too. Where do you normally hang out?”

“In the leadership room.”

“Makes sense.” I squeezed his hand. “What would you have done if you found me?”

“Mainly just looked at you. I like looking at you.”

The smile that was on my face was starting to hurt my cheeks.