Page 143 of Lose You Twice

Wren stares at me for one heartbeat.

Two.

Then she steps forward, grabs the front of my shirt, and pulls my mouth to hers.

I cup her face and kiss her back, careful enough, honest enough that my chest aches with it. Her fingers curl in my shirt like she’s holding on, and for the first time in years, I let myself believe she might want to.

Her mouth moves against mine, and everything in me goes quiet, peaceful, for the first time since we fell apart.

Kissing Wren Calloway feels a lot like coming home.

22

WREN

Trying again should come with instructions.

A packet, maybe. One of those stapled things professors hand out on the first day of class with attendance policies and grade breakdowns and warnings about plagiarism. Except this one would say things like: Do not kiss your ex-boyfriend in kitchens while your siblings sleep upstairs unless prepared for emotional consequences.

I wake up the morning after Kai stands in my kitchen and tells me he wants to try again with absolutely no idea what to do with myself.

This is not helped by the fact that my phone already has a text from him.

Kai: morning, freckles. how’s lily’s fever?

There is something so thoughtful about him checking on my sister before seven in the morning.

Wren: Down to 99.9.

His response comes fast.

Kai: that’s good. she had you taking great care of her, so it’s not surprising that she’s on the mend

I smile at my phone like an idiot.

“Ew,” Holden says from the kitchen doorway.

I drop the phone facedown on the counter. “Excuse you.”

He’s in pajama pants and a hoodie, hair sticking up on one side. “You’re smiling at your phone.”

“I’m allowed joy.”

“Normally, you’re kind of moody before coffee. And by kinda, I mean very.”

“First of all, rude,” I say, turning back to the coffee pot. “Second, I’m making coffee as we speak. Maybe it’s just the aroma that does it for me.”

“Sure it is.” Holden studies me for one second too long.

Before we continue our conversation, Lily coughs from the couch and calls, “Wren, Daisy is breathing near me.”

Daisy shouts back, “I don’t want to go to school!”

I point toward the living room. “See? I have real problems.”

Holden’s mouth twitches, but he lets me escape.

I let Daisy stay home, and by that afternoon, Lily is better enough to return to school and complain about the injustice of no longer controlling the remote.