Page 124 of And Now, Back to You

“There are phases?” I ask.

She slams her palm against her forehead. “Wait, what am I doing? I need the notebook. Addie, clear off the dry-erase board on the fridge. We’ll need that too.”

She scampers off. A second later, I hear her feet pounding up the stairs.

I sigh and drop my head back with a groan. “What are the chances I can wiggle my way out of this?”

“Impossible,” Adeline says. “She’s been planning it for a while.”

She’s still staring at her slippers. “Hey.” I nudge her shoulder. “You okay?”

She nods, silent. I let her work through whatever it is. She’s always been good at coming to me when she needs me. I just need to give her the space to do it.

There’s a crash from upstairs, paired with a muffled I’m okay!

“What happens in phase two?” I ask, staring at the ceiling. “Do you know?”

“I think it’s asking the girl you like to lunch.”

I hum. “What if the girl you like just wants to be friends?”

“Then you use lunch to convince her that something more is better,” Adeline says, somber and serious. “You’ll have to wait for the full presentation. Penelope has a flow she likes to work through.”

I try to mentally prepare myself. I’m a strange combination of pleased, proud, and terrified. I know what I’m like with a PowerPoint deck and a stack of note cards. I can only imagine the teenage-girl version.

“Jackson?”

Adeline’s hand slips against mine. She presses our palms together and squeezes. I stop staring at the hallway and stare at the top of her head instead. Her honey blond hair, darker at the roots, with a cowlick that matches mine.

“Yeah, Addie?”

“I love you.”

I shake my hand out of her grip and curl my arm around her shoulder instead, dragging her into me.

“Yeah.” I press a kiss to the side of her head and ignore the part of me that wants to take back everything I just offered, hoping I haven’t made a mistake. Hoping that for once in her life, Camille will be able to keep her promise. “I love you too.”

SIMONE LEEDS: Now over to our very own Delilah Stewart, who is finally back in the studio.

SIMONE LEEDS: Delilah, how was your trip to the mountains?

DELILAH STEWART: It was a great trip, but I’m happy to be home.

DELILAH STEWART: Let’s talk snowfall.

CHAPTER 32

DELILAH

I see the Post-it note on my driver’s side door as soon as I leave the station. A standard-issue pale yellow, the corner of it lifting in the wind that whips through the parking lot. There’s still snow on the ground from the storm, but it’s been packed down by cars and boots in the handful of days since we got back.

I peel the note off my window.

Lunch? it says, in Jackson’s neat, careful handwriting.

I smile. “Is that a threat or an invitation?”

Jackson hums from behind me, leaning up against the bumper of his Honda with his arms crossed over his chest. “Why is it always one or the other with you?”