Page 55 of Five

“No.” I laugh, lost in the memory. “I had to make a side trip to the art room. It was a Tuesday, so I knew your mom was busy with Belle and I wouldn’t get in trouble.”

“She had her mommy class,” Rory says. “And your mom was always late picking us up those days, remember?”

“My mom.” I chuckle. “She was always kind of a flighty mess when it came to schedules. Always on her own time.”

“Well, in her defense,” Rory says, pulling away from me so she can look up at my face, “she did have to bring those three face-eaters with her.”

God. Those damn German Shepherds we always had when I was growing up. My dad was obsessed with protection dogs.

“And you gave me those stars when we got to your house while I was waiting for my mom to come pick me up. You even typed up an instruction manual on how to hang them, and then printed it out for me to take home.”

I laugh out loud at that. “I’d forgotten that part.”

“Well, I didn’t,” Rory says, her tone soft and serious again. “I didn’t forget a single moment of that day.” She gazes up at me for a few seconds before continuing. “Because that’s the day when I truly realized that you cared, Five. It wasn’t enough to just make me that gift of sparkly stars. You needed to go ten steps further and make sure putting them up was easy. Of course, my dad did it. But he looked at your manual for guidance. To make sure he got it right. And even though I was just a little girl—a little girl who was surrounded by love on all sides, every day of her short life—this was something deeper. This was more than love. It was you being careful about my happiness.”

“Rory,” I interrupt her, wanting to explain everything that’s been happening all these years.

But she places a fingertip on my lips and says, “Shhh. I’m not done yet.”

So I stop. And I listen.

“I went to bed early that night,” she says. “Just so I could look up at the sky you made for me and wish on my favorite star that no one else in the entire world would ever see but me.”

“What did you wish for, Princess?” My throat feels tight. Like there’s something hard and sad in there. And my heart aches just being here with her. Living in the past with her. All the while knowing I’m gonna lose her.

“I wished for you to be as happy as me that night, Five. But I think I should’ve been more specific. Because whoever the Big Man with the Wishes is, he got it wrong, didn’t he?”

“Did he?” I have to take a deep breath to continue. “I was very happy back then.”

“Me too,” she says. “But I haven’t been happy for so long now, Five, I forgot what it feels like. Until yesterday when I saw you again. You, Five Aston, are the meaning of happy for me. And I have been kicking myself for six years, cursing the Big Man with the Wishes, for not telling him I want me to make you happy.”

“Oh, Ror. It’s you, babe. You’re the only thing in this entire world that makes me happy. The only thing.”

“Then why are you here tonight, Five? Why did you come up here in my room to tell me goodbye? Just tell me the truth. I can take it, OK? I promise, I can. I will listen. I will be calm. I will let you make your case and you have to let me make mine. But if you still want to walk away from me when all that’s said and done, I’ll let you go. And I won’t be mad, or sad, or hold it against you. Because you’re the kind of prince who gives his princess the stars and then types up an instruction manual just to make sure she gets every ounce of joy out of it she can.”

I just stand there, gazing down into her blue eyes, wondering how the hell I could fuck up something so perfect. We were fated to be together. From day one, I was waiting on her to complete my life. And even though I don’t remember being a baby—I have no recollection of those few months that separated our time here on Earth—I know I was incomplete until she came along. I felt it.

“So tell me now. What did you have to say when I came up here?”

It’s my turn to deflate. Because there’s only one thing in this world that will make me happy and I have her in my arms right here, right now.

And I can’t keep her. There’s just no way I can keep her.

“I have to go to China,” I finally manage. My words are low and my voice sounds just like my mind. Filled with sadness.

“And I can’t come, can I?”

I shake my head. “No, Princess. You can’t come. It’s the kind of place you can’t walk away from once you’re there.”

A tear slides down her cheek. But she wipes it away and draws in some courage with her next deep breath. “OK,” she says. “But I’d like to go on record that I come from a family of badass bitches.”

I laugh. Kinda loud. Even though it’s inappropriate because she’s being totally serious.

“And I can hold my own, Five Aston.”

I swipe a finger down her face to wipe away another falling tear. “I know, Princess,” I whisper. “But what kind of a prince would I be if I rescued you from the tower only to bring you straight to the dragon’s lair?”

She shrugs. “A confident one?”