Page 153 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

She smiles and nods. “I want you to take these two pills and drink this.”

He hands her the pills and a bottle of water.

“If it’s a date rape drug, I can assure you that you don’t need it. I want to remember the first time you’re⁠—”

Jade covers Tessa’s mouth before she can finish. Tessa pulls her hand away. “I’m a bit tipsy, so maybe a refresher tomorrow?”

Lucas doesn't answer. Tessa starts toward the music again, but he catches her arm.

She looks back at him. “Change your mind? Because, seriously, anything you want, Lucas. And I mean anything.”

She pops the pills into her mouth and swallows them with the water.

“Satisfied?”

“Not yet.” His voice is huskier than before. “Will you sit and eat with me? Finish the start of our date here? A picnic?”

“Sure, I will.”

She spots a tree and hurries toward it, sitting beneath it and patting the spot beside her.

I look at Jade. “Looks like Lucas is who Tessa wants to take care of her right now. Can you and I walk over there and eat?”

Jade sighs. “Sure, just not too far, though.”

We settle down with the food, keeping enough distance to give Lucas and Tessa some privacy without leaving them completely on their own.

“Hell no. Screw food. Go have fun. Break rules. Get to second base and catch up,” Tessa calls after us.

I shake my head and laugh.

“She's going to be mortified tomorrow.”

Jade looks over at her cousin. “She probably should be.”

Across from us, Tessa sits beside Lucas and starts trying to feed him. She climbs onto his lap, hikes her skirt up so she can face him, and fights with a forkful of spaghetti that keeps sliding off.

“Nope, you will not win,” she scolds the pasta. “Slippery little bastards, I’m gonna get you.”

Eventually she gives up on the fork and uses her fingers, shoving the spaghetti into Lucas’s mouth.

“See? I don’t lose.”

Lucas chews, and Tessa wipes sauce from his mouth with her finger before licking it off.

I glance at Jade. She looks back at me, and neither of us says anything.

“Hey, pretty girl, lets you and I eat over here.”

I grab the bag with our packaged meals, and Jade and I walk over and sit beneath another tree, close enough to keep an eye on them but far enough that we can have our own space.

I open my container and take a bite of my steak. Jade does the same with her lobster ravioli.

“This is actually pretty good,” I say.

She smiles. “You sound surprised.”

“I wasn't sure how good takeout steak was going to be.”