Chapter Twenty-Six Ice Cream Always Helps #2
Sadie chuckles. “Yeah, of course he did. He went ballistic on them. I’ll never forget it.
Dinner at my grandparents’ is, like, sacred.
We have to have perfect table manners, and no one can raise their voice.
Grams is a stickler for manners. But Uncle Jason said that he loved Neelam, and that she was one thousand times better than any other person he’d met.
He said my grandparents had two choices—to love your mom like a daughter-in-law or lose one of their sons.
He said he was more than willing to walk away from the family for her.
Even walk away from his inheritance. And he said your mother knew that he would walk away from his family and money for her, and she still wanted to marry him.
That was pretty much how he told us they were engaged. ”
Liv whistles. “Wow. Uncle Jason’s a badass. That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. He really adores her.”
I nod, feeling myself tear up. I can’t deny it. Jason and Mom do have an amazing love story. They overcame so much. Why didn’t she tell me?
I want you with me more than I want air to breathe.
What would it be like to have someone love you that much?
So much that he’d be willing to give up a rather hefty inheritance and walk away from his family?
Will anyone ever love me like that? My ice cream carton is empty, and I need a lot more sugar right now.
“Do you guys mind if we get out of here? I haven’t been out of the house in days.
I need a change of scenery. And… baked goods. ”
Liv nods immediately. “Apple fritter?”
I wince. There’s no way I’m going to Donut Den. Even though Noah probably won’t be there, I think of that place as Noah’s turf. And he doesn’t want to see me.
“Maybe The Brewberry.”
Sadie nods, understanding.
Half an hour later we are sitting in the couch area at the back of The Brewberry with lattes and croissants.
I had second thoughts about coming here the moment we walked in.
Donut Den might be Noah’s turf, but it totally slipped my mind that The Brewberry is Kaitlyn’s.
But the place is empty, which makes sense. It’s a Monday night.
I frown after taking a bite of my almond croissant. It’s a little dry. “They should bring in the fritters from Donut Den here.”
Liv nods. She’s the big sweet tooth in their relationship. Which is why Sadie is currently taking the icing off her cupcake and giving it to Liv. Noah and I weren’t together long enough to discover where our food likes and dislikes overlap like that.
“Meera?” a small voice behind me says. I turn to see Kennedy. She’s in her Spirited Away T-shirt and is holding a pink boba tea.
“Oh. Hi, Kennedy,” I say.
She eyes me, then Sadie and Liv across from me, looking unsure. “Are you okay?” she asks. “You weren’t at CROP. Lainey said you’re not coming anymore. Is it because of Noah?” She leans forward a bit, examining my face. “Are you crying?”
I smile, wiping my eyes. “Yeah, been a weird couple of days. This is my cousin Sadie and her girlfriend, Liv. Guys, this is Kennedy. We were in the park restoration project together.”
Kennedy looks at Sadie and Liv for a moment, and I half expect her to growl at them, but instead her face transforms into a huge smile. “You’re wearing Totoro earrings!” she says to Liv.
I chuckle. These three have the same taste in Japanese animation. Kennedy has a lot in common with Sadie and Liv, when she’s not growling. But they’ve never been friends because of the stupid river that divides this town in so many ways.
“Do you want to join us?” I ask. I look at Sadie and Liv, and they both nod that it’s fine with them.
Kennedy comes around the sofa to sit next to me. “I need to know what’s going on because Jacobs barely said a word in CROP today, and he wouldn’t tell us what was wrong. We knew it had to do with you, though. I’ve never seen him like this, and I’ve known him forever.”
I blink. So Noah did go to CROP? I don’t know why I assumed he skipped it. But he never skips. He’s more like me than I realized when I met him.
“Yeah,” Liv says. “I don’t fully understand what happened. You were pretend dating. Then you were secretly really dating? How did you even go from friends or whatever to dating?”
I tell them, mostly for Kennedy’s benefit, the short summary of our relationship, and tell them what happened at Sadie’s grandparents’.
“He said he didn’t need a savior,” I finish. “Like the only reason I was with him was to rescue him or something.”
“Ouch,” Kennedy says. “That’s harsh. It’s not true, is it?”
I frown, shaking my head. “No, of course not. I did want to help him. That’s what relationships are for, right?
It’s not why I was with him, though. I was with him because…
” I pause, thinking. “He pushed me to be me. Like, I know I’m super ambitious, and can be single-minded about my goals, but he showed me that I don’t have to lose myself under the pressure.
He saw the best in me, so I wanted him to be the best he could be too.
” No one says anything for a bit, but they’re all watching me like they can feel my heartbreak too.
“If Jason LeClair wasn’t my stepfather and I did all those things for Noah, no one would accuse me of trying to be his savior.
I can’t do anything about who my mom married. And Noah knew who my stepfather was.”
“He was into you before he knew who your stepfather is,” Kennedy says.
I whip my head around to look at her. “Did he tell you that?”
“Yep. After that first day at CROP.”
Wow. So his flirting with me that day was genuine. “I don’t think I really started seeing him that way until I first heard him sing at Donut Den.”
“Can’t blame you for that,” Liv says. “Noah was born for the stage. Singer-songwriters are hot.” Sadie raises one brow at her girlfriend. “Champion golf players are even hotter,” Liv adds quickly.
I chuckle. “I never really understood the musician thing until Noah. I mean, one of my best friends is a musician, and there are a ton in my school. I love music, but most musicians are pretentious and dramatic. But Noah… it’s like he’s got this bad-boy image with his tattoos and clothes, and his family has some massive problems, but he’s so much deeper than he seems.”
Kennedy laughs at that. “Noah Jacobs is not a bad boy. Like, at all. He was annoyingly perfect in school.”
I smile. I judged him so badly. I shouldn’t have asked him to be my fake bad-boy boyfriend at all, because he was never a bad boy.
“Yeah, he’s smart, and easy to talk to, and perceptive, and the fact that he still works so hard after everything he’s been through is amazing.
He’s so strong.” I remember what he said to me that night, that when he was with me, he felt like he was the person he wanted to be.
A tear trails down my cheek as I take a large bite of croissant.
Coming here was a good idea. I’m still devastated, but it’s better to be devastated with butter and sugar than devastated without it.
Sadie and Liv are quiet for a while, before Liv tilts her head. “Sounds like you fell hard. Do you love him?”
I nod. “I do. He told me he loved me too.”
“So how are you going to get him back?” Kennedy asks. “You and Jacobs are perfect together. You can’t let him walk away from you.”
I shake my head. “No, I have to let him walk away from me. Because even if I’m only recently a LeClair, I still am one.
My family has done too much damage to his—taken too many choices away from his family.
I want Noah to have the power to do what he wants to do for a change.
And if what he wants is to walk away from me, then I’ll let him. ”
“Do you think this is happening because of your curse?” Sadie asks.
I shrug. “I didn’t really believe in the curse anymore, but I was clearly wrong there.”
Kennedy and Liv look confused, so I explain the curse.
“Oh! My mom can probably fix that with tarot cards and crystals,” Kennedy says.
If only it was that easy. Nothing on my curse-avoid spreadsheet made a difference at all.
“I think we misunderstood the curse, though. My family always thought the curse meant we would pick the wrong person. And I know Noah isn’t the wrong person.
I think the curse is really that bad crap will happen no matter who we pick.
My family is cursed to never have healthy, drama-free relationships.
I mean, Mom and Jason have a ton of drama too. ”
No one says anything for a while. “It really sucks that you have to be alone, though,” Sadie says. “Maybe you should try Kennedy’s mom’s crystals. Can’t hurt, can it?”
I shake my head. I am far from alone. I have these three. “Hey, Kennedy, you should tell Sadie and Liv about that Studio Ghibli festival in the city next month. It’s right up their alley.”