Chapter 49
Later, Xander walks out of the pharmacy with two tote bags stuffed with candy.
I thought we’d head straight to his mom after breaking the curse, but nope, we had to stop for sweets first. He figured once he reunited with her, she wouldn’t let him stockpile sugar like this.
Apparently, she hated his sweet tooth. But I have a feeling that after ten years apart, she’ll let him do whatever he wants.
I lean across the center console and push open the passenger door as his beaming smile nears my truck.
“That was insane!” he squeals, tossing the bags on the floor and hopping in.
“The moment I stepped inside, a worker said hi to me. Then I bumped into a woman in the candy aisle, and she apologized. She looked at me. They saw me!” He’s breathless.
“When I checked out, the cashier handed me the receipt and our fingers brushed. I felt his finger! Can you believe that?”
“I don’t want to,” I say. “Not if other guys are out there holding your hand.”
He grins and hands me a chocolate bar. “Don’t worry. No one else’s touch makes my heart stop like yours.” His nose wrinkles.
“Barf,” Dara says from the back seat. “Can I have my credit card back?”
“Yeah.” Xander flips it into her lap. “Thanks for the treat. I’ll try to start making my own money soon.”
“You better,” she says. “I thought you were getting a candy bar, not the whole Halloween aisle.”
“Oh, his addiction is real,” I say.
“I hope Stetson still likes you when your teeth fall out,” Dara says, swiping a pack of M&M’s from Xander’s lap.
His face falls. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’m going to get cavities now. And stomach aches. And sunburn. And wrinkles. And under-eye bags. We need to change me back.”
I laugh. “I think once you see your mom, all this will feel worth it. Should we take you home?”
Dara clears her throat. “Can you drop me at the bus station first? I need to get back to Fairmont.”
I glance at her. “You don’t want to see your family?”
“I do,” she says softly. “But just my mom. And she’s not in Penango. She’s the only one who never gave up on me.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.” She hums and looks out the window. “But I’ve got a feeling the winding roads will take me to her. Just like they took you to me.”
We drive without a word. Xander munches on Sour Patch Kids while Dara stares out at the passing fields, her black hair swirling in the wind.
I won’t miss the cursed life, but I’ll miss cruising around town with two people who understood me instantly, when the rest of town couldn’t figure me out in eighteen years.
At the bus station, only one other person is waiting to leave Penango. Most are still choosing to stay.
Dara hops out just as the bus rolls into the lot.
She leans through Xander’s open window. “Hey, you two. Don’t let anyone tell you your love doesn’t belong on the Ardor Tree.”
My cheeks warm. “When will we see you again?”
She looks to the sky. “Let’s meet at the Ardor Tree next summer. We’ll make it our annual reunion.”
“Deal,” I say. “We can make sure no other kids repeat our mistake.”
She shrugs. “Or maybe we let them learn their lesson.”
“No!” Xander blurts. “Some lessons don’t need to be taught twice.”
Dara and I laugh.
“Take this,” Xander says, tossing her a pack of gum. “I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a lot of kissing in your future. The boys haven’t seen a face that pretty in years.”
She rolls her eyes and walks backward toward the bus. “Good luck at college, Stetson!” She waves. “Good luck at life, Xander! Don’t blow your second chance! I know I won’t.”
I glance over and catch Xander wiping a tear. “Are you crying?” I ask.
“Maybe,” he says. “I forgot how much it hurts when people leave.”
“That’s what makes reunions so special.” I place my hand on his knee. “Let’s bring you home.”
A few minutes later, we pull up to his house. The white front door is shut tight. The sun glints off the freeway sound barrier, casting a shimmer on the pavement.
“Will you come in with me?” Xander asks.
I exhale. “This is a moment between you and your mom.”
“Maybe you can knock like last time,” he says. “Tell her that you’ve been talking to me in secret, and I’ll pop out from the bushes.”
I shake my head, smiling. “I think that was traumatic for her. Just walk inside.”
He scratches his neck. “Well, what if I write her another letter and you read it to her first?”
“Hey.” I take his hand and squeeze it. “It’s going to be okay.”
His lips tremble. “How do you know that?”
I swallow and lean a little closer. “You know what I realized this summer?” He lifts his gaze, eyes glossy.
“That the universe really doesn’t factor enough time into our lives.
Not for me. Not for you. Not for anyone.
And deep down, we all feel it. We wish for more time.
We try to freeze the best moments, stretch them out, hold them tighter.
” I pause. “When time stopped for me, I started to see why the people around me might’ve hurt me.
They weren’t trying to. They were just reacting to a world that’s fleeting.
Maybe your mom stayed quiet back then not because she didn’t care but because she didn’t want to ruin what time you had together.
Maybe she was trying to protect that moment the only way she knew how.
” Xander looks toward his house. “Even now, she waits in silence, doing her best to freeze time in case it brings you back, just like how it took you.”
He doesn’t speak for a long second.
I take his chin in my hand. “Her face is going to light up,” I say. “The curse is broken. You don’t have to worry.”
He finally exhales. “She won’t look past me?”
“I bet she won’t be able to look away from you.”
He nods, flicking a tear from his nose. “I love you,” he says.
“I love you too.”
“I’ll see you later?”
“You’ll see me later, tomorrow, and every day after that.”
He steps out, walks slowly down the uneven brick path, and knocks.
As I drive down the street, I hear a joyous shriek, like someone unwrapping a puppy on Christmas morning.
Dara and Xander aren’t the only ones with big reunions ahead. Mine might not be as happy, but it’s necessary. I need to finish what I started this summer. I need to end things with Murray once and for all—so that this time, he understands.
I take a sharp right toward Penango College.
As soon as I pull into campus, I spot him, Murray’s unmistakable sulk moving through the chain-link gate behind the football stadium. I shift into park before the truck fully stops, gears grinding as my body jerks forward.
The sound catches his attention. His head snaps up, eyes locking on mine. He doesn’t hesitate. He starts toward me.
I step out, rolling my neck.
The distance between us feels endless, even though it’s barely a dozen yards. We meet in the shadow of the bleachers, standing inches apart, where he thought we’d spend the next four years. I scuff the toe of my sneaker against the pavement.
“Hey, Murray.” My voice is steady. “Long time.”
He lets out a dry laugh. “Yeah. It feels like forever.”
“How is football camp?” I press the back of my hand against my forehead to block the sun glare.
“Hot. Brutal.” He scans me from head to toe. “You look different.”
I smirk. “I look the same.”
He glances over his shoulder. “Do you have time for a walk?”
I frown. “I can’t. I just wanted to stop by before leaving for college.”
His fingers clamp tighter around the helmet at his side.
“Look,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for how everything went down between us. After graduation. But even before that too.”
I keep my face neutral. “I appreciate that.”
His jaw tightens. “I’m sorry for not being what you needed.” He looks to the ground, shaking his head. “For not saying the right things. Or doing the right things. For pushing you.” His voice cracks. “I don’t know.”
The late summer air thickens between us.
There’s so much I could say. I could tell him how much he hurt me, how confused I’ve been all year, how I spent my summer nights going over our conversations like a record stuck on repeat.
But there’s also so much I’ve already let go.
Standing here now, it all seems different, like a memory that doesn’t feel so heavy anymore.
“You tried,” I say finally. “You just weren’t ready.” His eyes flick back to mine. “And you weren’t supposed to be.”
He shifts on his feet. “All summer during practice, I kept looking for you in the bleachers here. I thought maybe, one day, you’d show up.
Just like before.” I stare at the sweat beading across his forehead.
“I wish I could remember the last time I saw you up there. You always looked so cute.” A shaky smile tugs at his cheek.
I know the exact Friday night he stopped looking for me. If only it had mattered to him then as much as it does now.
“I miss you,” he admits. “You were my best friend.” A lone tear slips down his cheek. He reaches out to me but quickly snaps his hands back to his sides.
My heart skips a beat.
“I miss what we had,” I say, and I mean it. He was part of my story. The chapter that led me to Xander. How can I not be grateful for that?
“I understand.” He nods, exhaling hard, then wipes his nose with his forearm. “So, we’re good?”
“Yeah, Murray. We can be good.” I drop my arm, and the sun burns my nose. “We’re not the same people we were when we were sophomores.”
“I wish we were,” he says. “I’d do anything to go back to sophomore year.”
I could tell Murray that’s the last thing I’d ever want, to go back in time and relive high school, but I’ll give him the past, now that I have my future.
“Have a good football season,” I say instead, retreating.
“Thanks.” His voice is quieter now. He clears his throat. “Have fun in Tennessee. I’m glad you made it.”
I pause, letting my brow furrow. “Are you actually?”
But my words get lost to the air between us. He’s already walking away, still avoiding the questions that scare him most.
In the silence that follows, all mine are answered.