Heart and Soul by Jackie May (reading list .TXT) 📗

“No.”

He takes a drink of hot cocoa, leaving me in suspense. He wipes the back of his mouth. “So I would still have to ask?”

I pull away from him, so he won’t feel the hammering of my heart. “Ask what?”

“Will you marry me?”

Thunk! That’s the sound of my heart hitting the floor. “Wait, are you saying that’s the question you would still have to ask, or are you asking—”

“I’m asking it,” he confirms. “Will you marry me?”

“Jay, put the mug down.”

As soon as he does, I pounce on him. He responds eagerly, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing. We fall onto the bed, entangled and content to simply lie together, listening to each other breathe. No need to speak. I don’t have words. Only racing feelings, too fast and too deep—

Wait, wait, what am I thinking? Of course I have words. Two, exactly. “When, Jay?”

“Anytime you want.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow’s great.”

A major problem occurs to me. I shake my head against his chest. “What am I saying? That’s too soon. It’ll take time…”

Jay gives me a squeeze of support. “I know, Shayne. Take as much time as you need. It’s important that you get things patched up with your mom.”

“Psh, not that. Forget my mom. I’m talking about Elle. I promised her she could make my wedding gown.”

“Oh.”

“How long do you think that takes, assuming she would spell some birds and squirrels to help out?”

“Animal helpers? Well, shit, that changes everything. Shouldn’t take longer than one song.”

“Perfect! So we’re back on for tomorrow.”

“Hmmm.” Brenner needles me in the ribs with a finger. “So you’ve already talked about this with your friends? Pretty confident.”

“Oh, please. You’ve wanted to marry me since the first second we met.”

“Wrong. It took at least three seconds.”

I smile, content to lay like this forever. But Brenner, always quicker to return to earth, says quietly, “Seriously, though…your family. Is this something we should wait—”

I cut him off. “No.”

He rubs my back reassuringly. “Even Bunica?”

If Jay weren’t being so gentle about this, I’d slug him for pushing the issue. He knows my soft spots, and Little Bunica is one of them. I never had any issue with my great-grandmother. It kills me to be separated from her, and it’s inconceivable that I would get married without her at my side. Or my dad. Or my sister. It’s my mom and the Cody boys that ruined everything. But you can’t pick and choose from a pack. You get the whole thing or none of it.

Wisely, Jay signals that he’s dropping the issue by pulling me up to his face for a long, deep kiss. It’s so difficult to let him go, but eventually we untangle and he heads out. As soon as he closes the bedroom door behind him, I push the window open, tear my clothes off, shift into my fox—fump!—and leap onto the second-floor balcony. From there it’s only a hop from the railing onto the roof, and a scrabbling of paws against icy roof tiles to the brick chimney, where I perch just in time to watch Jay’s car pull into the street and drive away. Even after it turns a corner, I perk my ears to listen until the sound of his car fades to nothing.

I have so much energy—my fox could run circles around the block for hours—but I go inside and shift back. Right now all I want is my own mug of peppermint hot cocoa, just to remind me of Jay for another few minutes. Our bed comforter smells like him, so I wrap it around my shoulders and pad downstairs to the kitchen. Jay’s empty mug is on the counter, still warm. I fill it with hot water and tear into a pack of peppermint cocoa. When I go to pour the cocoa powder into the mug, Hillerman’s voice startles me half to death.

“Can’t sleep?” she asks.

Cocoa powder flies everywhere—except into the mug. “Dammit, where the hell’d you come from?”

Hillerman sits at the table, leaning a chair back on two legs against the wall, so her feet dangle. She wears her sunglasses, even though it’s dark in the dining room, the only light coming from a naked bulb in the stairwell. “Sorry,” she says again. When I go to search for another packet of cocoa, she adds, “That was the last one. He asked if I wouldn’t mind leaving it for you.”

“Jay did?”

“Yeah.” Her lips form a hint of a smile, which puts me on guard for some kind of sarcastic remark. She says, “Thoughtful of him. I honestly think he doesn’t do or say anything without first thinking how it relates to you.”

I try to find the bite to her remark, but come up empty. “And?”

She gives a small shrug. “And I just wiped that counter clean an hour ago, so go ahead and scoop all that powder back into your mug.”

I hesitate, looking for the catch, but the counter really does look clean. Lowering the mug beneath the lip of the counter, I collect all the cocoa powder and channel it over the edge into the hot water. I take the other seat at the table. In front of Hillerman is a bowl of ramen noodles. It hasn’t been touched.

She pulls her hands inside the long sleeves of a fuzzy sweater. “He wake you up?”

Of all the people in the world, Hillerman is the last that I would choose for a good girl talk, but the need to dish burns a hole in my pocket. “He proposed.”

Hillerman’s brows raise, and her head turns slowly toward me. It’s not exactly the squeals and gasps and giggles I would have gotten from Elle, but trust me, for Hillerman, it’s a big reaction.

“I said yes.”

“So that’s why he was floating out the door just now.”

“Floating?”

“Practically whistling. Congratulations. That’s…” She sighs. “Thank you for telling me. It’s good to hear something positive right now. You guys are good for each other.”

I really wish I could grin and be giddy right now, but