Page 108 of Summer Nights and Meteorites

Cora laughed and nodded, but she held a little tension in her shoulders, her expression uncertain, her smile not as full as usual.

Dad stared at her. I willed him to say something.

“Ow,” Ethan said.

Oops. I unclenched my fingers, which had slowly been driving into Ethan’s flesh. “Sorry.”

And then, across the party, Dad nodded once. A smile broke over his face, and he nodded twice more in rapid succession. We didn’t need to be close to read the one word he said to Cora.

I let out a little shriek of excitement and threw myself into Ethan’s arms. “I did it! Did you see that! They have a date! Or they’re going to have a date. I’m a matchmaker!”

“You’re a menace, is what you are,” Ethan said, a murmur of laugher in his voice. “I think you left bruises.”

“Sorry,” I said again, unrepentant, and pressed my lips to his shoulder. “I’ll kiss them better.”

“And I want some matchmaking credit, too. Who suggested the boat trip?”

“You’re brilliant.” I looped my arms around his neck, reveling in the comfort between us, the spark, how easy it was to be with him and how happy he made me. “We’re both brilliant.”

He laughed. “I’m going to miss you so much. I’m going to miss being able to see you every single day. Going swimming and stargazing with you. And I’m really gonna miss having you right across the hall from me.”

I grinned. “Honestly, I’m kinda surprised we’ve gotten away with being roommates for the last week. Now that all the parentals know we’re dating.”

“True.” He pulled me a little closer. “We should probably take advantage of it as long as we can.”

“I’m down.” I glanced across the lawn, at where the telescope had been set up so party guests could look through it. At the moment, it happened to be free. “But first—you wanna go see a comet?”

“Hell yeah I do.”

Hand in hand, we made our way to the telescope. I focused my gaze through the eyepiece, looking up.

And Andrea Darrel’s comet blazed its way across the night sky.