“There’s our answer,” Ashley said then, circling something on her paper. “You got your first kiss on a day your father abandoned you. Was that the year you had pneumonia?” Ashley asked next, thinking back.
“Yes,” I said.
“From being in the rain?”
“I don’t thinkraincan give you a lung infection,” I said.
“But being left out in it for hours can stress your system,” Ashley pointed out.
I shrugged, likeFair enough.
“So Dad abandoned you and gave you pneumonia,” Ashley said, making a note.
Then I said, “But that kiss… made things better. That kiss gave me something nice to remember in the hospital, too. I thought about it while taking my breathing treatments. And while waiting for X-rays. And when they woke me at night to take a sample of fluid from my lungs. I just kept replaying it in my head.”
“Case closed,” Ashley said then, slapping her hands down on the table. “That’s plenty.”
“Plenty of what?” I asked.
“Plenty of intense emotions to react to.”
I hadn’t thought about that day in so long.
Ashley went on. “You really did imprint on your first kiss. Maybe that’s been your problem all along.”
It was certainly a new spin on things.
“Is this good or bad?” my mother asked.
“It’s always good to get to the root of your troubles,” Ashley said.
“Are you saying,” I said, just wanting to be clear, “that because I imprinted on one particular kissat the age of ten, there is only one man on this earth I’ll ever be able to love?”
Ashley winked. “Let’s find out.”
“Because that seems like a pretty narrow set of options,” I went on. “In a world containing four billion men.”
“It’s just a theory,” Ashley said. “But it does seem very lucky that he’s coming to the wedding—single.”
“Why?”
“Because now you can test the theory out.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you should sleep with Finn on the cruise.”
“Ashley!” I said, glancing over like she must’ve shocked Grandma Dodie.
But Grandma Dodie was just laughing.
I lowered my voice to a stage whisper anyway. “I’m not sleeping with my childhood crush at your wedding!”
“Fine,” Ashley said. “Don’t sleep with him. Just conquer him.”
“Conquerhim?”
“Just make him fall in love with you,” she said with a shrug, likeSimple.
