“Sorry, Daisy,” Theo mumbled, his words choked as I squeezed him tight. “Jamie texted that he was here, and I went to find him.”
Of course he had. Theo had been playing his game on my phone—he would’ve seen when a text came through. “Nellie didn’t respond, so I texted you,” Jamie told me, kneeling down beside us, hesitantly placing his hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t think.”
I drew in a deep breath, still holding onto my little brother, letting my pulse die down. The weight of Jamie’s palm was grounding, causing my heart to calm further as he smoothed his hand to the spot between my shoulder blades. I looked at him over Theo’s little shoulder, his face slightly blurry from my watery eyes.
In that moment, I forgot about our argument and forgot about the fact that Dalton stood down the hallway, no doubt watching us. I forgot about our fake relationship and the Romance Switch as I leaned into Jamie, letting my best friend bear my weight.
“It’s okay,” Jamie murmured in a voice I wasn’t sure Theo could hear. It was quiet, breathy, a whisper in my ear. “He’s okay. You’re okay.”
Unlike Dalton, the gentleness of the words washed over me almost as soothingly as Jamie’s hand smoothing down my back.It’s okay. He’s okay. I’m okay.
And then Jamie brushed his lips across my temple, the softest kiss in the world. Despite my sweaty skin, a shiver raced through me, and I closed my eyes, feeling too many things all at once. Fear, relief, and something else—something that felt like those two emotions combined.
When I thought about Jamie, the same feelings surfaced. Fear. Relief. And something else.
Something else I couldn’t—and was too afraid to—name.
CHAPTER 13
That night at dinner, Penn, Junie, and Ivy talked excitedly about their days. Ivy gushed about her playdate at her friend’s house—who, she bragged, lived in the biggest house she’d ever seen. Junie talked about how Penn was the best babysitter ever, since Penn had turned on a movie she really shouldn’t have. Penn’s ears had gone red.
She couldn’t have done worse than me, though. Letting Theo out of my sight while I enjoyed a terrible game of pickleball with my ex-boyfriend. I hadn’t planned on bringing it up, but of course, six-year-olds couldn’t keep secrets to save their life.
“I went on a super-secret mission today,” Theo said nonchalantly over his chicken parm, which he was delicately extracting the parm off. “I snuck out to retrieve a package!”
“What package?” Ivy asked. “Did something come in the mail?”
“What do you mean,snuck out?” That was Penn, frowning at our little brother like he was telling a lie.
Mom seemed blissfully unbothered, though, delicately cutting up her dinner and eating without pause.
“The package was Jamie, and I snuck away from Daisy to go get him!” Theo’s small shoulders wilted. “But I thought Jamie would be happier to see me.”
“You shouldn’t have snuck away from Daisy,” Penn scolded him. “You probably scared her.”
Theo peeked at me, knowing he had.
“Yeah,” Junie added, but she was looking at Theo with wide, nervous eyes. “And you could’ve been kidnapped, and some man could’ve kept you in his basement!”
Now it was Penn peeking at me, but I wasn’t the one who scolded her. Mom, without looking up, said, “See, Penelope, this is why we don’t let your ten-year-old sister watch horror movies.”
I watched as a scowl slipped over Penn’s face, and she turned her attention back down to her plate. “Sorry.” It was as half-hearted as it could’ve been.
Mom now turned to me. “Theo got out of your sight?”
“Just for, like, five minutes. Not even.”
“Do you know what can happen in five minutes, Daisy?”
Junie whispered, “Someone could take him and put him in their basement.”
“Or those careless people could run him over with their car. Or he could fall in one of the pools.” Mom was looking up now, and straight at me. “What were you doing that you were so distracted?”
There was no describing the sort of paralyzing terror that’d consumed me earlier today. I barely remembered leaving the pickleball court and searching for Theo. I could, however, remember Jamie’s hand soothing down my back, and his lips at my temple.It’s okay. He’s okay. You’re okay.
“This isn’t just on Daisy.” Penn pointed her fork at Theo. “Youknow better.”
Theo just continued to pull the parm off his bites of chicken.
