“Nooo, you have to help me.” He wound his little hands around my arm, in the crease of my elbow, and tugged. “Come on, before Ivy gets to the bathroom first.”
“Can I—” Theo pulled my arm again, hardenough that he nearly yanked my phone from my ear. “Can I call you back after I get the kids in bed? It shouldn’t take too long. I mean—if you’ll still have your phone. I know your mom usually does a curfew.” I didn’t know if that was different now that it was summer.
“My mom doesn’t do phone curfews anymore now that Nellie and I are eighteen.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” I scratched my neck—the exact spot Jamie had kissed. “Well. I’ll call you, then. If you’ll still be up. Or we can just talk tomorrow.”
“Daisy?”
I closed my eyes. He’d heard the anxiety in my voice, too. “Yeah?”
Silence crackled over the line for a beat. And then, hesitantly—“Can I… come over?”
“Y-Yeah. Sure.” My voice was a murmur of its own, the pressure on my chest disappearing. “Don’t come to the front door, though. Can you come through the backyard?”
Jamie agreed and let me hang up first. I found myself rushing to my feet. “Okay, pajamas,” I said, grabbing Theo’s hand and pulling him. “Let’s pick some out.”
“Slow—down,” my little brother grunted, trying to wrench his hand away, but I didn’t let go.
CHAPTER 14
After tucking the kids in, I speed cleaned my bedroom, picking up fallen clothes I’d been stepping over for days and shoving them into my closet. I hastily made my bed too, glancing around for anything else out of place. Anything else that might’ve given Jamie a bad impression.
It wasn’t the first time he’d been in my room, of course—I could thank Dalton dumping me for Jamie’s first soirée into my bedroom, when he’d come over to try to cheer me up—but still. I felt strangely nervous, probably because of everything we had to say.
I paced in front of my bedroom window, rehearsing.I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish, I’d say.You’re the most selfless person I know, and the one time you make your own choice, I was a brat about it. I’m the worst best friend, and I’m sorry.
A softtingglanced off my window, and I whirled on it, finding Jamie standing by the tree below. He had a fewstones from the garden in his palm, but dropped them at the sight of me. I hurried to push up the windowpane, leaning out. “Hi,” I whispered down to him.
Jamie still wore the same clothes he’d had on earlier today, a sweatshirt and jeans, and even from here, I could see the night breeze stir his dark hair. “Hi,” he whispered back.
I gestured to the tree. “Climb up.”
Jamie did not move. “Are you kidding?”
“Uh, no?” The tree wasn’t too big, but it was way closer to the house than it should’ve been. It was one of those things Mom repeatedly put off taking care of over the years. The limbs didn’t brush the siding, but they came close. “It’s strong enough to hold you.”
“I think you’re overestimating my athletic ability, Daze.”
“I don’t want you waking the kids.” I’dbarelygotten Theo to close his eyes. “Dalton could climb it just fine, but if you can’t, I get it.”
Jamie’s laser glare cut through the dark. “You didnotjust compare me to him,” he muttered, reaching up and grabbing hold of the lowest branch. “Unfortunately, I am highly susceptible to the art of reverse psychology. You suck.”
I pressed my lips together to fight my smirk. “You’ve seen through my master plan.”
Jamie muttered something more, and I rested my forearms on the windowsill, watching my best friend climb. He did look pretty awkward doing it, hooking his long limbs around branches. He had more of an advantage overDalton—he was taller and thinner, which meant he could reach up to branches Dalton couldn’t and put his weight on ones that wouldn’t have held Dalton.
Jamie got onto a limb parallel with my window, the glow of my bedroom lights illuminating his face. His lips were pressed together in concentration, and he nudged his glasses up with a knuckle. “Now what?” he asked, looking skeptically at the gap from the tree limb to my window. “Jump?”
“Dalton always got through the window just fine.”
That irked him further. “If I die trying to be like Dalton Giovanni, I’m going to come back and haunt you.” Jamie’s foot slipped on the tree bark, the limb bobbing violently, and he let out a strangled curse. “Daisy Carmichael.”
I laughed, leaning further against the sill. “You’re saying my name like it’s a swear word.”
“At the moment, it is.”
I stretched my hand out to him. The limb he crouched on was so close that my fingers brushed his T-shirt, and I pinched the fabric of it. “I won’t let you fall.”
