Page 90 of Finding My Forever

“Open it and find out.”

I bit my lip and untied the handles so I could open the bag. There was a lump of purple fabric.

“What?” I looked between the bag and Liam.

He nodded again and looked at the bag.

“What is it?” Elise was practically standing in her seat.

“I’m not sure.” I reached in and pulled out the lump. There wasn’t anything that gave away why Liam was giving this to me.

“Open it up!” Elise was out of her seat now and walking toward me. I waited until she was behind me with her hands on my shoulders.

I grabbed a fold and let it fall open. White letters appeared and a hood.

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen a sweatshirt before. Here!” Elise reached forward and took it from me. She unfolded it until three letters were staring me in the face.

N-Y-U

I looked at Liam and smiled. “Thank you. That’s so nice.”

Great. Now I had a reminder of where he was. Without me. I could wear it and think about how far apart we were.

His suspicious grin grew. “It’s a tradition in my family to get a sweatshirt to your future college when you get accepted, so you can wear it to school and brag.”

I smiled. “How fun.”

Elise was laughing behind me, making my chair rock slightly.

Liam was full-on beaming now. “My mom pulled some strings.” He looked around the table. “She has a close friend on admissions and asked her if she saw your name come through.”

Everyone at the table was watching him, hanging on to his every word. My head was spinning. His words weren’t making sense.

“April, you got in.”

Elise squealed and threw her arms around me, but I was frozen. I got in? In where? My eyes darted from Mom to Dad to Beth to Finn to Dallin. They were all smiling and clapping. Dallin was making whooping sounds, which was highly inappropriate for this restaurant.

Elise was shaking my shoulders now. “April! You’re going to NYU!”

Holy crap!

I was in? I was accepted?

Liam was beaming. It was true. I leaned over and hugged him. “Thank you so much!”

He nodded against my head. “I’m so glad I got to tell you.”

“You just made this day perfect.”

He pulled away and laughed. “Me coming wasn’t enough?”

“Okay. The day was already perfect, but you just made the future perfect too.”

Epilogue

Grandma’s house reminded me of peanut butter cookies. It was our favorite thing to bake together while I was growing up. She always had a few for me when she knew I was coming over, but tonight was different. The house smelt like snickerdoodles, Skylar’s favorite.

Liam helped me take my coat off before we joined the rest of my family in the living room. Candles were light and soft music was playing in the background. Skylar was standing near the fireplace talking to Elise and Beth. My aunt, Carol, saw us first.