Page 149 of And Now, Back to You

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.” He trails small, fleeting kisses every place my tears touch. “Things with us have never been simple or easy, but I’d rather be messy with you than have perfect with anyone else.” He presses his forehead against mine. “Stay with me. Let’s figure it out together.”

I nod, more tears cascading down my cheeks. Jackson wipes them away patiently with his thumbs, his eyes impossibly soft.

“Will you let me help?” he asks.

I nod and I feel the weight pressing down on my chest lighten. How easy it is, in the end, to open the door for him. To trust and believe that he’ll take care of me.

It’s just like he said. We fill in each other’s cracks and crevices. Maybe together we can be something whole.

“Yeah,” I agree. “Yeah, okay. I don’t want space.”

“Good,” he says, and he punctuates it with another kiss. “I don’t want it either.”

LEON KENNEDY: And you can expect showers. Later in the week.

LEON KENNEDY: I don’t know how to—how does this clicker thing work?

LEON KENNEDY: All right, well. Enjoy this random stock photo of a duckling in a basket, I guess.

LEON KENNEDY: You really want me doing the weather instead of Delilah? Like, for real?

CHAPTER 38

JACKSON

I have immediate concerns about whatever Penelope, Adeline, Gianna, and Maggie are discussing on the couch. There’s a lot of whispering, a lot of snickering, and a frankly disturbing number of hand gestures.

Delilah loops her arms around my waist from behind. “Why do you look terrified?”

I lift her hand and brush a kiss across her knuckles. “Because I am.”

My house has turned into the interim headquarters for Operation Delilah Gets Her Job Back. Pizza boxes, file folders, and Post-it notes litter every square inch of available space.

Aiden, Lucie, and Maya showed up with the pizza and then Maggie, forty minutes later, with her laptop. The girls brought in the whiteboard from the kitchen, wiping off the week’s menu, ignoring my grumbling about having to rewrite it. Then Gianna and Mark arrived, stacks and stacks of file folders in hand.

Penelope and Adeline descend into bright, cackling laughter and Delilah sighs behind me. “Nothing illegal, Gianna,” she calls. “I need to convince Ava Monroe I’m capable. She can’t catch me egging Keith’s car.”

“I was going to suggest shaving cream in his exhaust pipe, but whatever.” Gianna flops dramatically back across my couch, her head landing in Mark’s lap. Mark, who is on his fifth slice of pizza, adding very little to the conversation. He stares down at her like she’s hung the moon, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear.

She flushes red, and Adeline and Penelope burst into more giggles.

“Fine. Maybe we will egg his car,” Aiden offers, appearing over my shoulder, his cheek bulging with a slice of pizza he’s folded in half, no plate or napkin to be found. He swallows. “While you get one-on-one with Ava.”

“We won’t use eggs,” Maya says, rolling her eyes. There are so many people in my house, there is very little space for anyone to move. “We’ll use tree sap. It’s difficult to remove and causes lasting damage.”

Aiden gives a nod of approval, offering her his fist. “Nice.”

Maya grins and bumps his knuckles with hers.

“Nope.” Lucie drifts past, flicking Aiden’s ear, then ruffling Maya’s hair. “Not nice. No vandalism. No juvenile crimes.”

Aiden’s laugh is low. “Just some light blackmail instead, hmm?” He trails after Lucie and plucks the top folder off Gianna’s precarious stack of files. He flips it open and immediately shuts it again, his face pained. “Where did you even find these?” he asks Gianna.

She beams at him. “I’m a researcher.”

Gianna’s research is robust. The centerpiece is a very detailed list of every transgression Keith has ever made as the head of the broadcasting department, dating back to 1994. But she also brought statements from members of the broadcast and production teams about his behavior toward Delilah, a history of misappropriating station funds for his campaign to get a city road named after him, data from the last three viewer surveys about Delilah’s likability, and the cherry on top—