Page 55 of Tessa and Nash

Faith’s eyes sparkle. “You’re in love.”

I choke on my water.

Tessa pats my back as if she’s soothing a child.

My mother watches me with a small, satisfied smile.

And that’s the worst part.

Because Mom looks happy.

Genuinely happy.

She’s been waiting for me to bring someone home.

The lie sits heavier.

At the end of dinner, Ellie runs off and comes back with a piece of paper held carefully in both hands.

Her cheeks are flushed with excitement.

“Uncle Nash,” she says solemnly, “I made you something.”

My chest tightens because Ellie calls me Uncle Nash when she’s trying to be serious, and it kills me every time.

She holds up the paper.

It’s a drawing. Stick figures—two tall ones, a little one, and a dog that looks suspiciously like a potato. Above them all hovers a giant ring.

“This is you and Tessa getting married,” Ellie announces proudly. “And this is your dog, and he’s being good.”

Rusty grunts under the table, offended.

Faith makes a strangled noise. Rose presses a hand to her mouth again. Mom’s eyes shine, trying not to show it. Boone’s eyebrows lift. Dallas’s mouth twitches, almost smiling.

I stare at the picture.

My throat goes tight.

Because Ellie drew it as if it’s inevitable, real, and the future makes sense.

Tessa steps closer, takes the paper carefully, and smiles at Ellie in a way that is so soft it almost hurts to see.

“It’s beautiful,” she says. “Thank you.”

Ellie beams and runs off excitedly.

Tessa hands the picture back to me.

Our fingers brush.

My pulse spikes. I’m seventeen again, and she’s standing too close to her locker, smelling of clean soap and determination, making me feel I need to either win or run.

I don’t do either.

I just stand there, holding the drawing. Holding the lie.

Holding the strange, sharp awareness that Tessa Long is in my house and somehow making it feel steadier.