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She groans and pushes my shoulder. “Go to my brother. He hates when people are late.”

He doesn’t seem to mind when I’m the late one. How cute. When I slip into his car—not the truck this time—he doesn’t even mention it.

“Did you talk about me?” he asks, watching from the corner of his eye.

I wince. Gods, dating my friend’s brother is so embarrassing. “Little bit.”

“That means half of Starbrook will know whatever you told her by this time tomorrow.”

“I’m fine with that. I have nothing to hide.”

He sighs and places a hand on my thigh. “Neither do I.”

It still feels like he’s hiding something, that there’s an invisible wall between us, and I don’t know what it is. There must be some way I can break it down. Run away or get him to open up. Those seem to be my only options.

“My family and I are having family dinner again this week,” I say, shifting in my seat and squeezing my thighs together to keep his hand in place.

“Oh?” He smiles, his eyes crinkling. “That’s good. I know that’s important to you.”

“It is.” I nod over and over.

But while I mean to invite him, the words slip out of my head, far from my mouth. What if he doesn’t want to come? What if I’m not ready? We may have met a few months ago, but we’re still so newly dating… and he knows my family, but that’s different than meeting the family.

I finish the ride to his place in silence. Something has to be wrong. I want to ask him what it is, for him to tell me I’m reading into nothing, but I don’t want to ruin tonight.

My mom said love is worth it, so I should savor every second with him. Right?

When he walks around the car to open my door, holding my hand to help me out, there’s a mysterious smile on his face. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” I lift my eyebrows.

Maybe that’s why he was so quiet. Maybe everything is fine.

He nods. “I’m terrible at keeping secrets. Just… come.”

“Not the first time you’ve ordered me to do that.”

He chuckles and rolls his eyes, and rather than guiding me inside, he guides me around to the back. His backyard is simple. There’s a wood chopping pile, a nicely cared-for lawn, wildflowers, and tons of trees.

And something new.

A telescope.

My jaw is on the ground as I look between him and the object, even bigger than the one my father left me. “Is that…?”

“For you. I thought maybe it could help you reconnect with your magic.” He holds both my hands and turns me to face him, watching me earnestly. “I know you still have magic in you. I can feel it. It’s just about reconnecting.”

My lower lip trembles. “Y-you think so?”

No one has ever believed in me as much as he does, not even Jewel. Maybe my parents, but lately my mom has been busy and… no, it’s him. Sterling believes in me.

“I know so.”

Before he can say anything more, I wrap my arms around his neck and jump into his embrace, connecting our lips softly and then firmly. A confession dances on the tip of my tongue, one I’ve almost said before but couldn’t quite bring myself to.

I love him.

Instead, I say something else I’ve been holding back. “Come to family dinner with me.”