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The air I had just inhaled flooded back out of my lungs, so I sounded winded when I answered, “You made it.”
“Wasn’t hard to find,” he answered, his eyes lighting up as I pushed from my chair and opened my arms.
We hugged like two people who hadn’t seen each other in years. It’d only been a few weeks for us, but it felt like centuries. It felt amazing to be folded in Ryder’s arms. He held me close and rested his cheek on my hair as he added, “Someone gives good directions.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in his familiar Ryder-scent. “I missed you.”
He kissed my temple. “Not nearly as much as I missed you.”
Behind us, I heard a throat clear. Definitely Schy’s throat.
Grinning, I pulled away from Ryder, freshly amazed he was here. With me. “Ready to meet my friends?”
He took his attention off me to glance at Adam, Bridget and Schy as if he’d just then noticed I’d been sitting with other people. “As long as you warned them they have to like me no matter what.”
I rolled my eyes. “They’ll love you.” Lacing my fingers through his, I spun around and thought my cheeks were going to explode from the way I kept pushing the ends of my smile further and further across my face. “Guys, this is Ryder.”
In unison, Bridget and Adam plopped back down into their chairs. “Hi,” they said together, looking equally awed as they stared up at Ryder.
Leaning closer to me, Ryder asked out the side of his mouth. “Are they the twins?”
I laughed.
What followed was one of the best nights of my life. I should’ve known Ryder better than to worry he might not get along with my friends. Ryder could talk to anyone. If he’d been any other person from Southeast, he would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb among the nerd herd. But Ryder slipped right in, asking Adam if he knew how to play “Stairway to Heaven” on the guitar, before he actually listened to Bridget, egging her on, when she raved about her newest assignment in school.
We did a little bowling—Ryder was the only one of us with any talent—but mostly we gossiped. And laughed.
When I asked how things were at Southeast, he was pleased to report, “Todd and Kiera already broke up. She caught him kissing her best friend.”
And when he asked how my mom was doing—since I’d told him how worried I was about her—I explained how Mr. Howard had kindly been emailing me, giving me helpful advice about how to help her as best I could.
“He’s been emailing you?” Ryder repeated, looking suspicious.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. I asked if he could talk to her, but after their first chat, he’s been too shy. I guess he had this huge crush on her in high school. I think the only reason he emails instead of calls is because he’s afraid of having to talk to Mom in case she answers the phone.”
“Sounds like he still has a crush on her,” Schy mused.
I shrugged. “Probably.”
“You know,” Ryder spoke up, looking thoughtful. “Mr. Howard’s divorced.”
I lifted my face. “That’s right; I forgot. Laina said her mom left them for some other guy.”
“Yeah. After Todd and I fought in the hall and had to go to the counselor’s office, he confessed his wife had cheated on him. He went on and on about how hitting Todd was wrong and I shouldn’t let my feelings take control of me like that again. Then he leaned forward and admitted he wished he could’ve hit the guy who stole his wife.”
My mouth fell open as I listened. “So Mr. Howard’s single,” I said, the truth fully dawning on me.
“And your mom’s single,” Ryder added with a knowing grin, reading my mind.
Finally, the rest of my friends caught on. Across the table, Bridget gasped. “Holy Hosanna, we should totally hook your mom up with Mr. Howard.”
And we did.
Three years later, I walked down the aisle as Mom’s maid of honor in her marriage to Matthew Howard, happily gaining a sweet stepsister in Laina.
Two years after that, Mom stood as my matron of honor at my wedding. But that’s a whole other story, ending in a happily ever after that should be easy to guess.
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