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“Debatable.”
“So, let me get this straight. You’re fixin’ to tell us that for the last bazillion years you guys have been together, you, Alex Ryder—mother of my momma, who never lets Daddy win at anythin’ if she can help it—that you lose on purpose?”
“Yep, that’s what I’m telling you.”
“Memaw, that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. I don’t lose. I’m a Jameson. We don’t lose. Ever. Especially to that turd, Jackson Pierce.”
“One day, baby, trust me… you won’t feel that way.”
“Why? Cuz girls get dumber as they get older?”
“Yes. Especially when it comes to love.”
“But I hate Jackson Pierce. I even use my birthday wishes on him. Do you understand how serious that is? I get one birthday a year, one wish a year, and I use it on him. And you know what I wish?”
“What, baby? What do you wish?”
“For him to lose and for me to win, at everythin’ and anythin’. That’s not too much to ask, right? You would think it wouldn’t be, but the wish fairy ain’t listenin’ to me cuz sometimes I lose. Like today! Epic, epic loss!”
“Harley, maybe she’s right.”
“Shiloh, bite your tongue. I would never let him win—”
“No, not about that. About Jackson liking you. It kinda makes sense. He follows you around just waiting for you to react to him.”
“He does it to torture me.”
“Yeah, because you pay attention to him. I mean, how many Jackson Blockers has he broken since you started wearing them? He breaks them the second he sees them on you. Why? Because he doesn’t want you to ignore him.”
“Right, so he can keep torturin’ me.”
“No. So you can keep paying attention to him. I think Aunt Alex is onto something. Jackson likes you.”
Little did I know the next words that came out of Shiloh’s mouth would haunt me for the rest of my life.
When she added, “And maybe… he even loves you.”
8
JACKSON
Then: Ten years old
Nineteen…
Twenty…
Twenty-one…
Twenty-two…
Twenty-three…
“Hey, Mom,” I greeted, walking into her room.
It always took twenty-three steps.
Twenty-three seconds.
