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“Exactly. Why are you up here?”
Jesse shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, I wanted to make sure you were good. You kind of disappeared.”
“I promise, I’m good.” Raina chuckled. “I just needed a few minutes by myself.”
“Do you want me to go?” Jesse offered.
“No, you can stay.” Raina shook her head.
She took a seat on her bed, untying her Converse and slipping her shoes off. After a minute, Jesse joined her.
“I got you something,” he said, taking a small box from his pocket. Raina accepted the gift, curiously pulling the ribbon. “It’s a small key necklace. Like, you know how when you open a new hotel, there’s this big presentation where you hand over the keys and cut the ribbon? So it’s kind of like that. I ordered it online so if you look closely, the key is in the shape of a heart, and there’s what looks like little branches inside. It’s supposed to represent the tree of life.”
“Etz Chaim,” Raina said, unable to tear her eyes away from the pendant she’d unwrapped. “It’s a Jewish symbol.”
“I know,” Jesse told her. “I researched it. I wanted it to be perfect for you. It’s a reminder that sometimes, things don’t always go as planned. Not everything works out the way you want it to. But that’s life. And life sometimes brings you unexpected surprises, so maybe those path detours are a blessing in disguise.”
Raina clutched her new necklace tightly, emotions flooding her body.Happinessandwarmthand one she didn’t want to name but was growing each day. “Will you put it on me?”
“It would be my honor,” Jesse said softly.
Raina turned and swept her hair off her neck, looking down as the little key settled against her throat. When Jesse finally managed to latch the clasp, she turned back to him, unable to hide the smile that was taking over her face.
“So you explained the key and the tree of life,” Raina said. “But what about the heart?”
“That’s how I feel about you. My heart is yours, Raina. For whenever you’d like to take it.”
Raina took a deep breath. She had been thinking about this a lot lately, ever since she and Jesse had talked at the dinner party. It was a conversation that had been necessary, a conversation that had gotten Raina thinking, and most importantly, a conversation that reassured her that she was making the right choice.
“I...I think I’m ready,” she said.
Jesse’s eyes widened. “You mean it? Really? Not just because I gave you a pretty necklace?”
“Really,” Raina said, more sure of this than she had been of anything before in her life. “I want more than being your date to the dance, more than just the person you hang out with at night and watch movies with. I want there to be an ‘us’, Jesse.”
“I want that, too.”
Raina cleared her throat. “Um, can we take this slow?” she asked shyly. “Just because I’m ready for a relationship doesn’t mean I want to jump into…”
“Of course,” Jesse promised. “Like I said before, we’re going at your pace now.” He stepped forward to envelop her in a hug, and for a second, Raina relaxed and simply enjoyed the moment.
“And it’s okay that I’m not ready to k-kiss you or anything?” she asked, her voice faltering.
“100%,” Jesse answered. “There’s no rush, Raina. I like you. You like me. We have all the time in the world.”
A small smile played on Raina’s lips as she melted into Jesse’s embrace, thoughts of their new relationship twisting and turning in her mind. There was no doubt that Raina would go over their conversation in her head later, replaying it over and over as she tried to fall asleep.
But right now, she was going to take this one step at a time, walking at her own pace.
It was time to write her own story.
Epilogue
“Hi, Ema,” Raina said into the phone. She paused and glanced at Jesse, who gave her an encouraging nod. “Um, I wanted to tell you that Jesse and I are dating, and have been for a few weeks. Yes, the Jesse who came for dinner. We won’t be coming to visit any time soon. Sorry, I used up all my visit days.”
Okay, so maybe she’d lied. Trinity didn’t have a visit day limit, and students were free to leave on any weekend they wished as long as they weren’t failing any classes and had written permission from their parents for anything out of town. But Raina didn’t want to be subjected to her mother’s disapproving stares and long lectures on throwing away her religion. Not in person, at least.
“I’ve also decided to focus on my current schoolwork and start looking at colleges during spring break. Right now, I’ve got a lot of work and thinking about college adds a lot of stress. According to the guidance department, spring break is part of the early pathway, so it’ll be good to start then. I miss you and your delicious Shabbos food! Jesse’s been helping me make potato kugel, but it’s not the same as yours.”
