Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Because that’s the reality. This isn’t just a crush anymore.
I’m in love with Beau Banks, and he doesn’t have a fucking clue.
The Past
Seven years ago
“Happy Birthday, June!” Diane cheers as Neil carries a cake to the dining table.
It’s a giant cake, three big layers, with fancy buttercream icing and pink flower accents and sixteen candles that blaze at the top. The words, Happy Sweet 16, Juniper, stand proud in yellow icing.
Avery claps excitedly as Neil sets the cake down in front of where I sit at the table, and Neil, Diane, and Beau start to sing “Happy Birthday” to me.
They’re all smiles and excitement, but my whole world feels like it’s crumbling down. Their love is so big and vibrant, and still, it can’t fill the hole my parents continue to dig. I thought maybe they’d come home this year—sixteen is a milestone, after all—but I should have known better.
I should always know better.
“Make a wish!” Neil says, Diane and Beau grinning behind him while Avery bounces on the other side of the table.
They’re all so good to me—even Avery’s big brother, Beau. At twenty-one, I figured he’d want nothing to do with a sixteen-year-old girl’s birthday celebration. But Diane told me earlier that he specifically canceled plans with Bethany and his friends just to be here.
I look up into his smile as I think about all the things I dream of. Of the life I want to have some day. I get lost in his deep brown eyes for more than a moment.
Gah. Why does he have to be so freaking hot?
It takes an insane effort to pull my eyes away, but I do, inhaling a large breath of air and blowing out my candles as I silently make the same wish I’ve made for the past five years. Please, dear universe…make my parents notice me and Beau Banks eventually fall in love with me. I know I’m young, so the timing is flexible on the second one. Thanks.
Smoke lingers, licking at my nostrils and giving me an excuse for the tears in my eyes. I dab at them softly and paste on a smile as they all shift into action.
Diane starts to cut the cake, putting large slices on her favorite bone-colored plates, and Avery hops up from her seat to grab a stack of gifts they had hidden somewhere in a closet. Beau snags some forks from the drawer, and Neil gets rid of the candles in the garbage.
“Open this one first!” Avery cheers as she shoves a pretty gift with a pink bow into my chest. “It’s from me.”
I grin at her, but I’ve just barely removed the wrapping paper when she adds, “Though, you’re probably going to have let me borrow it because I’m starting to have FOMO that I bought it for you instead of me. It was the last one available, too, so if you don’t love it, you can regift it to me, even.”
“Avery,” Diane chastises, but I laugh. Avery is as reliable as an old Buick with a much heftier price tag.
“What, Mom? It’s a cute bag.”
I open the white lid that has Chanel engraved in black on the top and uncinch the protective felt bag inside. I pull out a little Chanel clutch, holding it in the air as I take in the black leather and gold-chained handles. “Thanks, Avery. I love it.”
She frowns at that, and I laugh again. “You can borrow it whenever.”
“Yay!” she says with an adorable clap.
Avery hands me another gift, but this time, Neil’s and Diane’s names are signed in pretty handwriting on a little card attached to a navy-blue bow. Inside the orange box sits a beautiful silk scarf from Hermès and a pretty bangle bracelet that I know Diane caught me eyeing when Avery dragged us out for a girls’ shopping trip last weekend. But also, beneath the scarf and bracelet sits a fresh copy of Pride and Prejudice.
A soft sheen of tears covers my eyes, and a dab of pink heats the center of both my cheeks. It’s not the gift itself, but the thought behind it. It’s the fact that Diane noticed. That Diane knows me this well.
“Thank you so much,” I say, clearing the ball of emotion out of my throat. “I love them.”
“I knew you would.” Diane winks at me and reaches out to squeeze my shoulder. “A mother knows when her girl is eyeing something she loves. Plus, I thought maybe you’d want a new copy of your favorite book. The old one is looking well-loved but tired.”
My old copy of Pride and Prejudice, the one I’ve had for years, is definitely showing more than a little wear and tear these days. Just last week, I had to Scotch tape the spine just to keep the binding from falling apart.