Page 68 of Library or Lattes?

“I’m into you,” Sara promised, and kissed Lennie quickly on the lips.

This. This was what I’d almost ruined. This happiness, this love, this perfect thing between them. I was filled with joy, just watching them together. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that there was still another feeling. A feeling that I wanted that too.

James.

When would I stop being so afraid?

“But back to Willa, yeah, you really need to shoot your shot,” Krista said.

“Oh my God, you do,” added Avery. “Like I did with Brody at the game the other night.” I wondered what had happened to Carter Blake in her list of priorities. “And all you need to know is that it paid off …” She winked, and Krista screwed up her face. “Ugh, Av, gross.”

“Love is not gross, Kris. Love is not gross.”

“So what are you going to do?” Sara asked, now fully invested in my disaster of an off-on romance.

“I don’t know.” In my head, though, a scene was starting to come together … I’d show up at the coffee shop, apologize for being insensitive, tell him I wanted to start over, say that he was the best thing in my week too, and promise that even if I left for a while I’d be coming back. The rest would be history.

“How cute would it be, the two of you, being in love, still working together …” Lennie said, and I couldn’t help smiling at that image. Our lives together in Oak Falls … it sounded perfect.

But it wasn’t the whole story. And I had to tell them.

“There’s something else I need to tell you guys …” I looked around at the faces of my friends, open and interested, totally on my side. Leaving them, if I did it, would be hard.

“I kind of got this email …” I added. “I already told Lennie about it, but I also got a letter, Len, my aunt left it for me. It’s real, the whole thing is real.”

Avery, Krista, and Sara looked at each other, puzzled, and Lennie’s eyes widened in shock.

“Okay, confused over here,” Krista said, putting up her hand.

I inhaled deeply. “My aunt Lisa died last year and she left me twenty-five thousand dollars but I can only use it for ‘seeing the world beyond Oak Falls,’ so travel and stuff … And the deal is, I have to decide what I’m doing with it by Thanksgiving.”

“Wow,” said Sara.

“Holy crap,” Avery added. “Twenty-five thousand dollars. Maybe one of my aunts could die …”

Krista shoved her. “You’re a terrible person,” she said.

“Well, I guess that does complicate things a bit with hot James …” Sara pointed out. “And it’s getting kind of close to Thanksgiving now.”

“I know!” I said, ducking under a quilt.

“It’ll all be okay, Will. Everything will work out just fine.” Lennie put her hand on mine and squeezed.

“You think?”

“I know. I know everything,” Lennie proclaimed.

“Okay, great, then tell me what to do about James …”

“Oh no, sorry, that one’s all you.”

“I’ve got an idea what you can do with him …” Avery said suggestively.

“I don’t think that’s what she meant.” Krista rolled her eyes.

It wasn’t what I’d meant. But it didn’t mean that it wasn’t on my mind.

Being around the girls made me feel braver. We kept on talking, and they seemed to think that long-distance for a few months while I traveled was a totally reasonable thing to propose if we really liked each other. So by the next morning, I’d figured out exactly what I was going to do.