Sofia’s phone rang, and she lunged to answer it, nearly jumping out of her skin at the loud noise after the otherworldly few moments that had just occurred. “Hey, Ash,” she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. She’d just had something akin to an out-of-body experience, and it took her a few moments to recover.
“Hey, Sof. Holly’s back from her trip. She wants to get together. Can you do dinner this week?”
Sofia had calmed down a little while he spoke, and her mind was sparking. Despite her fighting against it, it was time to take a chance. If the hummingbirds weren’t enough to convince her, nothing would be.
She thought over the past few weeks with Isaiah—of sitting in the library, near enough to sense each other’s presence but doing their own thing; of the karaoke night, when the music had suddenly changed and he’d appeared on stage with a microphone; of shopping and laughing together; of that moment at the park when the kites had tied them together as if they’d had a will of their own; and finally, of a simple, sweet day geocaching with him that had been as fun and natural as spending time with a childhood friend.
She remembered all the times and ways he had teased her and how he seemed to love when she teased him back. He’d been driving her crazy the past few days, giving her space but also making himself known in not-so-obvious ways that had plagued her, like talking to the barista when she was around. Everything about him seemed to infuriate and delight her all at once.
Maybe it’s my turn to drivehimcrazy.Perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all.
And hanging out as a group of friends would be a good excuse to get together again.
“I have a better idea,” Sofia said to Ash, doing a quick search on her phone for show times.
“I’m all ears.”
Chapter Forty-Four
SOFIA
The next day, Sofia, Isaiah, Holly, and Ash met at the Emerald House to drive to the cabaret. Before they climbed into Ash’s truck, Sofia pulled Isaiah aside for a whispered conversation.
Ever since her encounter with the hummingbirds the previous night, she’d committed to going with her old instinct of acting with her heart rather than her brain. That instinct had been crushed by Noah, but she was determined to try to mend it, for her mom’s sake and for her own.
The plan she’d come up with was a little juvenile, but at that moment, with Isaiah looking at her like he was, she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She took a deep breath and plowed ahead.
“I have an idea,” she said when Isaiah had followed her a few steps away from the vehicle, out of earshot of Holly and Ash. Her heart was hammering, and she didn’t know if it was more from nerves or exhilaration. Either way, she was pretty sure Isaiah wasn’t going to be expecting what she was about to say. “We’re going to make tonight into a trial run.”
“A trial run? Of what?” Isaiah kept his face neutral but curious.
“We’re going to act like we’re a couple and see what happens.”
“So… we’re pretending?” Isaiah asked, raising an eyebrow at her though smiling. “You’re okay with pranking your friends like that?”
“It’s atrial, not a prank. Just to see how things go when we escape Emerald Hollow for a night with more than just the two of us. It might be a total disaster, and we can cut our losses. Besides, Ash is owed a little mischief after he told you about my karaoke phobia and let you use it against me.”
“I didn’t—” Isaiah began, but Sofia waved him off.
“You rescued me like a white knight. Yes, I remember. So are we doing this?”
“What exactly does ‘this’”—Isaiah put air quotes around the word—“entail?”
Sofia thought for a moment. “We just start… acting like a couple. I’m sure you’ve been in a relationship before, on the other side.” She’d decided to stop referring to the time before he’d lost his memories as his real life. It didn’t feel right anymore. “The other side” was the only thing that seemed to fit. And Sofia was trying to allow herself to focus onthis side, for once. Because maybe, for the rest of Isaiah’s life, that was the only side there was.
Sofia was waiting for an answer, her heart sinking as she began to think he was going to say no, when Isaiah slipped his arms around her waist and dipped her within the span of what felt like a nanosecond. Her breath caught.
He brought his face close to hers, until their lips were centimeters from each other. Sofia thought her heart was going to hammer out of her chest. But then he grinned and pulled up, carefully drawing her back to both feet and taking a step back.
Sofia could hardly breathe, much less speak.
“What’s the matter?” Isaiah asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his long-sleeved flannel shirt, his eyes sparking. “Was the show not supposed to start until we left town?”
Heat flushed Sofia’s cheeks, but she raised her head and looked him squarely in the eye. She was still flustered, so she couldn’t manage to say much, but her brain formed three words, and she delivered them as crisply and clearly as the spring day: “Game on,Lover.”
Chapter Forty-Five
SOFIA
