The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(73)

“And if I didn’t need to lose at least twenty pounds I would have run, too,” she promised him, making his lips twitch.

“But, you’re not autistic,” he said weakly as he stared off towards the school.

“True,” she murmured in agreement, “but that’s what makes you special,” she said, repeating the same words that her grandmother used to make her feel better whenever she complained about being the only twelve-year-old in high school.

“I don’t want to be special.”

“Then what do you want to be?”

“I want to be like everyone else,” he said, absently toying with a small twig.

“Then you wouldn’t be Shawn,” she said, reaching over and brushing his hair out of his face.

“I could be someone else,” he mumbled with a shrug.

“And who would you be?” she asked, her heart breaking for him.

“I don’t know. Maybe someone like Mr. Bradford,” he said with a shrug, making her smile.

“So, you want to be incredibly handsome, smart, kind, and funny?” she asked with a teasing smile.

When he nodded, she said, “You already are, Shawn,” making him smile.

“You are an incredibly kind, sweet, funny, and very handsome boy, who still owes me a second castle with an ocean view,” she said, making his eyes narrow.

“We didn’t discuss a second castle.”

“Well, we’re discussing it now,” she said, making his lips twitch.

“Fine, but you’re only getting one moat,” he said, sighing heavily as he grabbed hold of her branch and started climbing down.

“That’s just not going to work for me,” she said, watching him as he quickly made his way down the tree.

“I’m still working on your town,” Shawn said when he safely reached the ground.

“Village, Shawn. We’ve discussed this. It’s a village and I’m going to need another one for my new castle,” Joey said, slowly exhaling as she reached over and grabbed onto the branch across from her, telling herself that this was a piece of cake.

She should have told herself something else, she realized a few seconds later when she misjudged the distance to the branch beneath her, slipped, and—

Decided that she was actually okay where she was at the moment.

“Are you okay?” Jen yelled up.

“Couldn’t be better,” she said, tightening her hold around the tree even as she decided that it would probably be for the best if she squeezed her eyes shut so that she wouldn’t have to see the ground rushing up towards her if the branch that she was currently straddling decided to give out.

“That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” she said with a sigh, deciding to add climbing trees to the list of the things that she was better off avoiding.

“It’s good to see that you haven’t changed, Joey,” someone said, making her frown as she risked opening her eyes to find a somewhat familiar looking man wearing a fireman’s uniform pulling himself up beside her.

“Do I know you?” she couldn’t help but ask only to decide that it was time to close her eyes again when the branch that was keeping her from falling to what promised to be a very painful death, shook.

“Aaron Gordon,” he said as she felt him examine the small cut on her eyebrow before he dropped his hand away. “We went to school together.”

“Oh,” she said lamely, really hoping that he wasn’t the type of man to hold a grudge, but just in case…

“I’m sorry,” she said, deciding that it would probably be for the best if she skipped the normal social pleasantries and got right to that five-step apology process and hope for the best.

“For what?” he asked as her branch continued to shake.

“Many things, but mainly for the unfortunate incident that caused the school to close for a week and-”

“That was you?” he asked, chuckling, which she took as a good sign that he wasn’t about to get revenge.

“Yes, yes, it was,” she said, tightening her hold on the tree trunk when more jostling ensued, threatening to make this a memorable reunion.

“I see,” he murmured, sounding amused.

“I’m sure that you do,” she said, starting to nod only to decide to stop when the move caused her queasy stomach to do things that she really didn’t want it to do.

“Is there a reason why my niece is holding a Freddy Kreuger mask?” he asked conversationally.

“Prank gone wrong,” Jen yelled up. “I found an old Kreuger mask in lost and found, couldn’t resist the temptation, hid in Dr. Lawson’s closet, and accidentally scared Shawn for which I will profusely apologize for. Now, about this incident that has my full attention. How exactly did you shut the school down for a whole week?”

“Never mind,” Aaron said, laughing as she felt a rope wrap around her waist. “Are you ready to get down now, Joey?”

“Yes, please,” she said, nodding only to frown when he followed that up with, “You’re going to have let go of the tree first.”

“I really don’t think that I can do that,” she said, making him chuckle.

“I promise I won’t drop you.”

She worried her bottom lip and shook her head because she really couldn’t-