P.S. I Like You(52)

“I know. I’m sorry.” I really did know and I really was sorry, but I also really didn’t want to deliver this box and I was hoping with all the hope in me that if Mom saw that I was sincere in my regret she wouldn’t make me. Because although our guest hadn’t deserved my treatment of him that day, he deserved it a thousand times over for every other day.

And his awful girlfriend deserved worse.

“Good. Then this shouldn’t be very hard.” Mom patted the lid of the box and walked away.

“Mom! Wait!”

She stopped.

“Can’t Wyatt just give it to him on Thursday at baseball practice? I don’t need to take it now and tie up your car.” Mom’s car was run-down, messy, and very mom-like. Even though it represented the story of my life pretty well, I tried to avoid driving it at all costs, especially in super nice neighborhoods to the house of a guy who didn’t need more reasons to make fun of me. “Or I could give it to him at school.” Or I could never, ever give it to him.

“I’d like you to take it now, Lily.” She nodded toward the box. “Go on. And actually use the words I’m sorry while you’re there, too.”

That would be impossible.



It had been years since I’d been to Cade Jennings’s house and I’d hoped I would never have to step foot in it again. But here I was, standing in front of his large double doors.

As I rang the doorbell, I prayed that he wouldn’t be home. Or maybe that some butler would answer instead. Then I could throw the box and run.

But luck wasn’t my friend these days. Between the whole guitar thing and the detention thing and the Sasha thing, I shouldn’t have expected this to actually go my way.

Cade answered. All six foot, slightly damp hair, sparkling smile of him. “Hey,” he said, like it was perfectly normal for me to be standing on his doorstep.

“Hi,” I muttered, my eyes down.

“Come in.”

Had my mom warned him I was coming?

I stepped into his huge entryway, thinking my memory had exaggerated it, but if anything it was bigger than I remembered. And whiter—marble floors, large white floor vases, a huge abstract painting with nothing but white lines.

I held out the box to him. “This is from my mom.”

“What for?” He opened the box and pulled out the bracelet she had been assembling on his wrist during Thanksgiving. “Ah! The man bracelet. I thought you said I was just her model.”

“Well, you were until I was rude to you,” I said. “This is a ‘my daughter was rude to you’ gift.”

“If that’s the case, she owes me about five hundred more.” There was a smile in Cade’s voice.

“Funny. Anyway, you don’t have to wear it.” It didn’t have feathers so at least there was that. “You can give it to your mom or something.”

He gave a mock gasp. “This is a man bracelet, Lily. My mom is not a man. I will wear this. And when I wear it, it will remind me that you apologized for being mean to me.”

“I did not apologize.”

“Oh.” He raised one eyebrow. “So your mom is apologizing for you being mean to me?”

I gave a short laugh. “Yes.”

“But not you?”

“Fine. Me too. I’ll see you later.”

“Wait.”

I had been backing up and I stopped.

“You have to show me how to use it.”

“Use it?”

“How to put it on.” Cade turned and walked away. I assumed that meant I was supposed to follow him. I thought about not following him but then I’d owe him another bracelet for sure.

I met up with him in his massive kitchen. The box and bracelet were now sitting on the island and he was on the other side assembling a sandwich. I had obviously interrupted him in the middle of snack time. I kept the island between us and stopped next to the box.

Cade placed the top slice of bread on his sandwich and took a bite. “You want anything?” he asked through his mouthful.

“No. I’m good.” I picked up his bracelet. “So anyway, it’s just a basic clasp. You open it here and attach it to the ring.”

“Wait a sec. Just let me finish eating so you can show me on my wrist.”

I was not going to get annoyed because it was obvious that’s what he was trying to do—annoy me. I put the bracelet back in the box, leaned against the counter, and waited. Over his right shoulder was a large set of French doors that I could see the pool through.

I thought back to his fourteenth birthday party. After we’d eaten the catered food, everyone had gone out to the pool. A lot of the guys swam and the girls sat on the side like if the water touched us, we’d melt. I’d worn my swimsuit but wasn’t going to get in if Isabel didn’t. Especially because my swimsuit was a hand-me-down from my sister and was a little too big on me. At one point as I talked with Isabel, I’d slipped my hand into the pocket of my shorts and felt a piece of paper there. When I pulled it out it was a five-dollar bill. It had been a long time since I’d worn the shorts and I was so surprised to see it that I’d let out a happy yelp and said, “Best day ever!” Cade, who must’ve been walking over to see Isabel when this happened said, “That’s all it takes to make you happy? Maybe if I handed you a five every morning, you’d be more pleasant.”