His thumb goes still on my ribs. “Where’d that come from?”

“I put it up on my wall after this boy blew me a kiss in, like, the fifth grade. The next day he tried to front like he blew it to somebody else, but I left the fact up there anyway. Didn’t really think about it again until you blew me that kiss on the court. Well, at least blew it in my direction.

“Then the fact about kisses came rushing back to me, which I took as a sign that we were totally meant to be. So much so that while I was in the hospital that night, I rewrote the fact on the back of my dinner menu—even though I had no idea how you felt about me—and I saved it to give to you. Carried it around in my back pocket for almost a week. But then . . . well, it’s a long story. But the bottom line is: it got lost. I was waiting to tell you about it until I could give it to you in person, so it would be special. But it looks like that’s not gonna happen, so there you go.”

“No. I mean, what’s the story behind the fact? How exactly did blowing kisses allow people to get in good with the gods?” Rex asks, totally ignoring my whole romantic story.

“I don’t know. That’s all I wrote down,” I say, disappointed.

He repeats the fact four times, like he wants to remember it forever.

“Yep, that’s it,” I finally say.

“Crazy I’ve never heard of that. You know I blow a kiss every time I go to the free-throw line, right?”

“So I’ve heard.”

“I blow them to my mom,” he says.

And here I am worried about my stupid romantic story. “Really?” I say.

“Yeah, every time I blow a kiss, I ask her for forgiveness.”

A heavy weight drops down on my chest, “Oh Rex,” I say, and reach for his cheek again.

His hand leaves my waist and lands on my hand. Then he interlaces his fingers with mine and brings our hands down to rest in the space between us.

“No, no, it’s cool. This is actually really good,” he says cheerfully. “You see, your fact means that my kisses have probably been working. It’s like all that stuff we were talking about earlier with my mom being a part of Everything. If she’s a part of Everything, that means I’ve been getting in good with her every time I blow a kiss. I don’t know if she’s forgiven me yet, but if I keep blowing kisses, she’ll definitely have to forgive me one day.”

His happiness is so sad, I don’t know where to begin.