“Amelia, don’t be an imbecile. Friends don’t touch other friends’ faces and stare into their eyes like the sun is shining out of their every pore.”

I loll my head toward him and try to ignore the pitter-pattering of my heart when I think of Nolan looking at me like that.

“That’s beautiful, Alex. Have you considered taking up writing? Nolan could use the competition.”

He grins. “Computers are more my thing. Much more straightforward. I have enough drama from keeping after Nolan. I don’t need to invent more.”

“Am I part of that drama?”

He taps a finger against his chin, pretending to consider. “You certainly were an unexpected addition, yes.”

And even though everything has become so convoluted, because it’s the last night and I still want to know, I ask, “Do you really not know who sent me the book? Who brought me here?”

He looks away, playfulness gone. “If you ask me, it’s fate.”

I frown. “Fate isn’t real. It’s for storybooks and Disney movies. I refuse to believe it’s real.”

“Fate doesn’t need to be believed in for it to be true.”

I roll my eyes. “Did I miss a chance to photograph the fortune cookie booth? Fate has nothing to do with any of this. I don’t know how she did it, but Jenna arranged for me to get that book. I showed up, and—”

“It wasn’t Jenna, Amelia. It was fate.”

Alex and his stupid walls. Now I’m trapped in the festival behind his eyes and in the one he’s created in real life, and it’s as if he’s determined to keep me inside and make me believe in things I’ve long since abandoned.

I gave up on fate when I learned that Jenna was dead.

I’m about to tell him so, to push Alex away with a few sharp words about what he can do with fate, when he says, “I hope you two didn’t have any ideas about making out in the Orman room tonight, because I need your help. When the bazaar is over, meet me at the marina. Bring Nolan.”

I’m grumpy, but too curious not to ask, “What’s at the marina?”

Alex winks. “You’ll see.”

As he walks back toward the bazaar, I ask, “How do you know I’ll come?”

Without turning, Alex calls, “It’s your fate.”

chapter fifteen

After the fireworks are over and the twinkle lights blink off, Nolan signs his last signature and slouches onto the table with a low groan.