I didn’t respond. He had pushed it too far, but it was good that he had. If anything, it made me confront my feelings, and for that I was long overdue.

“I guess I wanted to see if what he’d said at dinner was true. He sounded so sincere.”

“So you set us up to have a first kiss in front of our entire family.”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time?”

“Ha. Yeah. I’m sure it did.”

“Do you think you’re maybe falling for him?”

I pushed back on the swing, dragging my boots through the dirt. “I don’t know. Maybe. If I let myself go there, then yes. I wanted that kiss, John. I didn’t even care that the whole family was watching. When I stop thinking about all the reasons why I shouldn’t be, I’m so drawn to him.”

“Everyone sees it, Lane. You guys seem so in tune with each other.”

“Granny Grace saw it too. She warned me even. Early on when I didn’t have a clue myself.”

“What did she tell you to do?”

I huffed out a laugh. “To stay away from Simon if I didn’t want trouble with Jamie.”

“It’s definitely more complicated because they’re brothers,” John said.

“It’s impossible because they’re brothers. Simon would never do that to Jamie. He told me himself how deep his family loyalty runs.”

“So you’re stuck,” John said. “No matter what you do . . .”

“I’m going to lose them both.”

* * *

I could tell Simon wanted to talk. About our kiss. About everything, probably. It was in his eyes, in the way he watched me. But I was always one step ahead. Starting conversations with my parents. Clinging to Abuela’s side like she couldn’t last a minute without me. By Saturday evening, Simon and I hadn’t spent more than five minutes alone. We had, however, managed to have an incredible time with my family. Shopping and out to dinner in downtown Asheville. Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Visiting the Chocolate Lounge enough times to determine their lavender honey caramel truffle was absolutely the best one.

We spent the second half of Saturday at the Biltmore Estate. We toured the house, then waited in the great hall for the lighting of the Christmas tree. It was massive—nearly thirty-five feet—but I loved the gardens more. Strewn with Christmas lights, the sidewalks and pathways lined with luminarias, the gardens felt a little like a fairy tale. Fairy tales can do only so much against the cold though, which was why after just a few minutes of walking outdoors, the rest of my family headed inside, leaving Simon and me to walk the garden pathways on our own.

“Alone at last,” Simon said, falling into step beside me.