Chapter 9: Accepted

He walked me home that night with the beta trailing behind, pretending to look at the stars.

Neither of us said anything until we reached the Rawson porch.

The kitchen light was on, and through the window I could see Mom's back at the sink.

I sat on the top step, and Rhett stood on the grass with his bandaged arm held against his ribs.

"Say it," he said.

"Say what?"

"Whatever you've been holding since Sunday. I can feel it from here. It's like standing next to a stove."

I laughed, and it came out wrong.

"You want it?"

"I want it."

"Okay."

I looked at my hands.

"You said my name to three hundred people, and you didn't tell me first."

"Jessa..."

"Not a call. Not a note. Not one word in three months since Midsummer."

I swallowed.

"I found out my own rejection the same minute my neighbors did."

His face went gray.

"I was told not to warn you. The envoy said if you knew, you'd run."

"I would have run. I would have run all the way to Canada, and you'd have had your clean peace."

I stood up.

"But I'd have been the one who decided. You took that from me in front of everyone I've ever known."

"I know."

"That's all I wanted to say."

"It isn't," Rhett said.

I looked at him.

"You said accepted," he said slowly.

"You didn't blink. You said it before I could draw a breath."

"So?"

"So I thought you were glad."

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