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Publication date: November 7th, 2024
Synopsis:
Lung cancer patient Ryleigh Sinclair wants a boyfriend for the summer.
And my mother wants me to be the one to make her wish come true.
Me. The eternal pessimist. The guy who no longer believes in happy endings after my dad died of pancreatic cancer and my girlfriend dumped me in the same month.
But after weeks of spending time with Ryleigh, she somehow does the impossible. She fills the gaping hole of my father's absence until I'm the one hoping for a miracle.
I've learned my lesson about wishes.
Happily ever afters are a lie.
Yet I'm the one wishing like hell for another outcome for Ryleigh.
I lost my father to cancer; I can't lose her too.
Available at:
Excerpt
"Why did you leave me that night at the party?" I blurt.
His eyes harden, and I can already see him starting to shut down, to turn his emotions off. It's the same thing he always does when I ask him anything personal. He did it moments ago when I asked about his father, then changed the subject like I wouldn't notice.
I always notice.
"Because I never should've kissed you in the first place."
"Because this ends at the end of the summer?" I ask.
"Partly," he says, yanking on the ends of his hair.
"And what else?"
"I'm not doing this." He glances from me, his throat bobbing. "I'm not that guy, Sinclair. The kind that can stick around, that catches feelings. The happy-ending guy."
"Is it because I repulse you?"
"What?" He rears back as if I've slapped him. "No!" He shakes his head. "If you remember correctly, I kissed you."
"Yeah. I do remember," I say, voice thick, "and I've been trying to puzzle it out in my head ever since because, the second our lips touched, you jerked back like the room was on fire. So that leaves a lot of room for assumption and none of it is good."
Grayson drags a hand over his face. "It wasn't that, I swear."
"Then what? Because what I remember barely even qualifies as a kiss. It was so short-lived, it--"
"It qualifies, okay?" he snaps.
I fall silent, staring at the anguish painted in the lines of his face.
"The second my lips touched yours, it was like a fucking bomb went off. It was alarm bells and sirens. Fireworks. Stronger than any fucking drug I could take. Sharper than any knife. Is that what you want to hear?"
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