“Haven’t decided on costumes yet.”
“Uh huh, that doesn’t make you moody.” I helped pull her hair out from under the collar before I stood to grab her hairbrush and some ties. “Talk to me.”
“I got mail.”
Apprehension crawled up my spine. “Yeah?”
She ducked her gaze when I faced her before she rose and walked over to her desk. Opening the top drawer, she pulled out two envelopes.
“Early decisions.”
It hadn’t even been four full weeks. That would have to be the fastest on record for getting any decisions. The envelopes were small.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” I told her as I walked over. “You heard the same overview as I did, a lot of stuff is online, so they don’t send these giant packets anymore.”
“I know, but I’m kind of terrified to open them. Which is stupid. These are the things I’ve been dying to hear about, and I’m scared to open them.”
“Is it Harvard?” I’d bet money neither was. Not yet. No way she’d hold off on opening that.
She shook her head and moved to sit in her chair when I pulled it out for her.
“Okay, so who is it?”
When she held them up, I read the return addresses—NYU was on the first one, and Fordham on the second. Those were both in New York.
“Kind of Harvard adjacent,” she joked, but it fell flat for her, and I didn’t push it. Instead, I just started brushing her hair so I could braid it. She let out a shuddery breath. “What if I didn’t get in? They weren’t my first picks.”
“What if you did?” I countered. “You’re pretty awesome, you know.” They still weren’t her first pick. “New York could be cool.”
“Have you seen what apartments are like there? They’re so tiny.”
I grinned. “We’ll make sure we have space for a big enough bed, and we can all pile onto it.”
Her snort made me grin wider. With a few careful twists, I began gathering her hair back into a loose French braid, more to get it out of her way because we would be trying on costumes.
“Crowded.”
“Snow.”
“Where would you run?”
“They have parks,” I drawled. “A really big one that takes up several acres as I recall. They have a zoo, too.”
“What if you guys get in, and I don’t?”
“What if you open the letters and stop making yourself nuts?” I tied off the braid and moved around so I could face her again. Leaning back against her desk, I folded my arms to keep from tugging the letters out of her hands and opening them myself. “C’mon, Baby Girl. Open them. You don’t have to believe in you if you don’t want to, but I have all the faith in you.”
Wherever we all decided to go, I would make sure there was no distance between me and Frankie. Between all of us and Frankie. I wanted this to work. That meant making the choices that were right for all of us.
“You won’t know until you open it,” I reminded her softly.
“You’re right.” With a roll of her eyes, she tore open the first one and tugged the three pages out. The first line readCongratulations!and I bit back my reaction while she scanned it. Pride was a fist in my chest. She shot me an incredulous look, and I let my smirk out.
“You just need to remember I’m right more often.”
After sticking her tongue out at me, she passed the first one to me while she opened the second. I hadn’t been by my place, but I’d swing by later and check my mail. Her little excited gasp had me grinning again. Fordham was in my hand, but she had NYU.
“They’re offering me an out of state waiver.”