“See? Peppermint,” I chirped and stuffed it in my mouth. “C’mon.” I took his hand and led him into the kitchen where my mother was flitting around from place to place, baking this and stirring that. You’d have thought she was a great cook by looking at her. In truth, everything she cooked usually came from a box or a can. She was just really good at using spices to make things taste homemade.

“Mom? This is Brody. Brody, this is my mother.”

“Hello, Mrs. McKenna. It’s a pleasure to meet you. These are for you.” Brody handed her the bouquet of roses and lilies. His voice didn’t quiver or shake. He didn’t stammer or stumble over his words. He seemed completely at ease, not nervous at all, unless you looked at his hand holding mine. He had me in a death grip. I was afraid I was going to lose a finger from lack of blood flow.

“Hello, Brody. It’s nice to finally meet you. Thank you for the beautiful flowers!” My mom fingered one of the blooms before smelling a rose. I smiled to myself. Brody just earned his second gold star of the night. “I’ll just put these in water, and we can sit down and eat. Willow, hang up Brody’s coat.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Taking Brody’s jacket, I went to hang it up in the hall closet. I could hear the steady cadence of his voice as he talked with my mother.

“May I help with anything, Mrs. McKenna?” he asked.

May I help with anything? Wow, he’s really pouring on the charm tonight.

“No, thank you. I think I have it under control,” my mom answered.

“C’mon, Brody, you can help me set the table,” I handed him the plates and led him to the dining room. “May I help with anything, Mrs. McKenna?” I said in a teasing, singsong voice when my mother couldn’t hear us.

Brody chuckled and shrugged a shoulder. “Gotta suck up to the woman who brought my soul mate into the world.”

“Aw, Ace, you make my heart go pitter-patter,” I teased, fanning myself with my hand.

He smirked. “I’ll make other things go pitter-patter later.”

“Tease.”

“Here we are.” My mom carried the pot roast into the dining room.

“Oh, Mrs McKenna, that looks heavy. Let me help you with that.” Brody darted to her and lifted the platter out of her hands.

“Thank you, dear.”

Dear? Whoa, Brody just earned his third gold star of the night, and we haven’t even sat down to eat yet. The big schmooze.

Dinner went great. My mom was talkative and asked Brody a million questions. He answered them all without a hint of annoyance. I was the one becoming annoyed.

“Mom, stop interrogating him like you’re a member of the KGB or something.”

“I don’t mind,” Brody said with a smile.

“So, what are your plans after graduation, Brody?” My mother dabbed each side of her mouth with a linen napkin.

“College, ma’am.”

“And what will you study?”

“Medicine.”

Really? How did I not know that? I guess I was too preoccupied about us being separated to ask.

“Ah, a doctor!”

“Actually, I’m going into medical research.”

“Still, a very respectable field. Willow is going to study education.” She said it like I’d be skimming scum off mud puddles. She thought I was wasting my life on teaching. There were so many more prestigious occupations I could have, especially with my grades. Blah, blah, blah. I didn’t care about prestige. I wanted a job that made me happy. “You’ve been accepted at a college?” my mom asked Brody.

“Yes. The University of Michigan.”

My heart did a nosedive like it did any time I thought about where we’d be going to college, so very far away from each other.

“Very nice,” my mom said, nodding. And Brody earned his fourth gold star of the night. “Willow is going to State.”

Not in this lifetime.

Brody looked at me and nodded. I gave him a tight smile.

And so it went throughout the evening. Question after question.

After Brody left, my mom said, “He’s a very nice young man. Seems to have a plan for his life. That’s important. I like him a lot.”

I smiled. “I like him a lot, too.”

“I know. I can see it in your eyes. You both have the look.”

“The look?” I asked.

“The look, you know, respect, admiration, friendship, love. I can see it when you look at one another. I’m happy for you.” She tapped the end of my nose with her finger. “Few people find a relationship like that.”

And Brody earned his fifth gold star. Five out of five stars. He had sufficiently won over my mom. I breathed a sigh of relief.

We lay on a blanket on the roof of Brody’s Jeep, wrapped in a quilt to keep warm, snuggled together, sharing body heat.

“The stars are pretty tonight,” I whispered.

“Mm-hmm.”

“I love coming here. Soon, it’ll be too cold.” I shivered.

“I know. I usually go to the planetarium in the winter. It’s not the same, though.”

“Do you want to come over and watch a movie? Ralph isn’t home this week.”

Brody turned his head and looked at me. His face was so close our noses nearly touched. “Your mom won’t mind?”

“No. She’ll probably be upstairs reading anyway.” I scooted forward and kissed him. His lips were cool against mine, but when his tongue slipped into my mouth, it was warm and tasted sweet. It sent my body into overdrive. Every time he touched me, my body reacted in ways that surprised me. But it was more than just physical. It was raw emotion. We didn’t hold anything back. We opened our bodies, hearts, and souls to each other and connected in a way that was beyond the physical.

I’d never given much thought to the idea of soul mates. I never knew if I believed there was only one person in the world meant for me. But Brody answered those questions. We connected in a way that I knew he was my other half. There wouldn’t be anyone else that would touch all of me the way Brody did.

“You’re freezing. Let’s go. We’ll get a movie on the way to your house,” he said when he ended our kiss.

“Okay,” I agreed reluctantly. I didn’t want to leave. Brody’s aunt’s property was my favorite place. It was the only place we were truly alone. We spent hours there talking and learning about each other.

And other things… those were good, too. Yeah.

I’d never been happier than I’d been the two months I dated Brody. It was bliss.

“When you jump for joy, beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet.”

~ Stanislaw J. Lec

During the two months that Brody and I dated, Jaden was relatively quiet. Thankfully, he avoided us. But, like I knew he would, he told people I’d slept around with other guys while we dated. He made it sound as though it happened all the time. I’d known he’d try to trash my reputation. What surprised me was that people didn’t believe him. Not only was my reputation not ruined, but people also talked about Jaden sleeping around on me.

The truth was, I wasn’t sleeping with anyone. And thankfully, Brody wasn’t one of those guys who made up stories about bagging some chick to make their friends jealous or himself more popular. No, he was the type of guy who wasn’t embarrassed to tell people we hadn’t had sex. It didn’t bother him what others thought.

Although Jaden remained somewhat detached from the situation, acting as if it didn’t matter—maybe it didn’t—he still had moments when he just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

It was a Monday, and Brody and I had just walked into the commons during lunch. We had to walk by Jaden’s table to get to my locker for my afternoon dose of caffeine.

“What do you have today, caffeine or caffeine and chocolate?” Brody asked. “I know how nervous you get before an exam. You might need a fix of both before our calc. exam,” he teased.