It was the only thing running through Ryan’s brain. Awesome. Awesome. Who cared that they got shut out of the Grill’n’Shake? Just the sight of Shay—skimming a paperback down the aisle from him, his paper flower tucked behind her ear—made him smile. She was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen, and it wasn’t just her body (which he wanted, even now that she’d put back on the flowy overshirt). Her light shone on everything around her. The mall was beautiful. He was the guy he’d always wanted to be. Dangerous things were made safe. He could pick up a book and not be afraid to say he didn’t get it. When he asked who Jane Austen was, glancing at the book she’d been flipping through, she tapped him on the head with Pride & Prejudice and told him to educate himself. Then she held his cheeks in her palms and asked him what he’d been doing all these years in school anyway. “Football,” he’d answered. Jane Austen was hard. The sentences were long and the story seemed to be about a bunch of girls who wanted to get married.
