in my inbox where I saved our emails, clicking on the last one I never answered.
To: Thea Marie
From: Henry Knight
Subject: ramblings to a princess in a tower
Love, you’re all I think of. It’s been so long, I fear I’ll forget your perfect, porcelain face. Those innocent lips and your sea-blue eyes haunt my sleep. Why won’t you answer me? I’ll keep sending you messages. I won’t stop. Ignoring me won’t work.
Answer me, love. Talk to me.
I’ll tell you what I really want. At night I sit up thinking about our conversations, the things you’ve told me. I want to hear your voice. Let me call you. We’ll talk all night.
Once I hear your voice, I know you’ll stay in my heart forever. If you do this for me, I’ll reward you for being my princess again. We’ll do what we talked about. I’ll come find you, I promise. We’ll live the life we planned out. I’ll meet your every desire and give you what you ask for in those big sea-blue eyes.
—Henry
My breathing is ragged. I fan my fingers over my chest, rubbing.
I stopped because Mom was getting suspicious, and I was so scared of getting in trouble. There was no way I could let him call me in the middle of the night, with my parents asleep down the hall.
Closing the laptop, I climb to my feet. Pity party officially over. I will not sit around dredging up weird old memories to compare to the new ones.
The only comfort I need right now is comfort food.
A short while later, I’m elbows deep in baking to relieve the stress. The kitchen smells amazing. Two trays of finished double chocolate chip cookies sit to the side of our wide kitchen island, ready for baking once the first batch comes out, while Constantine sprawls at my feet, occasionally peeking up with a tiny whine to beg for scraps.
“I don’t know,” I tell Maisy on FaceTime, the kitchen iPad propped on the recipe stand.
She’s in her airy bedroom, running through yoga poses with her hair in a sloppy bun. I finally broke down and explained I’ve been weird for weeks because of a mystery texter who wasn’t Wyatt.
“I think I might’ve gotten myself into hot water. He’s so zero to a hundred.” I slice through butter, crumbling it with my flour and salt to make a batch of pastry dough. By the time I’ve baked through my feelings, I’ll have enough for a full on bake sale. Maybe French club can host a fundraiser this week. “I mean, I’m crazy to agree to this whacky boyfriend and girlfriend thing with Connor, right?”
Maisy loses her balance and tumbles out of the handstand. “What!”
“Uh—”
Shit. I got wrapped up in talking while I was baking on autopilot. The plan was to tell her about the mistaken number debacle and keep Connor’s name out of it.
Maisy freaks out, kicking her limbs in the air in a goofy dance. “Thea Kennedy has a boyfriend! What! And it’s Connor fucking Bishop!”
She devolves into squealing while I shush her, frantically trying to muffle the volume on the iPad before Mom overhears from the other room where she’s watching a docuseries on a big cat zookeeper.
“Shh, jesus!” I make a pained face as I flail my butter and flour covered hands around the iPad. “Oh my god, I’m going to end you! Please be quiet!”
“Okay.” Maisy sits up, leaning toward her phone. “But for real?”
Blushing, I say, “Well, yes and no? It’s not real. We’re pretending. His idea.”
“Tell me everything, girl!”
I laugh and wipe loose curls back from my forehead with my forearm, hesitating to figure out what to say.
Because that’s the thing—I can’t tell her everything. This is only the second time, ever, I’ve wanted to hide anything from her. She’s my best friend and we’ve never held back from each other. We’ve pretty much been synced up on the same monthly cycle, both getting our first periods within days of each other the second summer at camp. Good times.
Despite our open friendship and deep connection, the only other time I’ve kept something from her was when I had my online boyfriend. I was vague on the details, calling Henry a pen pal instead.
Checking around the corner to make sure Mom is still absorbed in her show, I keep my voice low. “So, he asked—well, no. He’s Connor,” I start, laughing nervously. “He demanded I pose as his girlfriend because he doesn’t date and doesn’t want a real