The Vow
Page 29
After Mo gets his boarding pass and checks his bags, we make our way toward security. The line isn’t long, but we have to say good-bye before he can get in it.
“Can I watch you go through?” I ask. My voice is solid. I’m not going to cry.
“Yeah. What do you think my chances are of getting felt up by that big dude with the wand?”
“I don’t know. You’re kind of cute. Maybe if you show a little leg.”
He laughs, but it’s nervous and distracted, barely a laugh at all. He’s not thinking about security.
We’re not walking anymore. We’re standing still, and my heart is in my throat. I want to freeze time, and I want this over. Either. Just not this.
“So,” he says.
“So.”
He lifts his arms, and I walk in to him, wrapping my arms around his body, squeezing so hard I don’t know how I’m not killing him. I might be killing myself. All the skin and muscle and bone of him are too solid, and I can’t absorb him into my body. My arms ache, and when I can’t squeeze any longer, I relax and just let him hold me. I’m soaking in a lifetime of Mo in just one hug, and I can feel a part of myself soaking into him too. It’s more than his smell and the texture of his skin. I’m collecting his thoughts—no, our thoughts. I have to take them all, our glances and our words and our memories too, because it’s almost too late.
It is too late.
He lets go and turns around without saying good-bye. I feel something crazy, a scream working its way up me, but not a scream because I don’t open my mouth. My heart is squeezing itself to death.
He turns around and gives me his smile of beautiful white teeth. “I love you,” he calls.
“I love you, too,” I call back.
That’s our end. I can’t watch him now, not without crying. I can’t stand here and see him show his passport and take off his shoes and shuffle through the line with all the other passengers like I thought I could. Like someone anonymous. I turn around and walk step after step after step toward the airport exit. Away from Mo. Into the after.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to all the attorneys in my life (and there are many) who helped me wade through the immigration issues for this book. I now understand even less why you all choose to do what you do. But whatever. To each his own. I owe a special thanks to Michael Martinez for going above and beyond his brother-in-law duties by reading the entire manuscript. Mike, that ruled of you. Your knowledge and suggestions were invaluable. Next time I get your name for Christmas I’m going to buy you something awesome, or maybe just less lame than last time.
And to the attorney in my life whose expertise would have been most helpful, but who refused to answer any questions or discuss any issues, thanks for eventually being okay with me writing this book. I owe you.
Thanks also to the editorial team at Simon Pulse, whose patience and creativity was astounding: Anica Rissi, Liesa Abrams, Michael Strother, and everyone else who pored over the manuscript and brainstormed ideas to make things work. I recall at one point during my Dream Act crisis, Anica promised to get on the phone with President Obama if we couldn’t make all the pieces fit. I don’t doubt she would have.
And of course, thanks to Mandy Hubbard, agent extraordinaire, queen of pep talks and sanity checks and smoothing things over. Every writer should be so lucky.
The final and biggest thank-you goes to my children. You are a constant reminder of what’s most important.
We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon Pulse eBook.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martinez, Jessica.
The vow / by Jessica Martinez. — 1st Simon Pulse hardcover ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Mo is not only eighteen-year-old Annie’s best friend, he is the one who
helps her cope with the loss of her older sister, so when he learns he must leave Kentucky and return to Jordan with his family, Annie suggests a shocking alternative.
ISBN 978-1-4424-5864-2
[1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Love—Fiction. 4. Aliens—Fiction.
5. Arabs—Kentucky—Fiction. 6. Race relations—Fiction.
7. Family problems—Fiction. 8. Kentucky—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M36715Vow 2013
[Fic]—dc23
2012039166
ISBN 978-1-4424-5866-6 (eBook)
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events,
real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places,
and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance
to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Manufactured in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martinez, Jessica.
p. cm.
Summary: Mo is not only eighteen-year-old Annie’s best friend, he is the one who
helps her cope with the loss of her older sister, so when he learns he must leave Kentucky and return to Jordan with his family, Annie suggests a shocking alternative.
ISBN 978-1-4424-5864-2
[1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Love—Fiction. 4. Aliens—Fiction.
5. Arabs—Kentucky—Fiction. 6. Race relations—Fiction.
7. Family problems—Fiction. 8. Kentucky—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M36715Vow 2013
[Fic]—dc23
2012039166
ISBN 978-1-4424-5866-6 (eBook)
Text copyright © 2013 by Jessica Martinez
Jacket photograph copyright © 2013 by Steve Gardner/PixelWorks Studios
Jacket design by Russell Gordon
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Interior design by Mike Rosamilia
The text of this book was set in Janson Text LT Std.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
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