He gives me a nervous smile as I meet him underneath the glittering disco ball.
“How…?” I say.
He slips the corsage onto my wrist, the pink-tipped flowers soft against my skin. “I had a little help.”
I smile. Nalani. She was on the prom committee.
“I can’t believe you did this.” My hands are shaking as I reach over and straighten his bow tie, which is the exact shade of blue of the dress I wore to prom. I wish I was in that dress now instead of my ugly uniform, but Will doesn’t seem to notice. I send a silent thank-you to Benjie for fixing my hair.
“I thought you could use a do-over,” Will says.
This is so much better than my original prom. And not just because chances are high that I won’t catch Will making out with Grace Hamasaki. It’s because I’m with him.
“Wait,” I say. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d already gone back to the mainland?”
He shrugs. “I convinced my dad to give me an extra few days. I had something important to take care of first.”
The fact that he stayed—that he did all of this for me—makes my heart swell. I smile and move a little closer to him, until there’s no distance left between us.
“You must be a good negotiator,” I say.
“Not good enough to change his mind about business school,” he replies. “But I’m learning.”
The opening strains of “Africa” start to play. I laugh as Will slides his arms around my waist. I put my arms around his neck, my fingers winding through the back of his hair, wanting this moment to last forever. We move slowly around the dance floor, the disco ball casting stars of light on us.
“I wish…,” he murmurs. There’s so much feeling behind those two words that he doesn’t even need to finish the sentence. I know exactly what he’s wishing for.
“Me too.” I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.
Maybe this is our last dance. Or maybe, if we’re really lucky, we’ll cross paths again someday. I can’t predict the future, but I’d like to believe this isn’t where our story ends. I’d like to believe that this isn’t just a summer romance and that the universe will find a way to bring us back together.
But I’ll think about that tomorrow. In the meantime, we have this one night. This one perfect night.
And for now, that’s enough.
Acknowledgments
It really does take a village to get a book on the shelves. Lucky for me, my village includes the amazingly talented people at Swoon Reads, as well as Hannah Fergesen, KT Literary, one heck of a great literary agent.
Thank you to my insightful and thoughtful editor, Kat Brzozowski. Thank you, Jean Feiwel, Lauren Scobell, Emily Settle, Morgan Rath, Mandy Veloso, Kaitlin Severini, and Becca Syracuse, who designed the perfect cover for this book. Thank you, as well, to Fernanda Viveiros at Raincoast Books and to the many bloggers, librarians, booksellers, and readers who have supported me and my books over the past few years.
One of the many benefits of being published with Swoon Reads is being part of a very supportive, generous circle of writers. I’m grateful for all of you. Extra thanks to Sandy Hall and Tiana Smith for the feedback on this book in its earliest, messiest stages.
Thank you, Jarren MacDougall-McLean, for lifting the curtain on what it’s like to work in a hotel, and Prerna Pickett and Nikki Van De Car, for reading through the manuscript with a keen eye.
Thank you to my friends and family: Mike and Tila Cassone, Chris and Carla Cassone, Ray Dosanj and Harpreet Gill, Leiko Greaves, Abby Wener Herlin, Brian and Joy Honeybourn, Barbara Hsiao, Kate Hunter, Mandy James, James and Elizabeth Koprich, Tracey Lundell, Shaun and Carianne McKay, Jennifer McKenzie, Pam Morrison, Stacie Palivos, Karam and Varinder Rai, Nadine Silver, Jim and Jela Stanic, Robert Stanic and Ange Grim, and Anna Tennick.
And, as always, thank you to my husband, Tony, for his unwavering love and support—and for agreeing to move all the way across the country so I could continue to follow my dreams. And to our daughter, Lila, my lucky charm.
About the Author
Jennifer Honeybourn works in corporate communications in Vancouver, British Columbia. She’s a fan of British accents, Broadway musicals, and epic, happily-ever-after love stories. If she could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, she’d have high tea with Walt Disney, JK Rowling, and her nana. She lives with her husband, daughter and cat in a house filled with books. Wesley James Ruined My Life is her first novel. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
A SWOON READS BOOK
An imprint of Feiwel and Friends and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
JUST MY LUCK. Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Honeybourn. All rights reserved.
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955603
ISBN 978-1-250-19465-7 (hardcover) / ISBN 978-1-250-19466-4 (ebook)
First edition, 2019
eISBN 9781250194664
swoonreads.com
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