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“So, what do you want to do now?” he asked “If not college, if not dancing, then what?”

She bit her tongue against putting her wish into words for fear of jinxing herself But this was Jesse, the h to the best parts of her from the moment they’d met

“I want to ith plants,” she confessed “Landscape or horticulture or so deal”

“You know Hol—”

“I applied They’re not hiring” She looked away, eet

Worth She reminded herself You are worth more than that job It’s their loss

“Mitch never mentioned that,” Jesse said

“He didn’t know”

Sheher aspiration was more intimate than then kiss in the kitchen

“Mitch talked about you all the ti the subject in a rush “Sah Didn’t knoas real”

“Well—” he scowled and searched through the clutter on the bench “—I never went to jail and I never beat up a kid for his shoes and—”

“Until I met you,” she interrupted his tirade “The second you stepped into my house in Germany I felt like I kneas real and asn’t”

He stood still, his hands hovering over the workbench, as though waiting for so

“I knew you were sood athlete I knew you liked books and music I knew you never lied”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far”

“I knew you were one of the good guys, no matter what Mitch said”

Jesse stared at her and somehow she knew he needed to hear this, he needed to be stroked and patted His ego was as battered as hers, she could see it in his eyes “I feel like I’ve known you all my life, Jesse Doesn’t that sound crazy?”

“No,” he murmured “It doesn’t sound crazy at all”

He cocked his head and watched her The air suddenly changed Beca for days now, erupted and she felt her face flush