Updated Apr 8, 2026 • ~2 min read
Chapter 19: Thanksgiving
Jace
Thanksgiving break. Harper is with Jace’s mom for the weekend.
Jace sits alone in his house and stares at his phone.
He shouldn’t text Sienna. They agreed. No contact.
But it’s been three months. Three LONG months of seeing her at pickup and pretending he’s not dying inside.
**Jace:** Can we talk? Just coffee?
Her response comes an hour later.
**Sienna:** We shouldn’t.
**Jace:** I know. But I’m asking anyway.
**Sienna:** Where?
They meet at the same coffee shop where they first met. Full circle.
Sienna walks in, and Jace’s heart STOPS. She’s in jeans and an oversized sweater, hair in a messy bun. No makeup. Beautiful.
“Hi,” she says.
“Hi.”
They order. Sit. Stare at each other.
“This is a bad idea,” she says.
“The worst.”
“So why are we here?”
“Because I couldn’t go another day without seeing you.”
She closes her eyes. “Jace—”
“Come to my place. Please. Harper’s with my mom until Sunday. We can just… talk. Be together without worrying about who’s watching.”
“That’s how it starts. ‘Just talking.’ And then—”
“I’m not asking for sex. I’m asking for TIME. Just you and me. Please.”
She should say no.
Instead: “Okay.”
🔥
At his house, they cook dinner together. Pasta. Wine. Easy conversation.
It feels NORMAL. Like they do this every night.
Like this is what life COULD be.
After dinner, they end up on the couch. Talking. Laughing. Too close.
“I’ve missed this,” Sienna says.
“Me too.”
“Three more months.”
“Feels like forever.”
She looks at him, and the air SHIFTS.
“Jace—”
He kisses her.
She kisses him BACK.
Clothes start coming off. Hands everywhere. Des
perate. Hungry.
They make it to his bedroom. She’s in her underwear. He’s shirtless.
And then Sienna STOPS.
“Wait. I can’t. Not while I’m her teacher. It’s too wrong.”
Jace is panting, aroused, FRUSTRATED. But he nods.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I want this. God, I want this. But not yet.”
He pulls her close, holds her. “June?”
“June.”
They lie there fully clothed, just holding each other.
And it’s the most intimacy they’ve had in months.
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