Graduation and Gifts (Untouchable Book 8) by Heather Long (best books to read for beginners TXT) 📕

Also, the girls are giving me shit that I have decided you’re my bestie. Don’t disabuse me of this concept.

Does that make me sound desperate? You know, don’t tell me if it does. I haven’t slept more than three hours in a row in weeks. I’m so tired, I think I forgot my own name. I know my parents have. Okay, pity party over.

Pick a song, we won’t let anyone else until you two do, then tell those gorgeous boyfriends of yours to call me and tell me when you can be at a concert. We’ll make sure you’re all set up backstage with us.

KC

Chapter Twenty

It’s Not Springtime in Paris

Frankie

“Wait…what?” The last thing I expected when we reached the private plane and boarded was the announcement of where we were going.

“Paris,” Archie repeated, his eyes positively dancing with mischief. “Rachel is wa—”

I leapt at him, and he caught my hug. The guys laughed at my squeal, and then he handed me off for hugs all around. “We’re going to Paris?” The whole idea was insane. We’d just spent two weeks frolicking, and now we were…

“I told you,” Archie said as I collapsed back into the seat between him and Ian. “June is our month.”

Reaching over me, Ian clicked my seatbelt on and then linked his hand with mine. “And we all saw your face when Rachel said she was spending a few weeks in Paris between graduation and college.”

“I wasn’t trying to…”

“We know,” Coop told me, turning his seat to face ours as the plane began taxiing. “All of us together changes a lot of things, but you thought about going to Paris with Rachel.”

“I did, it would be amazing. But I wasn’t about to leave you guys behind.”

“Newsflash, Baby Girl, you’re not leaving us behind. We’re all tagging along.” Jake winked at me.

“That said,” Ian continued as he lifted my hand and kissed it, “you and Rachel will have girl time together to explore the city and the sights. We’d prefer it if you’d take one of us with you, but no one…” The last he said with some emphasis and stared at Jake for a beat before continuing, “No one is going to insist if you don’t. We get that you girls need your time too, and we’re perfectly capable of entertaining ourselves.”

My cheeks ached from smiling, and I glanced over to find Archie studying me with a pleased little grin on his face, even as my ears popped from the rapidly ascending altitude of the plane.

I mouthed ‘I love you,’ and he winked.

Head back in the seat, I laughed.

We were going to Paris.

We played cards. We teased. We watched movies. Ian and I picked the song of Torched’s we wanted to do, and we emailed it back to the girls. As soon as we’d gotten back to Fiji, our phones had blown up with messages and social media notifications.

I talked to Hank, checking in on him and the family. I also got to talk to Chloe. I hadn’t talked to my brothers yet, but that was all right. When I told Chloe I was on my way to Paris and asked her what she wanted, she said a funny beanie. Considering I’d wanted something similar at her age, I laughed and promised I’d find us matching ones.

Hank wanted to know how I was doing, how the guys were, and how our vacation was going. He invited me—and the guys if they wanted to come as well—up to his place in Massachusetts before classes started in the fall. A weekend, he said, a chance to get to know the kids. If I wasn’t comfortable staying at the house—the five of us would have to share one room and it might be a bit cramped—there were also a couple of boutique hotels nearby.

The guys didn’t look opposed, so I promised him we’d work something out. We still had to finish our move to New York, and that meant finding a place. I had my suspicions that Archie already had that covered however.

Jake checked on his mom and sisters, as did Coop. Ian sent an email to Sara and Joe, but his parents weren’t at home. They were taking a cruise of their own, and there were messages and pictures from them that came in.

I also had a number of notes from Rachel, each one snarkier than the last.

Look, it’s the Eiffel Tower. Wish you were here.

Hey, check out me at this cute little café! Wish you were here.

French girls are hot. And bitchy. The boys are worse. Just kidding. Look who I ran into…

The picture of Mathieu made me laugh. But all of Rachel’s snaps included similar themes. She wished I was there. Look what I was missing. See what we could be doing.

She was such a shit.

I couldn’t wait to see her.

I checked in with my grandparents after we all spent way too long trying to figure out the time change. Archie finally just looked it up while laughing at us. They were fine, though my grandmother mentioned that Maddy had come to see them. All of my good humor dried up.

“Are you all right?” Because there was just something in her voice.

“Just fine,” Patience informed me, then lowered her voice. “Your grandfather didn’t take it well. I’m afraid it upset his heart, but he’s going to be fine.”

“What do you—He had a heart attack?” At my question, Archie’s gaze cut sharply to me, and Coop just moved to sit on the couch next to me and my hand slid into his.

“No,” Patience told me in too calm a voice. “Stress caused an anxiety attack. That was what the doctor told us. It mimicked a heart attack, but he’s fine. They kept him overnight for observation.”

Guilt ate at me. “What did she want?”

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Patience said. “You enjoy your jet-setting with that Standish boy. At least he takes after his grandfather.”

“Grandma.” It came out exasperated. “Don’t call him that boy.” Standish