Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow, #3)

by Rainbow Rowell

“You should stay!” I blurt out. Too loudly. A man standing next to us scowls at me. Shepard tilts his head and looks down at me. He bites his bottom lip. “You should stay,” I say again. More sanely. “Penelope . . .” he says quietly, “I’m not even here legally.” “You know that’s not an issue, Shepard.” “It never seems to be for you . . .” I’m holding on to the pole with both hands. “There’s still so much you haven’t seen. Piccadilly Circus, the Tower of London. There are magickal swans in Oxford, we could take a day trip. And then Scotland—great snakes, you could probably bond with the Loch Ness Monster!” The whole time I’m talking, Shepard looks like he’s getting ready to tell me no. And then he does. “I can’t stay,” he says, his forehead all wrinkled and his eyebrows pulled up in the middle. “I didn’t bring any money. I only have two pairs of pants.” “So you could get a job,” I say. “Not legally.” “Or you could go to uni.” “How would that work?” “You’re getting hung up on technicalities, Shepard. If you don’t want to stay, just say so!” He frowns. He’s holding on to the pole with both hands, too. He slides one hand down, and catches my thumb with his pinkie. “I do want to stay.” I hook my thumb around his finger. “I like you so much,” I say. It comes out resentful. Shepard smiles. But his brow is still furrowed. “I like you, too, Penelope.” “I don’t want you to leave.” He bends closer. “Come back with me.” “What?” “Come back to Omaha with me. I’ll get a passport, a real o...