Jackson Howell was tall, dark, handsome- and the single most annoying person I’d ever met. Our fathers were best friends, but that didn’t mean a thing to us. It seemed like he lived to prank me, and I always responded with anger.
On the first day of preschool, he’d dumped a pail of sand down the back of my favorite yellow dress. In tenth grade, he started a rumor that I had a virginity pact with Jesus. It took almost the whole year for someone to tell me why no guys ever looked at me. It wasn’t that I wanted to date anyone, but it would’ve been nice not to be avoided like the plague.
When I moved back to our hometown after college, I was ready to turn over a new leaf where Jackson was concerned. It was time to deal with the feelings I had for him. He wasn’t hard to find. Within hours of my return he was serenading me with Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up at the Olive Garden.
Later that night I turned over the Wheel of Fortune card… and Madam Aria explained that Jackson Howell was my destiny.