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“How’s it going with Scotty, anyway?” She smirked. “Don’t think I didn’t catch on to the real reasoning behind all those intimate training seshes.”

Mortification scorched my face, and I fanned myself with one of the plastic menus. “It’s going good. He’s pretty cool.”

“He’s cute. And he’s a little older, but not too old,” she added, slurping down her drink. “Are you bringing him to Prom?”

“No. I’ll just go stag and be your tagalong. Scotty will be in Denver that weekend for his older brother’s college graduation.”

“Bummer.”

Eric had asked me to Prom, and part of me wanted to say yes for the sole purpose of rewiring my brain into thinking boys my age were appealing. But I didn’t want to lead another guy on, so I’d turned him down. It was better to go alone.

“Does Scotty have a car? Can he meet us at the rink?” Tara leaned back in her chair and propped her sandals up on my lap.

“Yep. I’ll give him a call when we get back and see if he’ll be around.”

“Awesome. I think this is just what we need—quality time together that doesn’t revolve around end-of-school stress and college plans,” she said. “Mom and Dad have been working too hard. I want to enjoy time with them before I move out and start my own life.”

I wanted that, too

Too bad Reed didn’t agree.

“That’s where you belong. Far away from me.”

His words were acid in my lungs, tainting every breath with venom.

“You’re lucky.” I swallowed, glancing down at Tara’s painted toenails wiggling atop my knees. “You have two parents who love you.”

Tara fiddled with the hem of her tank top, her smile watery. “So do you, Hals. Mom and Dad love you like their own.”

Tara had no idea how much that hurt.

There was beauty in some of that hurt, knowing Whitney likely did see me as a makeshift daughter. And I was thankful for that. So damn thankful for her kind heart and giving spirit.

But there was darkness in the hurt, too.

The kind that eviscerated me from the inside out.

I blinked away the agony and forced a small smile, just as the stripes of clouds rolled across the sun, casting a dappled dance of light across the afternoon sky. Shaking the shadows away, I said, “I hope everything works out, Tara.” Then I sucked down the rest of my cola, letting it cool the embers of my heart. “I really do.”

I wobbled on my roller skates, my arms extended at both sides, prepared to catch my inevitable fall. Scotty was a pro, gliding beside me backward, a goofy grin on his face. I glared at him and his graceful form. “I suck at this.”

“Have you ever been on roller skates before?”

“No. Is it that obvious?”

Still smiling, he snatched me by both hands to steady me as we rolled by a few skaters and I tried to keep my legs from doing the splits. “You’ll get the hang of it. Hold on to me.”

The lights splashed Technicolor patterns across the maple flooring. MMMBop poured from the speakers, triggering my own smile to bloom once I’d gotten a better handle on my balance. I glanced around the rink for Tara, spotting her doing some questionable dance moves with Josh as he circled around her, fist-pumping the air. My mood had lightened, thanks to the upbeat music, colorful swirl of lights, and my friends having the time of their lives. Even Whitney had put on skates and was slowly inching her way around the rim of the rink, hanging on to the edge for support.

Twenty minutes whirled by in a blink, and I was lost to the giddy feeling sweeping through my chest. With one hand locked with Scotty’s, I peered up at him. “This is actually pretty fun.”

“Of course it is. It’s one-thousand percent fun. If fun had a specific definition, it would be this.”

“Actually, it would be the satisfaction of peeling off the plastic on a new electronic device.”

Staring at me through the strobes, he parted his lips to counterreply but then faltered. “I have no argument for that.”

I giggled and gave his hand a squeeze as we zipped past Tara and Josh. Tara raised her hands in the air, rolling forward with ease as Josh gave us a whistle. I turned to Scotty, still feeling unbalanced and afraid to let go. “It’s amazing how I can take down a grown man during self-defense training, yet I’m struggling to remain upright on these skates.”

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