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“Morning glory.”

Reed’s voice had all three heads whipping in his direction. Silence followed as he stared at the picture, then flicked his eyes to me.

I couldn’t help the smile that bloomed like the subpar floral sketch. We blinked at each other as I dropped my pencil and nodded. “He got it.”

Tara finally spoke, frowning with dismay. “What? How did you know that?” Then her eyes thinned as she glared at her father. “You’re not even on her team. Way to go, Dad.”

Whitney glanced between the three of us, confusion etched across her face. “Nice guess.”

“Why is it singing?” Tara wondered.

My gaze panned back to Reed and held. “The new Oasis CD. What’s the Story, Morning Glory? is the album title.”

“I never would have gotten that.” Tara pouted, tossing her pencil aside. “Jeez. You’re fired.”

Silence stretched between us as I collected the used pieces of paper and made a pencil pile, my cheeks warm and my heart skipping.

“I should get going.” Reed cleared his throat and stood from the couch, sweeping a hand through his unruly dark hair. “Same time next week?”

“Sure.” Tara stood from the floor and stretched her arms over her head. “I’ll brush up on my horticulture knowledge in the meantime. Lots of late nights at the library are in my future.”

Ladybug started running circles around me as I stood, her tongue lolling and paws dancing. “Can I take her for a quick walk?” I glanced at Whitney. “I won’t be long.”

“You can just let her out back. It’s dark.”

“But she has so much bottled-up energy,” I said, bending to scratch between her ears with a wide grin. “Don’t you, girl? You want to go for a walk?”

Ladybug bounded toward the front door where Reed was slipping into his combat boots and sliding his arms into the sleeves of his leather jacket. I followed, reaching for my own coat and shoes.

“All right,” Whitney relented, crossing her arms, attention on Reed as he opened the front door. “See you next week, Reed. Tara has a parent-teacher conference on Friday if you can swing it.”

“I’ll be there.” He glanced at Tara before heading outside. “See you, Squirt.”

She huffed. “Bye, Dad.”

Crisp wind blasted me in the face as I secured Ladybug’s leash and let her lead me out into the star-freckled night. Reed strolled over to his red pickup truck in the driveway, tossing a quick goodbye over his shoulder.

I swallowed, wavering briefly, then tugged Ladybug over to him. “Reed.”

His gait slowed until he came to a stop beside the truck, palming the back of his neck before he half-turned to face me. “What’s up?”

As Ladybug sniffed a patch of grass, I glanced at my fingernails that Tara had painted cerulean. “I went to the library after school last week and looked up what morning glories symbolized.”

Reed stared at me, brows furrowed, both hands sliding into his coat pockets. His eyes glinted in the soft glow of the nearby street lamp, resembling two pearly stars. “Why did you look them up?”

I worried my lip between my teeth, glancing skyward. “I was curious. Naming an album is a big deal, so I wanted to know the meaning behind the flowers. They represent love. I thought that was kind of beautiful.” I shrugged, embarrassment trickling in at the random confession. “I don’t know. The singer is probably a romantic.”

I wasn’t going to tell him that the flowers primarily represented unrequited love and that my heart had shriveled up like petals under a scorching sun the moment I’d read those words.

The irony.

When a smile hinted, Reed rubbed his lips together, shaking his head back and forth as he leaned against the side of the truck. “I’m about to burst your bubble, Halley.”

“What? How?”

“Pretty sure it’s a reference to drugs.”

My eyes popped, my grip tightening on the leash. “Really?”

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