Page 23 of Steal My Breath Away

“I knew you’d say that.” He fired a perfect shot.

I got my panda.

Dad met us on the driveway when we rolled up just before sunset. “Why do I see three kids instead of two?”

“Ace won the giant panda!” I jumped off my bike. “You should have seen him shoot. I’m going to put him on the chair by the window so he can look out into the forest. I’ve named him Pandy.”

“If Ace paid for the game and won it, then he belongs to Ace.”Dad shared a look with Ace that I didn’t understand, but it made Ace smile.

“I want Haley to have it, sir.” Ace lifted the panda off the bike and handed it to me. I staggered under the weight of it, smothered by fluff. Somehow, he’d managed to balance it on the cross rail of his bike, and I’d laughed all the way home.

“Thank you, son. That’s very generous, and thank you for looking after my baby girl,” Dad said. “I’m sorry she harassed you into taking her. I told her we’d all go tomorrow.”

“I didn’t ask him,” I protested. “He just showed up when I was about to…” I trailed off, realizing I might implicate myself in a crime Ace had just saved me from committing.

“I came to see if anyone could show me around the fair,” Ace interjected. “I hadn’t been to a fair before and when Haley offered to take me, I was grateful for the company.”

My heart swelled with gratitude. Dad was pretty easygoing, but I didn’t like to disappoint him.

“Hmmm.” Dad lifted an eyebrow. “Well, since Haley has already been to the fair, she can mow the lawn tomorrow instead of coming with her mom and me.”

My heart sank into my chest. I loved going to the fair with my parents, but it was clear he’d seen right through our story.

“I could use the extra cash if you need it mowed,” Ace offered. “I could come by in the morning.” Dad used to do all the mowing, but the doctor said he wasn’t taking good care of his heart and he had to take special medicine that meant he couldn’t do activities that made him out of breath. He paid Matt and me to do the lawn as part of our chores, and if we were both busy, he paid Ace to fill in.

Would the wonders of Ace never end? How come Matt wasn’t like him? Ace was everything I’d always imagined a big brother would be, but more. So much more. I got that strange feeling in my stomach again. It made me feel warm and quiet inside. Ace was supposed to go to the fair with Matt tomorrow. I couldn’t let him take the fall for me.

“It’s my job,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

“Good decision,” Dad said in the tone of voice that told me I wasn’t off the hook. “You go on into the house. I want to have a word with Ace.”

Of course I didn’t go into the house. Instead, I hid behind the car parked on the driveway and listened to them talking. Dad told Ace he was a good man and that he was grateful for all the things Ace did to help our family. He thanked him for looking after me and for giving me the panda. He told Ace that if he’d been Ace’s dad, he would have been proud to call him his son.

The next day I mowed the lawn early and then took the money Dad gave me and waited for Ace on the driveway when he came to meet Matt. “Take this,” I said, handing him the money. “It’s for looking after me. I’ll give you Pandy, too, when you get back tonight.”

Ace shook his head. “I don’t need to be paid. I wanted to go to the fair with you. I knew you’d make it fun. And I won that bear for you.”

“I’ll take good care of him,” I promised. There was that strange feeling again, like being wrapped in a hug. “And thanks for trying to save me.”

“Anytime.”

I waved as he and Matt rode away and wished that “anytime” would come more often.

CHAPTER 12Haley

Good morning, Chicago. This isHidden Trackson WJPK, and I’m Haley Chapman. Today’s show is all about those moments when you think you’ve got things all figured out and then bam! life throws you a curveball.

Maybe you’re ready to bundle up against the cold, only to have the temperature shoot up like it did this morning, and you’re ditching your sweaters and pulling out your tees. Or maybe you think you know someone and they do something that makes you see them in a whole new light. That’s our vibe today. We’re diving into tunes about those “whoa, didn’t see that coming” moments, and how people and situations can flip the script on us when we least expect it.

This playlist is for those of us who’ve been blindsided by a plot twist in our own life story and are now struggling to keep our head above water. We’re kicking off with a track about just riding those waves when you discover there’s way more to the story than you thought. This is Alabama Shakes with “Hold On.” Stick around and remember—just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, life loves to shake things up.

Ace and I fell into a rhythm over the next two weeks after a somewhat rocky start, going from classes to work and then to all my clubs. He tried to stay in the background, usually standing or sitting at the back of my classrooms, grabbing a table in the corner of the coffee shop, and hanging out near the door when I was at my clubs. Only at the radio station did he seem ill at ease. I wasn’tsure if it was the chaos and the noise, or the fact that he thought it was a security nightmare with people constantly coming and going, hanging out in the hallways or racing from room to room. It was also impossible for him to be inconspicuous standing outside the studio while I did my show, because he was constantly in the way.

I liked seeing him outside the door. I liked knowing he was listening. I tried to play music I thought he might enjoy, and imagined I was talking just to him. My show vibe was funny, sassy, sarcastic, and sincere. I tried to be the fun, smart, yet down-to-earth best friend everyone wants to connect with.

Halfway through my show well into our second week together, I opened as usual for requests and comments. Sometimes I invited listeners to call in or text and share something personal about their lives that vibed with the theme of the day. The station feed lit up with a message and I clicked to open it only to wish I hadn’t.

We’re coming for you

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