Chapter 34

It was almost eight o’clock by the time I got home. By that time, I felt unbelievably tired, but also oddly relaxed, as if spending those few hours in the company of my friends had started me down the first steps to healing. I hadn’t written off Luke, but I knew if things really were over between us, I still had other people in the world who cared about me. As I came around to the front of the building from the garage, I saw someone waiting on the bottom step. My heart gave a single wild throb before I realized it wasn’t Luke but probably the last person in the world I wanted to see — Danny.

“I need to talk to you,” he said, before I could even open my mouth to demand why the hell he was loitering there.

“Now really isn’t a good time,” I replied curtly.

“Please,” he said, and there was such a look of puppy- dog pleading in his eyes that I felt forced to relent.