Raven shook her head.

“She must be frantic by now!”

“She’s asleep. And if she wakes up, I left a note saying I was on a walk.”

“At night in a snowstorm?”

“That’s what she and I always do.”

“What is?”

“Go outside.”

She looked at Jackie. “This worries me. Drive her home soon, okay?”

He nodded. But when his mother wasn’t looking, his mischievous glance at Raven said soon wasn’t what he had in mind.

Raven and Jackie met in the living room after they changed. Huck and Reece were watching a movie. The living room was pretty with no lights but candles and the colored bulbs on the Christmas tree.

“Get lost in the storm?” Huck asked.

“Yep,” Jackie said.

“I hope you had your moral compass with you, young man,” Reece said in a teacher voice.

Jackie pulled Raven next to him on the L-shaped couch. “Where’s Mom?” he asked Huck.

“Reading in her room.”

Jackie unfolded a soft blanket and spread it over Raven and him. He moved close, nestling her in his arms.

“Whoa, what’s this?” Reece said. “Do you two move fast or what?”

“Not really,” Huck said. “They’ve already slept together.”

Reece pretended to choke on a piece of popcorn. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I was told I couldn’t,” Huck said, looking at Jackie.

“And yet, you just did,” Jackie said.

“When was this?” Reece asked.

“A while back,” Jackie said.

Reece looked at Raven. “Aren’t you going to defend your honor?”

“I don’t have to. I was seven years old.”

“I know for a fact that Cinderella always left long before midnight that summer,” he said.

“She snuck into Jackie’s bed in the middle of the night,” Huck said.

“You little minx!” Reece said to Raven.

They all laughed.

“But really, did you?” he asked Raven.

“I really did. My mother was angry with me, and I ran away.”

“And you crawled into bed with him?”

“She did,” Jackie said, hugging her tighter. “She was freezing cold and wet.”

“That was because I fell asleep in Hooper’s field.”

“You never told me that,” he said.

“I was too busy shivering,” she said.

“This is some story,” Reece said. “Can I have rights to it when I become a famous author?”

“We’ll think about it,” Jackie said.

“Are you still writing?” Raven asked Reece.

“I write when I’m not dead tired from working, and driving back and forth, and doing laundry, and making sure my mom eats more than whiskey every day. Which means, no, I’m basically not writing.”

“That sucks,” Jackie said.

“I know, and I suffer well, don’t I?” Reece said.

“Admirably,” Huck said. “Are we watching this movie or what?”

“Rewind it to where we were when the love pups came in,” Reece said.

She and Jackie didn’t stay long. After a few minutes, he whispered, “Want to go to my room?”

She nodded.

“Tell Mom you’re doing homework?” Huck asked when they headed for the stairs.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll believe that,” Jackie said.

“Don’t study too hard,” Reece said, and he and Huck sniggered.

Jackie turned on the light and closed the door. He’d repainted, a stormy blue-gray replacing the pastel blue. The bed was bigger, making the room feel smaller. On his desk and dresser were photographs of him with his father and family, many from their camping trips. The only decorations on the walls were a mirror over his dresser and a corkboard covered with photographs of friends and other memorabilia that dated back to elementary school. Raven was in a few of the photographs from school events. Scattered over the board were stickers from places he’d visited—Mount Rainier, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon—and conservation messages: THINK GREEN, PLANT POWER, RECYCLE. Jackie said he was going to study conservation biology in college.

“You still have the stars,” she said, looking up at the white ceiling with plastic stars.

“I wanted them gone when I started middle school, but they tore the plaster when we pulled a few off. We decided to leave them on rather than redo the ceiling.”

“I like them.”

“Then I’m glad they’re still here.” He took her in his arms. “What do you want to do?”

“We could play Chutes and Ladders.”

“I don’t think we have that game anymore.”

“Candy Land?”

He grinned. “That sounds like code for something else.”

“It does. Let’s play.” She lifted the bottom of his sweatshirt up his chest.

“You really do move fast.”

“I only want to look.”

“Yeah? Can’t wait till it’s my turn.”

She studied his bare chest. She thought of the day she’d first met him, when he, Huck, and Reece swam in the deep pool in the creek. His tanned body had been smooth and soft. Now he had some hair on his chest, and his shape was that of a man, contoured with beautiful bulges of muscle.