“Where will I take you?”

“I’ll show you. Before the gate.”

“Why?”

“I’ll climb the fence. The alarms will wake her up if I walk down the driveway.”

He looked at her, and she could tell he wanted her to explain about the alarms.

“We’d better go. And make sure you turn around in the road—don’t go past my driveway.”

He drove slowly on the one-lane road so Raven could look for a good place to climb the fence. She had him stop at a place where there wasn’t too much brush.

“This will be a pretty long walk,” he said.

“That’s okay.”

He got out to say goodbye, and they kissed in a flutter of snow lit by the headlight beams.

“When will I see you?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You can’t say that. I have no way to contact you. We have to make a plan now.”

“I’m going to ask her if I can start seeing you. But I can’t predict what her answer will be.”

“Let’s just say we’ll meet right here day after tomorrow. What’s a good time for you?”

“I’ll tell her you want to take me out for dinner.”

“I do want to take you out for dinner,” he said.

“What time?”

“Five thirty,” he said.

“But don’t count on it.”

He kissed her. “I’m going to count on it. Every minute. Let me give you a boost over the fence.”

“I don’t need a boost.”

“I was hoping to grab your butt.”

“All right, I need a boost.”

8

Mama didn’t know she’d left the house.

Raven was too keyed up to sleep. She lit a fire in the hearth and curled up with blankets and a pillow next to the dancing flames. Everything that had happened with Jackie played over and over in her thoughts. Was she really with him? Finally?

She woke at dawn next to the cooled fire. Mama was standing in front of the big living room windows that looked out at a field outlined by two clusters of trees. The storm had cleared, and she was transfixed by the snow-cloaked landscape.

Raven walked to her side. “I went out in the storm last night. It was so beautiful.”

“I wish I was well enough to walk in snow all day as I used to,” she said.

“I’ll walk with you, if you want.”

“I don’t need help, Daughter,” she said. “But let’s walk after breakfast.”

Walking in the snow and crisp air invigorated Mama. She almost seemed well. Raven decided to ask her about the date with Jackie while she was in a good mood.

“Remember that boy who came onto our property?”

“Yes, I remember Jack Danner, the one who drives you home from school most days.”

She still reviewed the driveway videos.

“May I go on a date with him tomorrow? He asked me to dinner.”

“Dinner!” Mama said. “I’d thought you and he would be far beyond that by now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been with him for months. I assumed you two were having sex.”

“How could we be having sex? You’ve seen what time he drops me off. We come straight here from school.”

“You haven’t had sex with him?”

“No. This will be our first date. If you let me go.”

“He was more polite than the other boy. Do you like him?”

“I like him a lot.”

“He lives down the road, doesn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“His mother was the one who interfered in your schooling.”

“That was a long time ago. And she didn’t interfere. She only said I was smart and should go to school. Of course a schoolteacher is going to say that.”

Mama paced silently. Raven was afraid the conversation about Jackie’s mother had ruined her chances.

Mama stopped walking and faced her. Already she was short of breath. “Yes, go with him. But enough of the inane dining and dating rituals. Just let your creature side free and enjoy physical pleasure with him. That’s what he wants more than some silly dinner, too.”

Raven snorted. “I bet you’re the only mother in my high school who tells her daughter to have sex rather than go on a date.”

“You’re different, Raven. Human mating games won’t appeal to your wild raven side.”

“That’s not true. Ravens engage in many rituals before they copulate. They do sky swooping together and dances and preening. They make those soft little sounds like love words. And I’ve seen males bring females gifts of food. That’s the equivalent of me going out to dinner with Jackie.”

Mama burst into laughter that ended with coughing.

“You have me, Daughter. I think this boy has very much captured your raven soul.”

She was afraid to say how much he had. Mama might get jealous, as she had when she found out about her visits to Jackie and his house.

“Go on your date, then,” Mama said. “And preen and dance and whatever you and your raven spirit like.”

They began walking again.