Trip and Dallas agreed to swap vehicles in the driveway, and in the next few minutes, Louie, Josh, and I loaded into the back, with Trip jumping into the front passenger seat after parking his bike in the driveway. Dean’s mom’s house really was on the way to the movie theater. Trip called her on the way over and Dean was already waiting outside when we pulled up.

“Diana, come ride up here so he can ride in the back with the boys,” Dallas suggested as he put the truck into park.

With another quick swap around of human bodies, I found myself in the center of Dallas’s bench seat, admiring how clean he managed to keep his truck. He wasn’t lying. Unlike his house, there were no wrappers anywhere and no signs of layers of dust. It was a miracle. The only things he had up front was an air freshener in the shape of a pine tree hanging off his rearview mirror and a pack of yellow Post-it notes sitting on the dashboard.

“It’s old, but it works,” the man in the driver seat said to me.

I glanced at him. “I didn’t say anything. I was just admiring how clean it is.”

“You can afford a new one,” Trip muttered.

Something about the way Dallas shook his head at the comment told me this was an old argument between them. The hand he had on the steering wheel gave the worn leather a long, gentle rub. “I don’t need to get another truck the second a new model comes out.”

“You’ve had this one for… what is this? A 1996?”

“A 1998,” came Dallas’s response.

I fidgeted in my seat, keeping my legs closed so that they wouldn’t touch either of theirs. “When did you get her?” I asked.

He nodded, his hand back at the top of the steering wheel, his other palm flat on the thigh furthest away from me. “Bought her brand new. She was my first.”

“The only reason my car is new is because I couldn’t roll around with those two in a Mustang,” I offered him up some support. “That was my first brand new car, and I had loved it. I had my mom’s old Elantra before that.”

It was Trip who squinted over at me. “I can’t see you in a Mustang, honey.”

I snickered. “I was a different person back then. That Diana drove a red one and got speeding tickets all the time. Me now, drives the speed limit and has better things to do than spend my money on speeding tickets.”

Trip’s phone started ringing and he answered it. Next to me, Dallas whispered, “How’s your head?”

I cringed on the inside. “Fine,” I answered. “I have to do the shampoo again in a few days, but I’ve been keeping an eye on the boys and haven’t found any more eggs, so hopefully that’ll be the end of them. Are you okay? No itchy head?”

“No itchy head,” he confirmed. “But if it comes up, I’ll let you know.”

“Sure, sign me up for that combing,” I mumbled right before laughing and getting one back from him too.

Dallas glanced at me for a second before facing forward again, a smile on his mouth, the sound of Josh and Dean behind us talking, filling the air. “What are those huge boxes on your yard for?”

I snorted. “I figured Louie would have tried wrangling you in to build it for him. He saved up money to buy a quarterpipe. But it’s a kit, and it needs to be assembled. I’ll probably ask my dad to come over and help me do it when Louie isn’t around.”

“Why doesn’t he want you to build it?”

“A few years ago, I ordered him a bed online and built it for him. Tried building it for him. He jumped on it once and it collapsed. He hasn’t forgotten about it, and no matter how many times I tried to explain that the bed sucked, he still thinks I did something wrong and that’s why it broke,” I explained to him quietly, so only he could hear.

“Ahh,” he crooned. “I see.”

“Yeah, so if you ever hear him make a comment about my building skills, you know why.”

“Let me take a look at it. I’m sure I can help you if you want,” he offered.

What was I going to do? Tell him no?

* * *

Four and a half hours later, the six of us were elbowing our way out of the packed movie theater. The showing we’d originally intended to see had been sold out, so we ended up buying tickets for the following screening. To kill time, we’d gone to the nearest burger joint for dinner. When I’d gone for the bill, Dallas had swept my hand to the side and said, “That’s cute.”

I wasn’t even going to reminisce on how his forearm had been pressed against mine the entire length of the movie. Dallas’ hazel eyes had met mine the instant our body parts touched and we’d stared at each other. We both wanted the armrest and neither one of us had been willing to give it up.

Actually, I just liked having his arm touching mine. That’s why I never moved it. I really couldn’t have cared less about the armrest, but I would never admit that out loud.

“Can we go play at the arcade, Tia?” Josh asked as we wound our way through the crowd, heading toward the exit after the end of the movie. “Please?”

“Yeah, Dad, can we?” Dean asked Trip.

I wasn’t the one driving; I glanced at Dallas who shrugged. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He blinked down at me.

“All right. Sure, go. But once I run out of money, that’s it. I have a bunch of change….” I trailed off as we made our way to the giant arcade by the front doors. The entire movie complex was packed with people going to see the brand-new movie, but there weren’t more than maybe fifteen kids hanging around, playing games. Feeling around the bottom of my purse, I scooped out a handful of coins.

“You got a vending machine addiction I don’t know about?” Dallas joked.

I crossed my eyes as I picked out the quarters and handed an equal amount to all three of the boys. “I would if any of them carried Pop-Tarts. Hold on a sec, guys. I have more.” One more scoop of change from my purse, three five dollar bills from Trip, and a twenty-dollar bill that Dallas gave Dean with the promise that he’d get change and split it between the three of them, and the boys were gone.

“I’m gonna take a piss while we’re waiting,” Trip announced. “I’ll be right back.”

“I think Dean’s having problems with the change machine, let me go see,” Dallas said too, disappearing into the cavern of the arcade.

All right. Keeping an eye toward the front doors, I watched people come inside. I hadn’t thought too much about Anita in the last few weeks, but with hundreds of people coming in and out, I couldn’t help but remember how she’d shown up to my house unannounced. I had no idea where she was even living now, and a part of me was worried it was Austin. I was looking around when something caught my eye on the other side of the doors by the ticket counter. It was something about the golden-brown hair that triggered a memory in my brain and stole the breath right out of my mouth.

From one instant to the next, my stomach started cramping as the man took a step ahead in the winding line of people waiting to purchase tickets.

My head started pounding. My hands started sweating. I was dizzy.

It had been three years since I’d last seen Jeremy, but it felt like days.