I hung up and immediately began thinking how Annalise was probably going to be pissed at how long I’d left Lucas playing Ms. Pac-Man and think I’d done it just to distract her or something.

To my surprise, she wasn’t pissed off at all. In fact, she had a smile on her face and was laughing when I walked into the bullpen. She and Lucas were seated across from each other on beanbag chairs, and they were yelling random things to each other. It wasn’t until I walked farther into the room that I noticed Annalise had a phone held up against her forehead. He’d gotten her to play the digital charades game I never let him beat me at.

“It’s big.” Lucas said.

“The sun!” Annalise yelled.

Lucas laughed and shook his head. “Marmalade.”

“Fruit. A big fruit. Cantaloupe. Watermelon.”

Lucas made a face like she was nuts. “Scooby-Doo.”

Annalise looked totally confused, so Lucas offered another hint.

He pointed to me. “Bennett wanted to be one when he grew up.”

It took even me a few seconds to realize the word he was trying to get her to guess. She was never going to get it—not with those clues.

The phone buzzed, indicating the time for her turn was up, and she lowered her phone and turned it to read the word Lucas had been giving her hints about.

Her entire face wrinkled up. “A great Dane? What does marmalade have to do with a dog?”

I chuckled and answered for him. “Nothing. He meant Marmaduke.”

“The old cartoon strip?”

“Yeah.”

“But he said you wanted to be one when you grew up?”

I shrugged. “I did.”

Annalise laughed. “You wanted to be a great Dane?”

“Don’t knock it. He’s king of the canine family.”

God, when she smiled it made my chest hurt. But when she smiled and laughed with Lucas—even at my expense—it really did something to me. I watched as her laughter died down and her face returned to sadness, almost as if she’d forgotten what a dick I was for a minute.

“I also beat her at Ms. Pac-Man and foosball.”

“She hasn’t had as much practice as I have. Annalise just started at this office.”

Lucas stood. “Did you get new tickets?”

“Yeah. We can pick them up at the door.”

“You wanna come, Anna?” he said. “I’ll give you my earplugs.”

She offered a sincere smile. “Thanks for the offer, Lucas. But I have a lot of work to do today.”

He jammed his hands into his pockets. “Okay.”

Annalise avoided my gaze, looking down at her phone.

“You ready, buddy?” I asked.

“Yep!” He ran to the door, rather than walking.

The kid had a shitload of energy.

I waited for Annalise to look up, but she didn’t. Eventually, I spoke to the top of her head.

“Thanks for hanging out with him.”

I wanted to say I was sorry for last night, too. But the timing wasn’t right. Plus, I’d apologized for a half dozen other times I’d acted like an asshole already. I wasn’t sure she’d accept it this time…or that I even deserved her to.

Chapter 21

* * *

November 1st

Dear Me,

So far eighth grade sort of sucks. I’m taller than almost all the boys. No one asked me to the Halloween dance, so I went with Bennett. He didn’t want to dress up, but I made him be Clark Kent. He wore some nerdy glasses and a dress shirt with a Superman shirt underneath. I went as Wonder Woman. My friends all think Bennett is hot and were jealous. So that was fun.

For my birthday, Bennett and his mom took me to the monster truck show. Mom’s new boyfriend, Kenny, sells stuff at the concession stand, so we got free hot dogs and sodas.

The landlord is trying to kick us out of our house again. Mom lost her job at the diner and says we’re probably going to have to move. I hope it’s not too far.

I love my English teacher, Mrs. Hoyt. She said my poems have a lot of potential and wanted to enter some in a contest. But the entry fee was twenty-five bucks and Mom said we have better uses for our money. Mrs. Hoyt surprised me and entered me anyway. She said the school had a fund to help out for things like that. But I have a feeling it was really Mrs. Hoyt’s money that paid. So I dedicate this poem to you, Mrs. Hoyt.

Flowers will wither

love blossoms in the warm sun

cold comes way too soon

This letter will self-destruct in ten minutes.

Anonymously,

Sophie

Chapter 22

* * *

Bennett

I couldn’t stop thinking about Annalise all day.

Luckily, Lucas didn’t seem to notice since he was busy eating a giant tub of popcorn, two hot dogs, and a soda large enough to fill a sink basin. We had third-row seats, so the roar of the trucks and our earplugs also kept us from talking much. With nothing to do but sit in my seat, I couldn’t stop obsessing over Annalise’s face when I’d walked out of the bullpen earlier. She’d moved past angry and now settled in on hurt.

God, I’m such a dick.

After the show was over, Lucas and I were walking to the car in the parking lot when my phone buzzed with a text.

Cindy.

Now there’s a name I hadn’t thought about in a while. It’d been a few months since we’d had any contact. Cindy was a flight attendant I’d met on a business trip last year. She lived on the east coast, and we’d hooked up a few times—twice while I was in New York City and once while she was out here. Apparently she was in town tonight on an unexpected layover and wanted to know if I could go out. Go out meant a quick dinner and then staying in her hotel room all night.

It was probably exactly what I needed.

A sure-thing good time.

Simple. No complications.

Relief from some pent-up frustrations.

Yet I tucked my phone into my pocket and didn’t immediately text back.

I’d call her after I drove Lucas home.

But after I dropped him off, I knew I needed to take care of something before I made plans with Cindy tonight. I owed Annalise an apology, and that should come before my good time. So I drove to the office. It was nearly five o’clock, so I had no idea if she’d still be there. She’d probably come in early this morning to get a jump on the day. It was Saturday, after all. Yet I took the drive over anyway.

The area around the office was commercial and became a ghost town on the weekends, even more so at night. So the closer I drove, and the more empty parking spots I passed, the less I thought she’d still be at the office. Until I hit our street and saw a sole car in the parking lot—one that looked exactly like mine.

***

The lights were off in the reception area until the motion-activated system flickered them on. A few people had been working earlier today in various departments, but as I passed through the hallways now, the entire floor seemed to have emptied out. Every office was either dark or had the door closed.

Except for one.

Light streaked the hallway carpet from an open door at the far end. But it wasn’t until I got two doors away that I heard any sound.

I stopped in place, hearing a voice. It took me a few seconds to realize it was Annalise. She was…singing. It was a vaguely familiar country song I’d heard a few times—something about losing your dog and best friend—but, damn, her voice was good, like a sweet angel, with a little vibrato devil soul aching to come out. It made me smile.

I wanted to listen more, but I was even more curious to see what she looked like while she sang. So I walked the few steps to her doorway.

Her head was down, her nose buried in a file cabinet, and earbud wires dangled from her ears. She didn’t immediately notice me. I could only see her profile, but it gave me a brief chance to watch her. And I was awestruck by how beautiful she looked.

She had on jeans and a white button-up shirt, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Yet she’d never looked more gorgeous. The lack of a fancy business suit and blown-out hair allowed the focus to be just her. Some people needed all that window dressing. But not Annalise. Her beauty came from the flawlessness of her porcelain skin, the smooth curves of her body, and eyes I knew lit with fire. And that voice…I was completely transfixed.

As I stared, she craned her neck a little more to thumb through some files, and the movement must’ve caused her to catch a shadow in her peripheral vision.

Her head whipped up, eyes went wide, and singing cut off mid-word.

“Oh my God!” She stood and ripped an earbud from her ear. “You scared the shit out of me.”

I held my palms up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She put her hand over her chest and took a few deep breaths. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Not long.”

“I guess I had the music too loud, so I didn’t hear you.”

Or I didn’t say anything so I could keep looking at you. To-may-to. To-mah-to.

“What are you doing here?”

“I stopped by to talk to you.”

She shut the file cabinet drawer. The initial shock had worn off, and her voice went flat. “I’m all talked out. Just go away, Bennett.”

I stuffed my hands into my pockets and took a step into her office. “You don’t have to talk then. Just listen. I’ll get out of your way when I’m done.”