“Then this is some dark stuff.” Vik’s warm gaze poured into mine, making something strange twist in my stomach. “You have to keep yourself safe, Andi.”

“You don’t know him, Vik.” I took a step back. “Riley only wants to protect me. He would never hurt me.”

At least not physically… It was true I’d been in incomparable anguish all day over him. Oh god, where was he? Would I ever see him again? Was everything really and truly over? I couldn’t hold back a fresh sob. “I just… I just wish he were here.”

Vik’s jaw set. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know!” I confessed. “Gone. Forever, for all I know. I don’t even have his number…”

Vik’s expression seemed so soften and he exhaled a weary sigh. “Andi… I hate to see you so upset like this.”

I tried to say something—that it wasn’t Riley’s fault, that I only had myself to blame for getting so attached to him when I should have known better—but I couldn’t make the words happen.

“Forget him,” Vik snapped. “A jerk like that who would drag you around and then just disappear? You don’t need him.”

“I can’t forget him,” I whimpered.

Vik studied me for a moment and then shook his head, as if he had finally made up his mind. “Oh, come on now,” he said in a softer tone. “It’ll be a piece of cake to get your mind off that guy. There are plenty of other things to focus on, to look forward to.”

“Nothing that matters.”

“Aw, c’mon, sure. This is Portsmouth! The greatest town in America. We’ve got boats. And apple trees. And… there’s the Pumpkin Festival this weekend?” he offered, obviously trying to lighten the mood. And I couldn’t help it, I laughed.

He smiled at me and gave the sides of my arms a reassuring rub.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“Oh, I am very serious about pumpkins,” he said, arching a serious eyebrow at me. “Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin carving… the Pumpkin Ball…?”

“…Vik,” I began, an uneasy feeling creeping into my stomach.

“You know what I think?” he said quickly, as if in a rush to get the words out. “We should go together.”

I blinked. “To the Pumpkin Ball?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, but his tone sounded oddly expectant.

“We go everywhere together,” I countered.

“Well, maybe we should go as… non-friends,” he said. “Like. Together.”

The open and warm expression on his face made my stomach twist. He looked so hopeful, so… vulnerable. I couldn’t take it.

“We can’t, Vik,” I whispered.

“Why not?” he asked.

“We’re just friends,” I said, unable to meet his gaze.