“They haven’t because she dropped out,” Leaf said. “Got her GED instead. She didn’t want to deal with the garbage. She was one of three brownish girls in her senior class, and people were crappy to her already, never mind with a baby coming, so she went to night school instead. I hope you have a better time of it than she did.”

“I hope so, too.” While his sister’s path wasn’t one I particularly wanted for myself, acknowledging it existed if things went topsy-turvy—or topsier and turvier, if that was possible—was a comfort. Well, it would be if everything turned out okay for her, anyway. “How’s she doing? Your sister?”

Leaf smiled, the strain on his face evaporating as he talked about his family. “Miri’s great. She lives with her husband, Eric, and my niece, Elana, at a military base in Florida. Just got stationed there. We’ll see them again during the holiday, or we’ll go see them if he can’t get time off. I’m not sure how that works with the army but I’m excited. I miss her.”

“That’s cool.”

Leaf nodded and reached into his bag for his phone, promptly producing a zillion photographs of a toddler with black hair and dark brown eyes. I could see a little bit of Leaf in her nose and chin.

“She looks like you. Right here, the jaw shape in particular.” I tapped the screen of his phone.

“The poor kid.”

I snorted. “Hardly! You’re cute as hell! She’s a lucky kid.”

The words spilled out before I could think better of them. Heat flooded my cheeks, my eyes darting up to his face. He was peering at me, his head cocked to the side. “You think so?”

“Well, yeah. Different circumstances, sure.” The silence between us was heavy, like sediment, and I squirmed in my chair, devolving from teenaged girl to a worm on hot pavement in two seconds. “I know you can’t really date a pregnant girl, though.”

“Oh? Well, not if she doesn’t want me to, no.” He reached for his phone, and I slid it into his big palm, my fingers grazing his.

“Oh,” I said. “I thought, after we talked the other night, you were all set with me that way. I suspected you liked me, but you got different after I told you about the kid.”