“And it was more than that.” He paused, looking uncomfortable. “And I know it sounds creepy”

“Yeah, total creeper.”

He frowned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They seemed to dance. “You’re not helping. I’m trying to admit something embarrassing here.”

“All right, go ahead,” I said, fighting a smile.

“Well, I was worried about you. I… wanted to make sure you were okay. There was just so much you were dealing with. I wanted to help.”

Impulsively, I closed my eyes while he talked and allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of his hands running over my arms. There was no harm with this. A sweater separated our skin and I wasn’t breaking my no-touch policy.

“Looking back, I’m sure there was something I could have done. Money or…”

“Or what?”

Hayden was quiet for what seemed like an eternity. “Find a way to make those kids pay for being so mean to you.”

I shivered. Not because of what he said, but because, well, I was pretty sure there was something he’d wanted to do. Like, say, blow up their housesor them. “Why did you finally talk to me the day in the library?”

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “You just looked so sad each time I saw you. And I knew you’d seen me in the school. I just wanted to talk to you after that.”

“You quoted Oscar Wilde.” I smiled.

Hayden laughed. “Yeah, that was, like, the height of geekdom.”

“No. It was kind of cool.”

We lapsed into silence. He kept up the thing with his hands, repeatedly coming dangerously close to my skin. After a while, my arms tingled, kind of like when our skin had touched before, but not as overwhelming. When I finally reopened my eyes, Hayden had this serious look on his face. “What?” I murmured.

Shaking his head, he dropped his hands and stood. I felt the loss of him. “You know what the sad thing is? You trust me, and you don’t even trust yourself.”

I stared up at him. He was so right. “I don’t trust your father.”

“I know.” A glimmer of a smile appeared. “But maybe one day you can learn to trust him… and yourself.”

“Probably ain’t going to happen.” Hayden crossed his arms. “Why?”

I shrugged. The dude was his dad, so it wasn’t like I could tell him that I thought Cromwell was skeevy. So I said nothing.

“You ready?” he asked, letting the subject fall to the side.

I nodded, and we made our way back through the dark woods in silence. At night, the forest took on an almost surreal atmosphere, one where all kinds of critters waited in the bushes. Needless to say, I felt ecstatic when we stepped into the house.

Hayden headed off to his room, but I stopped him with two words. “I’m sorry.”