“Well, on that note,” Jace announces, glaring at his younger brother. “We should get on the road.” He heads for the truck.

Mike gives me a hug. “Sorry I called you a groupie,” he mutters.

I smile at him affectionately.

I hug Max last, then climb into the truck next to Jace. He backs up and starts driving down the dirt road. I wave out the window until the white farmhouse fades from view behind us.

Eight hours later, I enter my room in Kennedy Hall, lugging my two heavy suitcases. Jace offered to bring them in, but I could tell he was tired after the long drive and know he has a team meeting soon, so I promised him I could manage them myself.

Katie is already back in our room. She’s lying on her bed, talking on the phone. She looks up when I enter and flashes me a wide smile of greeting. I set my bag on the desk and pull off my heavy jacket.

Katie ends the call and bounds over to give me a big hug. “Hi! I was just about to call and see where you were. Where did you go? Home?” she asks, looking at my suitcases. “I thought you were staying here for break.”

“That was the plan,” I reply. “Things changed last minute.”

“What do you mean? Where did you go?”

“Nebraska.”

“I thought Philip and your stepfather were going to Texas, not Nebraska.”

“They did.”

“So…why did you go to Nebraska?”

“Okay, promise me you won’t freak out,” I implore.

Katie raises her eyebrows.

“Or tell anyone else,” I add.

“Okay, I promise,” Katie says impatiently, her face alight with curiosity. “Now tell me.”

“Jace is from Nebraska.”

“You saw Jace Dawson while you were in Nebraska?”

“Yeah, a fair amount actually…considering I was staying with him.”

Katie’s jaw literally drops in the wake of this information. “You spent Thanksgiving with Jace Dawson?”

“Yes.”

“You and Jace Dawson spent Thanksgiving together?” she repeats.

“Yes.” I confirm again.

“Was his family there?”

“Yes.”

“Jace Dawson took you home to spend Thanksgiving with his family?” Katie still sounds stunned.

“Yeah, I—” I’m interrupted by the chime of my phone. I pull it out of my bag to see a message from Claudia asking if I’m coming to the study session.

“Crap, I’ve got to go,” I tell Katie, quickly grabbing my medieval history notebook and cramming it into my bag.

“Are you kidding me?” Katie exclaims. “You can’t just drop something like this on me and then disappear.”

“I’ll fill you in on everything later,” I promise. “I’m late for a study group meeting, and we have an exam on Tuesday.”

A couple of hours later, I walk out of the library with Claudia. She’s telling me about a yoga class she’s taking, trying to convince me to come to it tomorrow morning, when I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pull it out and smile when I see the name on the screen.