Cady smiled as Boomer scaled the embankment and returned with a lightweight windbreaker that he helped her put on. Her heart fluttered in her chest at what she was feeling. He was looking at her as though he could read her mind. “What?”

“I was just thinking about how you’ve changed, and yet I can still see that little kid in you. My crush on you back then was so fierce. I’m telling you, I used to ache. I think my mother knew because she started lecturing me on the birds and bees and when she got done, my dad took over. They were hell on wheels when it came to showing respect to girls and women. You know something, I never did tell them about falling through the ice and Jeff King saving me. To this day, I don’t know why I didn’t tell them.”

“Your parents sound like nice people. You were the lucky one.” Cady locked her arms around her knees to bring them close to her chest, her gaze on a trio of bluebirds squabbling over one of the asparagus spears they’d spread out. “Amy and Andy’s parents never cared what they did. They could come and go at all hours. They didn’t have a curfew. I don’t think they had even one rule they had to go by. I thought that was so cool back then. Amy used to steal money out of her mother’s purse. That always bothered me. Andy wasn’t like her, though. Even though they were twins, he was different. Amy was the boss. She never let us forget it either. Pete was different. He had the thing with his mother, and he did his best. Then there was you. None of us could figure you out back then. We were such misfits.” She laughed. “Look at us now. I think there’s a song with those words in it.”

“You haven’t said one word today about Jeff King. Why is that, Cady?”

Cady stared at the scudding gray clouds overhead. “I was afraid of him. I guess you never talk about your secret fears because if you say the words out loud, it makes them more real somehow. I lived in fear of him. As soon as I would spot him, I’d start to shake. One day Pete and Andy tried to figure it out for me. They asked me what I thought was the worst thing he could do to me. I couldn’t tell them. I think in our own childish way we were all thinking, let him do whatever it was he wanted to do and he’d leave us alone. I guess my ten-year-old mind thought he wanted to kill me. With a father like mine I knew about hell and all that other junk he was always spouting. I think I was more afraid of Jeff King than I was of the devil.”

Boomer felt sick to his stomach, recalling the secret Jeff had told him. “It’s starting to rain. Run up to the car, and I’ll bring the stuff. It might just be a spring shower. It’s almost five, so the others should be here soon.”