“You’re okay,” he said, cupping the back of her neck in one big hand. “You’re fine.” I wasn’t sure if he was trying to use magic to convince her of that, or if he was just saying it in the normal, comforting boyfriend sense. In any case, Mary Beth didn’t look fine. She was still blinking, her face flushed, her gaze muddled.

But it occurred to me that I might want to skedaddle before she came back fully and realized I was standing in her boyfriend’s bedroom.

I didn’t think that would go over particularly well, so I gave Ryan a little wave and mouthed, “Gonna go.” He gave a distracted nod as I walked away.

Once I was outside, I took a minute to dig in the bushes around his house, trying to find the little pot of lip balm (and hoping no one saw me prowling around in Ryan Bradshaw’s front garden). I finally felt it behind a camellia bush, and, pulling it out, rose to my feet. Ryan would definitely want the balm again, although maybe he’d be a little more careful with how much he used next time.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“SO, THE MALL?” I asked, starting my car. Bee sat in the passenger seat, her sunglasses on, elbow resting on the open window.

“Yup,” she replied. “I need some normalcy.”

Bee’s second day back at school had been better than her first—fewer of the teachers seemed to think she was new, and Abi and Amanda had totally recognized her, which seemed to cheer her up. Brandon was still keeping his distance, though, and when I’d mentioned his name at lunch, Bee had cut me off with a shake of her head. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

After school, I’d planned on going home and doing a little more work on college stuff. That talk with The Aunts had reminded me that I’d been meaning to add at least two more schools to my application list. But then Bee had caught up with me and asked if we could have a “girls’ afternoon,” so here we were, heading toward the Pine Grove Galleria.

“Are you weirded out by Ryan and Mary Beth?” Bee suddenly asked, and I glanced over at her.

“Why would I be?” I asked, and she cut me a look.

“Okay,” I acknowledged, turning right so that we could take a shortcut through downtown, “it’s a little weird, sure, but... not necessarily the bad kind of weird.”

“Mary Beth hardly speaks to you.” Bee twirled one long blond curl around her finger, still watching me, and I rolled my eyes.

“She barely spoke to me before except to be rude, so her dating Ryan isn’t making much of a difference. And why does this bug you so much anyway?”