Under the table, Dean’s hand found my own again. “The counselors would always tell us that you find the people who love you more loudly than the ones who don’t,” he said. “That’s your real family, your found family, in the end. To me, it’s what the park represents.”

He caught my eye and held it. The sweetly tender look on his face only amplified how fiercely I’d been denying what was really going on between us. What had I bragged to my sister that first night?

I just sleep with people I already know I won’t fall in love with.

Clearly, I’d become quite the expert in lying to myself.

29. Dean

Twenty-Nine

Dean

My parents were trying to teach Tabitha how to do the twist.

I leaned against the wall, hand in my pocket, and tried to figure out if they were successful or unsuccessful. What I did know was that Tabitha was flushed and sweating. At one point she was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

I hadn’t stopped grinning once. Tabitha had caught me pacing outside her house tonight because I knew inviting her here was possibly a really stupid idea. Judging by my reactions to her all evening, I’d been right about that. But all I knew was that I couldn’t picture showing up to family dinner without her.

Except I’d have to next week and the weeks after.

“You can ask Dean,” Tabitha panted, swiveling her hips in a circle, “but I’m kind of a natural when it comes to physical activity.”

“You should see her run the Rocky steps,” I said.

My parents were twisting their hearts out, singing along to the music. Mom twirled around in a circle. “The two of us like to cut a rug when we can. And are pretty damn good at it, if I say so myself.”

The three of them danced in our tiny front room—furniture shoved back, the rug rolled up. Dinner had been finished an hour ago. Tabitha and I had tackled the dishes while my parents told her a mix of slightly embarrassing stories about me and incredibly embarrassing stories about their relatives back home in Italy.

Watching them dance and laugh made me realize how affected they’d been by the past couple years. Not just the initial symptoms of my concussion but everything that had come with losing my identity.

It was nice to see them having some spontaneous fun too.

Tabitha crooked her finger at me as her hair flew around her face. “And I’ve been trying to get you to dance with me since I bumped into you at Benny’s.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Who says I can dance like that?”