Maybe I’d accidentally skipped lunch. It had to be the only reason for why I was suddenly all fluttery. Milo getting into the whole reason behind our cosplay should not have been enough to have my heart going all soft and gushy.

“You’re…” I swallowed, trying to get it together. “Give him a good game.”

“I’ll try.” Milo took the decks and headed over to a table with Chase and his dad.

Before I could find a game of my own, my mom wandered over from talking to one of the other dads. “I’m going to go grab a coffee. Long day today for me. Do you want anything?”

“A soda?” I asked hopefully, knowing full well her opinion on junk food. She worked from home in the accounting department for the college, and on days with more activities for April or family stuff, she often got up way early. Maybe she’d be too bleary-eyed to protest the soda.

“How about a nice refreshing water?” Laughing, she shook her head at me before her expression turned more somber. “And what’s up with you and Milo?”

I scratched behind my ear. Crap. Now I was picking up on Milo’s nervous habits. Next thing I’d be having sympathetic stomach issues. “Not sure I know what you mean.”

As usual, Mom saw right through me. Her whole face sagged. “Oh, Jasper…”

“He’s changed.” The assertion came quickly but so did the second-guessing. “I think.”

Shoulders slumping further, she blew the bangs off her forehead. “I hope you’re right. He used to be such a nice boy. I don’t know what happened there.”

I did, at least some of it, but I couldn’t share any of it with her. I’d promised, and my word meant something to me.

“I—”

“Jasper, will you play with me?” A little girl I had seen once before came over, balancing on her crutches and saving me from more Mom questions I didn’t have answers for.

“Sure thing.”

“I’ll be back.” Mom sent me a warning look as I grabbed two decks. The conversation would be revisited, I was sure, but at least I had a reprieve while she headed for coffee. I didn’t like her being all overprotective like this, but given my history with Milo, I could understand her not believing that he’d changed. Hell, I was struggling with it too. As much as I was enjoying spending time with him, a part of me was still cautious, putting up barricades around my heart and warning me against trusting too much too soon.