“What? Psh.” I laughed and looked around the truck. “No, I’m studying your truck. It really does feel very homey.” I kicked off my flats and put my feet up on the dash. “Yup, very comfortable.”

He stared at my feet on the dash. “This truck actually belonged to my dad.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know how I didn’t know that. I dropped my feet back to the floor. “No wonder it feels like home then.”

He smiled again, but this time it looked a little sad. “I don’t usually drive anyone around in it.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

“No, it’s fine. I like that you feel comfortable in my truck. Most girls prefer something a little nicer, you know?”

Like all the other cars in the parking lot of Empire High. Yeah. I definitely preferred Jacob’s truck. “Well I’m not most girls, thank you very much.” I put my feet back up on the dash.

He smiled.

The silence stretched between us again.

“Do you remember him well? Your dad?”

“Not as well as I wished I did. Just...pieces. But my mom always tells me stories. About how it used to be just the three of us. Sometimes I don’t know if I just remember her stories or if I can actually picture it myself. If that makes sense.”

I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes. “Yeah, I get that. We have all these home movies. And I have no idea if I just remember the footage or remember it actually happening in the first place. Do you have any home movies from back then?”

Jacob shook his head.

And I realized that bringing up my childhood maybe wasn’t a good comparison at all. Or maybe he was sad that he didn’t have any videos from that time. “I bet you remember more than you realize.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Yeah.”

I hadn’t meant to upset him. I cleared my throat. “So...where are we going?”

“There’s this little diner that my mom takes me to all the time. They have the best ice cream sundaes.”

I smiled. “That sounds perfect.” I let the comfortable silence fill the car again. I took a deep breath. It smelled like freshly cut grass in here. The thought made me smile, because I could so easily picture Jacob and me as kids, running around Central Park together and playing in his grandparents’ back yard.

Jacob pulled to the curb and parked the car.