Her voice had lost the wild emotion and now carried that core of strength he knew lived inside her.

“It’s not your fault,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “Believe me, I’ve seen all the after-school specials. That girl who helped me—she kept telling me, too.”

“Becca. She’s my little brother’s girlfriend.”

Layne swiped at her eyes, looking more angry than tragic now. “Yeah, well, that guy can’t take all the blame. I was the moron who showed up.”

“What were you doing there, anyway?” he said. “I thought you hated Taylor and Heather and all those girls.”

“Oh, I do. Don’t worry.” She paused, biting at her lip. “They tricked me into going.”

“They tricked you? How?”

She looked out the window again. “It’s not important.”

Gabriel let the car drift to a stop at a red light on Ritchie Highway. He turned to look at her.

Layne very obviously did not want to look at him.

“You want a coffee?” he said.

She didn’t answer for a moment. “Sure.”

So he left her in the car in front of Starbucks, coming back with two steaming cups, a wad of napkins, and a few wet packs the barista had fished from behind the counter at his request.

Layne took them in surprise, ripping one open to wipe at her cheeks. “Thanks.”

He drove down to the end of Fort Smallwood Road, to where the pavement turned to crap and a sign announced a county park—though the county seemed to have forgotten about this one long ago. The parking lot wasn’t maintained, and the entrance, once gated, was always open. A shame, really, because the property sported a long stretch of beach, though this passageway to the Chesapeake Bay wasn’t anywhere you’d want to swim. Sometimes, during the day, there’d be kids on the old swing set, but there were newer ones in nicer parts of the county, so that was rare.

He and Nick came out here to set things on fire all the time.

Gabriel parked the SUV. As usual, the lot was deserted. “There are chairs in the back,” he said, “if you want to go sit by the water. Or we can open up the back and sit on the tailgate.”

She licked her lips, staring out the window. “Won’t we get in trouble for being here?”

“This whole peninsula is a public park, but no one comes down this way anymore.” Then he figured out her tone. “We don’t have to stay here,” he said. “But it’s quiet, and no one will bother us.”

Layne took a sip of her coffee, wrapping both hands around the cup like a little girl. “Okay.” She paused. “The tailgate.”