This was getting too heavy. Gabriel leaned in. “Dude. Seriously, if you start crying, people are going to think I’m breaking up with you.”

Hunter looked up. A smile broke through the emotion. “The way you run, they’d be more likely to think I’m breaking up with you.”

“You can kiss my ass.” His phone chimed, and Gabriel didn’t even want to look at it. Probably Michael, whining about some job.

No, but a number he didn’t recognize.

Were you serious about today? Layne

Layne! Gabriel sat straight up.

“Who’s Layne?” asked Hunter, reading over his shoulder. Gabriel shoved him away and typed back.

Absolutely serious.

Her response took fifteen agonizing seconds.

My dad has to work this afternoon, and Simon is going to see our mom.

He smiled.

Are you inviting me over?

Another lengthy pause.

No. My dad said I’m not allowed to have you over.

Her dad probably had snipers on the roof, trained to shoot Gabriel on sight.

His phone chimed again.

But maybe we could go back to your house and work on your math homework.

He scowled. The words were full of highs and lows. His house! She wanted to come back to his house! But . . . math. Math.

Another chime.

The faster you learn math, the faster we can do other things.

Well, that set his heart pounding. He typed fast.

Pick you up at 2?

This time, her response was lightning quick.

Make it 3. Don’t text back. Gotta go.

“Come on,” he said to Hunter. “Let’s go set things on fire.”

“Got a date?”

“Actually, yes.”

But a few minutes later, he looked over at Hunter climbing into the passenger seat. The heady tension of their conversation had dissipated, but it wasn’t completely gone.

“Hey, man,” he said. “You all right?”

Hunter nodded, his eyes on the windshield. “Yeah.”

When he didn’t say anything else, Gabriel started the engine and started to back out of his parking space.

And while he wasn’t looking, Hunter said, “I don’t think I could do it.”

Alone. That’s what he wasn’t saying. He didn’t think he could do the race alone. Without his father.

But he wasn’t alone. Even if Hunter didn’t realize it yet.

Gabriel wished he’d figured that out five years ago. Maybe then he would have played that game of Sorry! with Michael.

Instead of flinging the dice in his brother’s face and telling him to fuck off.

Gabriel pulled onto Ritchie Highway. He’d never considered that it might have cost Michael something to sit down with him.

He had to clear his throat. “I’ll run it with you.”

A big hesitation. Then Hunter said, “Come on. You don’t have to—”

“I know.”

“It’s twenty-six miles.”

“I know what a marathon is.”

Hunter was looking out the window again. “I’ll think about it.”

Gabriel nodded, shut his mouth, and drove.