He leaned into my ear as my mother snapped a photo and murmured, “I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.”

After that, all my stress and worry melted away. He offered me his arm and walked me down the driveway to the most immaculate old truck I’ve ever seen. It was gleaming red and seemingly had appeared out of nowhere to be parked in front of his house. My mouth dropped as I realized that was the vehicle that had been under the tarp all this time. I said, “Is this what you’ve been working on with Mr. Weeks?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s my grandfather’s ’51 Chevy. I figure this is a special occasion, so we ride in style. Do you like it?”

He asked as if he didn’t know the answer, as if it wasn’t already written all over my face. “Oh my God. Yeah.”

He tossed the keys in the air and caught them. “Technically, it’s my mom’s car until I turn eighteen. She’s letting me drive it tonight.” Then he jogged over to the passenger side, pulled open the door, and bowed with great flourish. “My lady.”

Still shaking my head in wonder, I stepped into the pristine cab. It smelled like pine needles, and the leather was shiny white. “What about Kane?” I asked.

Kane had complained like a girl that we were going to have fun without him at Declan’s junior prom. So he managed to get Ella Butler, a cheerleader from the junior class, to ask him. He’d casually said that it was a “friend thing,” that he was using her for the junior prom ticket, but that didn’t mean there weren’t rumors swirling around school about him doing Ella too. Kane never could escape that kind of rumor.

Knowing Kane, they were probably true.

Up until then, he’d been flirting hard-core with Luisa, so needless to say, Luisa was crushed by those rumors. But Kane went along as if he was doing nothing wrong, as if he was above the controversy. That’s Kane.

“Ella and her girls rented a limo,” Declan said as I reached over my shoulder for the seat belt. Before I could, he pulled it across my dress, careful not to destroy the corsage, and clicked it for me. Then he gave me a kiss that made my insides tingle, that made me feel precious, safe.

After he slammed my door, I pulled open the glove compartment and found nothing other than the registration papers and a Bible. This one was filled with sticky notes. He slid into the driver’s seat and took it from my hands.

“Sorry if I’ve been out of it lately,” he said, thumbing through the pages.

I hadn’t noticed. Declan was Declan. He was always happy. “Oh, it’s—”