Mom hadn’t gotten rid of Dad’s tools even after three moves since he died. And she’d also freak out a bit if she found out my entire curtain rod was leaning against the wall, probably losing us a chunk of the security deposit.

“Thanks for returning it.” I grabbed it and set it beside the door. “Why haven’t--Do you think you could help me with something?” I half squinted and winced bracing for him to run away again, but there weren’t many options at this point.

He looked back to his car like he might dive through the open window and peel off down my street to escape.

“Sure, what do you need?” He turned around and headed back to the front door.

I brought him upstairs. The butterfly colony going crazy that he was now standing in my room. I went to get the tools he needed to put it back up.

“So this just fell down on its own?” Dare stood on the step ladder and smiled down at me over his shoulder. His words were muffled around the screws held between his lips.

“Piper was here. It got tangled when she grabbed her books.”

“So that wasn’t you watching?” Even through the screws there was an intensity to his words. Did he want me to be watching?

“She was trying to determine the velocity of your throw.” Of all the excuses…but I kept my hands folded across my chest, instead of smacking myself in the forehead.

“Seems legit.” He hammered in the plastic plugs to fill the holes where the screws had been ripped out. “Just so you know, you’re a terrible liar.”

“She was spying on you. Checking you out when you were playing with Knox.” I spilled like he’d threatened to pull out my toenails.

“And here I thought that was you.” He ran one finger under my chin from the hollow of my throat out to the edge of my chin. “Or maybe I just hoped it was.”

A sputtering reply was all I could muster. “I wasn’t sure if you would or not. You’ve been quiet lately.”

He turned to face the wall and held out his hand. “Can you hand me the drill?”

I scooped it up off the bed and offered it up for him.

Our fingers brushed and he took it, going back to his work.

“I didn’t want to suffocate you. My dad left, so I didn’t want to be in your hair all the time.”

“What does your dad leaving have to do with us hanging out?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t. I just…I figured you’d be sick of having me around.”

“Do you have big plans this week?” I dragged my finger over my bedspread.

“Other than the Titan Combine in Chicago on Thursday? No.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Never mind.”

“Tell me. What’s going on?” He looked over his shoulder.

“It’s the last night of the show. Sometimes people go out to celebrate after.”