“Trouble doesn’t bother me. I’m going to ask my mom about it. Today.” His expression was serious, and there was a darkness in his eyes I’d never seen before.

“Please don’t,” I said. “It might upset her.”

“Why should it upset her?” he asked.

Talk about a landmine of a question. I wasn’t even going to attempt an answer.

We reached a shady spot with another Greek-themed bench, and I steered Agatha’s wheelchair so she could see the view. Then Barrett and I sat down. He scooted closer—not quite touching me, but almost. The leaves above us shuddered in the wind and made tiny, ever-changing patterns of light and shadows on our faces. I turned to Barrett and touched the little shag of hair hanging down over his forehead.

Forgiveness was creeping up on me. What was the point of staying mad?

“I know my mother,” he said, more quietly. “If someone doesn’t force her to make a change, she may never do it.”

“I know her, too,” I said softly. “We’ve spent a lot of time together. And she’s been really nice to me when she didn’t have to be.”

He looked at me incredulously. “Of course she has to be nice to you. They brought you here.”

“Because she had to. But that’s okay.”

“You’re so good for Agatha,” he said softly. “And Mom. And me. But . . .”

“What?” I asked.

“You shouldn’t live like this. Out in the country, alone. When you’re in school, are you even going to be able to meet up with friends?”

I shrugged. “Maybe that doesn’t matter. It’s only for a couple of years.”

“A couple of years is a long time,” he said. “You need friends.”

I thought about that. If you’d asked me a week or two earlier, I would have said that Laura was my friend. Now I wasn’t so sure. Barrett was my friend, but he’d be gone soon.

“Agatha’s my friend,” I said.

He sniffed skeptically.

“No, really,” I said. “She can’t say it, but she likes me.”

He reached a tentative hand up to my face. “I like you,” he said softly.

“I like you, too,” I said.

He pulled me closer. We’d kissed enough by now that there was a warmth, a familiarity between us. It didn’t lessen the happy little vibrations that ran through me, head to toe, when we touched, but it added a dimension that made this feel deeper than just a random hookup. It made the kisses more urgent, more important.

I’d told him we didn’t know each other, but we did know some things.

I knew he was a good brother, a dutiful son. I knew how much it pained him to be torn between what Laura wanted for him and what he wanted for himself.