I wanted to know more. I pulled back, slightly breathless. “Tell me a secret about yourself,” I said.

He looked a little bewildered. “A secret?” he repeated. “Okay, uh . . . I used to think my mom was a witch. I was afraid of her. She thinks I was a really well-behaved kid, but I just didn’t want to end up in a soup.”

I laughed. “Why would you think that?”

“She has this lab—she makes things there—”

“Oh, her perfume?” I said. “Body wash?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But I didn’t know that. I thought she was making witches’ brew.”

“A witches’ brew that smells like roses?” I teased. “When did you discover the truth?”

“I walked in on her once, and she let me help her make soap.” He shrugged.

“That’s hilarious,” I said. “But it’s more of a secret about your mom.”

He tried to smile, but his expression changed, and his smile was strained. “I didn’t make the varsity lacrosse team,” he said. “They posted the list and most of my friends were on it, and they were all joking around, and I laughed about it—I don’t even like lacrosse, seriously—but after that . . . I went back to my room and I cried.”

I didn’t make a sound.

“I think I was just worried about upsetting my mom,” he said. “When she’s already dealing with so much. She really cares about lacrosse.”

“Was she upset?” I asked. To be honest, I couldn’t imagine Laura caring about sports.

He didn’t answer.

“Oh,” I said. He hadn’t told her.

He shook his head. “Never came up.”

Never came up? Laura mentioned lacrosse on a weekly basis. Unless I was imagining things, she’d just ordered him an expensive pair of cleats.

“When will you tell her?” I asked.

His expression darkened. “I don’t know.”

“You might as well get it over with.”

Barrett sighed. “So what’s your secret?”

“I don’t think I . . .” I swallowed hard.

There was something, one thing, that nobody knew. That I could hardly even admit to myself.

“I think my mom was alive,” I said, my heart banging in my chest. “In the car. And I think I left anyway.”

Barrett stared at me.

“I don’t remember, exactly,” I said. “It’s just a feeling.”

He didn’t speak.

“I mean, I could have stayed and saved her.”

He placed his hand on the side of my face. “You don’t even know what happened,” he said. “Don’t make that kind of assumption.”

Then he softly kissed me. We parted and stared at each other, about to lean back in for another kiss.

Agatha was facing away, looking back down the hill, which is why she didn’t warn us.

“Barrett!” Laura’s voice cut like a knife through the perfect tranquility of the moment. “What are you doing?”