“I have paperwork,” she said with a smile. “Lots of paperwork. You really should figure out a way to go digital with this.”

“I like having hard copies,” he said automatically, as he stared at her in confusion. Something was different with Ellen, he thought, trying to figure out what it was.

He cataloged her appearance. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, just like always. She had on makeup maybe, which was a surprise, but made her eyes looked bluer than usual. As for what she was wearing, it was just some shirt thing and pants that stopped just below her knee. Nothing out of the ordinary except—

He swore silently. The clothes fit. For once they weren’t swirling around her, the extra fabric concealing every part of her body. He could see the shape of her waist and her hips, the outline of her thighs. And breasts. Ellen had breasts!

He realized he was staring and forced his gaze away. Of course she had breasts. Women had breasts. Ellen’s were no big deal. Only he’d never noticed them before and he didn’t want to see them now.

Okay, that was too strong. It’s not that he didn’t want to see them, it was that he didn’t want to notice them. It wasn’t like that for them. They were friends. They supported each other. There wasn’t any awareness or tension or...

For the second time he jerked his attention away from her body. What was wrong with him? Obviously he was more stressed about the trip than he’d realized. Or the fight with Lissa was affecting him.

He took the folder from her and put it in his backpack with the others. Cooper loaded their luggage in the bus, then went up the steps. Ellen returned to her car and hugged Unity. They had a whispered conversation, laughed, then Unity drove away. Ellen returned to his side.

“I can’t believe we’re really doing this,” she said. “I can’t believe you’ve done this before and are willing to do it again.”

“It’s not so bad. The time goes fast and the kids have fun.” He nodded toward the back of the bus and lowered his voice. “Lissa still isn’t speaking to me.”

“But it’s been nearly a week. I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll get a chance to talk to her on the road.”

He grimaced. “She caught me going through her bag, looking for her birth control pills.”

Ellen stared at him. “You know you’re an idiot, right?”

“Pretty much.”

Another car pulled up and Luka got out.

“Coach, Coach, I got an A on my first Spanish test!”

“Good for you.”

Luka beamed.

Keith knew reminding him that if he’d applied himself in the first place, he wouldn’t have to take summer school wouldn’t be helpful, so he only thought it.

He collected paperwork from the kid’s tearful mother, who gave him three bags of homecooked food.