The Union Club representative on the other end of the line sounded almost as nervous as Will was. “We’ve reviewed your case,” he said. “We appreciate your honesty and transparency in alerting us to your current situation. Of course, you know many of our club members are local business leaders, public servants, and officers of the law. Our members consider the recipients of our scholarships to be representatives of the Hart County community in the wider world. As such, I’m afraid that in the current circumstances, we will have to rescind our scholarship offer. We wish you the best of luck.”

Will almost laughed. How would luck help him pay for Princeton? “I see,” he said, feeling numb. He kept the phone to his ear for a minute after the rep hung up, buying time before he had to face his mom.

“Well?” his mother asked. “What did they say?”

“They’re taking back the scholarship.”

Linda sat down heavily in her chair. “How can they do that?”

“The police commissioner is on the committee,” Will said.

“What are we going to do?” she asked him.

“I don’t know,” Will admitted. “But I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”

“You sound like Trip,” she said, biting her lip.

“No, I don’t!” Will snapped. Before he knew what he was doing he had banged open the screen door, just as his brother had after the lawyer’s call an hour earlier, and run halfway across the orchard. He couldn’t spend another moment seeing himself through his mother’s eyes.

Will almost expected to run into Hunter at the tree house, but of course he wasn’t there. They weren’t children anymore, with hours to waste running through the woods. Things with Hunter had been weird since almost coming to blows in the driveway. They’d exchanged only a few cursory text messages since then. But Will was hoping to see him—he needed to talk to someone, and one fight didn’t change their friendship.

He climbed the hill behind the tree house and walked across the lawn to the Finch home, then went up to the kitchen door and peered through. He used to just let himself in, but he felt awkward doing that now.

Dom and Lindsay were standing on either side of the kitchen counter, facing each other. Will thought Hunter’s dad looked angry, but then again, he often looked that way. Will tapped on the glass and they both turned to look at him, startled.

Dom opened the door. “Come on in, Will,” he said. He looked like he was about to say more, probably ask him about Princeton, but then he appeared to think better of it. “Hunter just ran some documents down to the post office for me,” Dom said. “But he’ll be back in a minute. Why don’t you wait in the den? Lindsay can get you some iced tea if you like.”