The car was stored in a barn-turned-garage owned by a friend of his parents. When Luke holed up there alone, he lost himself in the job in the best possible way. Working on the car demanded his concentration, occupied his hands, and lowered his stress. After every session with the car, he could see his progress. He’d forgotten how much he loved the process of bringing a broken-down car back to life.

Only one thing sucked the enjoyment from the Pontiac—the fact that Blair kept barging in on him. She’d ruin the quiet of the garage by griping about people at school. Lecturing him about how wrong he’d been to abandon their family. Talking big about all the things she was going to do after she had her diploma. Complaining about their parents’ rules. In general, she did her best to undo the contentment her car brought him.

Another person who wouldn’t leave him alone—Ben. Ben came by the Center two afternoons a week to volunteer with the after-school program. Every single time, he stopped by to talk with Luke.

Ben had always been a good guy. The least observant person on the planet would recognize that Ben was a good guy. And Luke couldn’t bring himself to shut Ben out after the way he’d helped him with Agatha.

Another person who wouldn’t leave him alone? CeCe. Ben’s plump, feisty mother kept showing up at Luke’s apartment with food.

He would’ve pretended not to be home if her food hadn’t been so delicious. If he had one weakness, it was Finley—

Strike that. That’s not how he’d intended to finish that sentence.

If he had one weakness, it was food, and CeCe made some of the best food he’d ever tasted.

The last three times she banged on his door, he’d let her in. Then he’d put up with at least twenty minutes of her bossy conversation. She’d known him when he was a kid and she was a mother to one of the Miracle Five, so she seemed to think she had the right to give him advice he didn’t want and had no intention of taking.

She kept going on and on about the Valentine’s Day party that she and Genevieve’s mother, Caroline, were planning. Caroline would be hosting it at her historic home in one of the oldest neighborhoods in town, and CeCe kept insisting that he had to come.

“I have an idea!” she told him three days before the party. “You can drive over in your truck on Sunday! I love your truck. We’ll reserve space so that you can park it across Caroline’s driveway. I’ll make sure there will be lots of those giant balloons waiting for you. Just put them in the truck bed, okay? That’ll make a great photo op when people come and go.”