I thought again about what Kori had been doing with Shay in the first place. Why did he think she’d want to forget him? Was he some drug dealer, like Brittney had proposed? Did he get Kori pregnant? No, that was impossible, and I didn’t want to think about that … No matter how things might’ve started, what I was feeling for him now had very little to do with Kori. I didn’t really even want to think about who he was to her, because part of me wanted him all for myself.

“Shay?”

When he didn’t respond, I looked over at him; he was deep in thought. “Earth to Shay, wake up, Shay.” I laughed, poking a finger in his ribs. He jolted, swerving the truck. A thunk sounded as Kieren’s body rolled hard into the truck bed’s wall.

“Where’d you just go?”

“Sorry, nowhere. Just thinking. So what else did Kori have planned?”

I thought about Kori’s list. Work things out with Shay. For all I knew, that’s what they did in the motel room in Golden. But since Shay seemed to think Kori’s tattoo referred to him, that she’d want to forget him, I wondered if they’d ever really worked those things, whatever they were, out.

“Don’t you think getting up in front of all those people and singing was enough?”

A few moments passed before he said, “You did pretty good.”

“You said I sucked.”

“I said you shouldn’t strive for a career in it. For what it’s worth, it’s not everyone’s fate to be a famous singer. More people need to realize that.”

“Yeah, well, what purpose in life would Simon Cowell have, then?”

He grinned. “What purpose, indeed.” He cleared his throat. Then: “You miss her more than you let on, don’t you?”

“Don’t think that qualifies you as some sort of Dr. Phil or anything.”

He continued, undeterred by my snippiness. “What do you miss most?”

“We’re really going to do this?”

“It’s a long drive back. We’ve got to talk about something.”

And here I’d thought I’d dodged the whole Kori-convo when I’d ditched the movie intervention. I looked out at the mega stores that lined the highway, watched a car pass alongside us. “I was kind of planning on sleeping.”

He waited a beat and then repeated his question. “What do you miss most?”

I shifted in the seat, giving him a cursory glare. I couldn’t believe he was actually pressing me to talk. But I relented, because it felt good to talk to someone who actually seemed interested. And in the dark truck, heading up the highway, it was surprisingly easy to talk about Kori with him. Like letting out a breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding.