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calories.”
    Lacey stiffened. The last thing she wanted was to be compared negatively to Monet. “I can probably outeat you, buster,” she quipped.
    Todd grinned. “That’s more like it.”
    The beer had gone to her head and the smell of the food was making her nauseated. She had to go to the bathroom too. Why hadn’t she given herself a little more insulin before her date? She wouldn’t be feeling so queasy, or thirsty.
    “I’ll be right back,” she told Todd, and set her plate down. He gave her a questioning look. “I need to find the powder room,” she explained, and hurried off.
    She found the bathroom, then she decided to go outside and get some fresh air. She hoped it would clear her head and calm the queasiness. The night air was invigorating, and the music wasn’t so blaring.
    She gazed at the surf, then at the moon. “It almost looks like you could walk to the moon, doesn’t it?” a voice said beside her.
    She turned and stared dumbstruck at Jeff McKensie.

Seven

    “W HAT ARE YOU doing here?” she asked as soon as she could find her voice.
    “A frat brother dragged me.” His gaze appraised her. “How about you? Isn’t this a little out of your high school league?”
    Miffed that he would remind her she was too young to fit in, she said in her frostiest tone, “My date brought me. I didn’t know I needed your approval.”
    He threw up his hands and backed off. “Whoa! Don’t go for the jugular. I’m surprised to see you, that’s all.”
    “I didn’t expect to meet anyone I knew, let anyone you,” she said. “You took me by surprise too.”
    “So where’s your date?” Jeff glanced about, butthe only other people on the terrace were couples in embraces.
    “He went for something to eat.”
    “Since you’re alone temporarily and since we seem to be the only people out here without our lips locked, how about going for a walk along the beach with me?”
    “I shouldn’t.”
    “Why? If your date snaps his fingers, do you have to jump?”
    “I’m not anybody’s lapdog. I just think it’s a courtesy not to run off with another guy. Call me old-fashioned.” Yet, as she spoke, she spied Todd through the glass doors dancing with a tall redhead.
    “Then I’ll walk by myself,” Jeff said, starting down the steps.
    She watched Todd and the redhead nuzzle each other’s necks and felt jealousy, then anger. Why would Todd do such a thing? “Wait, I’ll come with you,” she told Jeff, losing any sense of loyalty toward Todd. “I’ve always liked the beach at night.”
    “Even if you have to see it with me?”
    “That’s not nice. I have nothing against you.”
    “You avoid me like the plague.”
    By now they were walking along the shoreline, dodging the softly rolling waves. “I tried to explain to you that it’s nothing personal. Besides, by now I figured you’d be knee deep in girlfriends.”
    “Why would you think that?”
    “Well, you’re attractive and—” She interruptedherself because she hadn’t planned to tell him any such thing.
    “Tell me more.” He’d stopped walking and caught her arm.
    “Don’t let it go to your head.”
    “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
    She could see his eyes sparkling in the moonlight, and she was furious with herself and at him for being able to get to her so quickly. “I’m going back to the house.”
    Jeff’s hands traveled up her arms and took hold of her shoulders. She pulled against his insistent tug, and met resistance. “I keep thinking of this past summer, Lacey. I keep remembering the woods around Jenny House and the fireworks.”
    “The fireworks were great on the Fourth of July,” she whispered, feeling snared by his gaze. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she felt powerless to move away from him.
    “I wasn’t thinking about those fireworks.”
    “What other ones were there?”
    “These,” he whispered, dipping his head downward.
    When his mouth touched hers, Lacey felt transported to the woods of North