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makes sense. I am a life choice. You chose me.”
    “It’s so ridiculous. She’s trying her hardest to be cool with this. ” He sighed. “She just wants to know you better. Dad’s gone, and she’s got too much time and energy to focus on me. You know?”
    “I get it,” Cadence replied.
    “She was so worried about finding me a date,” Mark went on. “I don’t know why she’s not trying to find her own.”
    Cadence’s grin faded as she remembered that uncomfortable conversation so many months ago at church. Mrs. Connelly nearly revealed a secret about Mark, and Cadence had never forgotten it. She wanted on so many occasions to ask him, but she could never find the courage. And he never offered her anything.
    “I don’t want your graduation party to be weird,” Mark said. “If you’re not okay with this, I’ll tell her we’ll do it another time.”
    “No , no,” Cadence said. “I have back-up anyway. This might be the best way to go.”
    Mark chuckled. “She’s not gonna attack you or anything.”
    “I know. But maybe it won’t be so weird with other people around.” Cadence thought for a moment. Actually, the entire group was weird—a hodgepodge of different ages, life stages, connections. She realized Mrs. Connelly would fit right in.
    She wasn’t expecting a soul-crushing hug , however, when she walked through the front door. And yes, it was soul-crushing. Mrs. Connelly hugged her so hard, she could feel the squeeze on her heart.
    “Congratulations, honey!” Mrs. Connelly cried. “You look beautiful!”
    Cadence kn ew she looked far from it. She looked like a kid waiting to be picked up from the last day of summer camp. She probably smelled like it, too, having spent hours outside in the Atlanta sun wrapped in polyester.
    Cadence pulled back and mumbled a shy “ thank you.”
    “Were you nervous walking up on stage?” Mrs. Connelly asked.
    Cadence nodded and grinned.
    “Let me tell you what happened to me when I graduated . . .”
    Mark hung back in the kitchen with Fanny grabbing plates and utensils for their lunch. He listened intently to his mother’s story and Cadence’s laughter, thinking that even though his girlfriend had lost one mother, she may have gained another.
    ***
    Cadence walked into the living room later that night wearing her graduation robe and cap. Mark smiled.
    “Wanna reenact everything for me?” he asked, sitting on the couch.
    She said nothing as she moved her tassel from right to left. Then she stared at him. There was something primal in her eyes, and he caught on immediately.
    “So what does that mean?” he asked, watching the tassel dangle and sway next to her ear.
    She licked her lips then curled them into a sultry grin.
    “Well, I’m a graduate,” she said, walking closer to him.
    “Uh huh.”
    “ So I guess that makes me all grown up.”
    Mark smiled. “You can be grown up.”
    She stood between his legs, waiting for him to continue what she started. He slid his hand under her robe and up her outer leg, shocked when he came to her hip and discovered she was naked.
    “Is this a present for me?” he asked, steering his hand between her legs. She was soft and wet. “Because I’m not the one who graduated.”
    “ For the both of us,” she replied.
    He moved his finger in her.
    “I can get behind that.”
    He stood up and backed her to the center of the room next to the coffee table. Then he knelt in front of her and lifted her robe.
    “Put your leg up,” he said, and she complied, placing her foot on the edge of the table.
    He let the robe fall over his head, shielding himself from her view as he went to work on her. How did he get so lucky, he thought, as he ran his tongue over her soft folds? She moaned while he teased her open, sliding his tongue inside her, tasting her essence.
    She placed her hands on his veiled head to keep her balance. She didn’t realize she was moving her hips, pressing into his face, silently asking him to lick