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of Noah’s bed and pulled his covers up to his chest. His chore that day had been to clean up the floor of his room by moving all of his toys into the dedicated toy chest sitting in the corner next to the closet. He had managed to get most of them into the container, but a few of his favorites were still scattered around the floor.
    Small glow-in-the-dark stars were stuck to the ceiling directly over his bed. Noah looked up at them while Haven patted down his wild hair.
    “I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about going bald,” she said.
    “You mean like Daddy?”
    She laughed. “Right, like him.”
    “His head’s shiny.”
    “Like a cue ball.”
    He chuckled. “Yeah!”
    “Just don’t tell him that,” she said.
    “No problemo.”
    He held up his right pinky finger and waited. Whenever one of them asked the other to keep a secret, they made a solemn oath of silence by sealing the promise with a pinky swear.
    Haven wrapped her own little finger around Noah’s and shook once, then bent down and kissed his forehead.
    “You going to be okay, squirt?”
    He nodded and turned away, yawning as he settled into the bed. Haven stood and walked to the door. She stepped into the hallway and left the door to Noah’s bedroom open a few inches so he would have a little light if he woke up again. Before she even reached the end of the hallway, she heard him quietly snoring.
    She padded down the stairs quickly and tiptoed to the front door. Before her father got home from work earlier that day and while her mother was upstairs trying to get Noah to clean his room, Haven found a small can of WD-40 in the kitchen cupboard and sprayed the sliding deadbolt, thumb latch, and hinges on the front door. There was no sound as she slowly unlocked the deadbolt and pressed down on the thumb latch to open the door. She smiled as it swung open silently.
    After she closed the door behind her, Haven carefully inserted her key into the lock and turned it until she felt the click of metal hitting metal. She stuffed the key in her jeans pocket and hurried across the lawn, looking back over her shoulder at her parents’ bedroom window to make sure they weren’t peeking out at her from behind the curtain.
    “About friggin’ time,” said Kayla as Haven hopped into the passenger seat and gently closed the car door.
    “Sorry! They stayed up late and then Noah had a nightmare.”
    Kayla fired up the engine and winced at the loud, metallic squeal as it warmed up. “That’s why it pays to be an only child, like me.” She put the car into gear and turned around in the middle of the street.
    “Because you turned out perfect.” Haven rolled her window down a couple inches and closed her eyes as the cool night air blew through her hair.
    “ That’s what you’re wearing?” said Kayla. Haven opened her eyes to see that her friend was sneering at her simple t-shirt and faded blue jeans.
    “What’s the matter with this? It’s a classic combo.”
    “If you don’t want to get laid, you mean.”
    “Hey! Gimme a break. This is only our first date. And excuse me for not showing the whole world what my body looks like underneath my clothes.” She pointed at Kayla’s low-cut blouse. The hem around the bottom of the thin garment went down only as far as her belly button. Haven didn’t want to give her friend the satisfaction of knowing she looked great in what she was wearing.
    “Maybe that’s why you’ve only had one real boyfriend,” said Kayla.
    “Like that’s a bad thing.”
    “Isn’t it?” She turned a corner sharply, tires squealing on the pavement.
    Haven sighed and looked out the window. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
    “Well, at least find out how many kids Jason wants before you give in. If it’s more than two, I say don’t do it. You should see what having three did to my Aunt Charlotte’s body. Whoo, man!” She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her eyes.
    Haven laughed. “I just want to have a little fun tonight,