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arms expecting us to snuggle once again, but she didn’t even notice. She jumped up, and then the same way she’d come into my bedroom, she scurried right back out.
    She stopped suddenly, though. Right at the door, she turned around. “Mom, this is really important to me. Probably the most important thing that will ever happen in my whole life. I’ve been dreaming about this forever.” She pressed her hands together as if she was about to pray. “So please, Mom, really think about it enough to say yes!”
    I nodded ’cause I didn’t want to lie out loud.
    â€œReally, really, really. Please, please, please,” she added before she dashed to her own bedroom.
    I just sat there, staring at the now-empty doorway. But I still imagined her there, and heard all the words that she’d said to me. Her voice, her tone, the way she pleaded—that was a child. But the thought that she’d put behind her words—there were grown people who didn’t do that much thinking and planning. She was thinking and planning for New York the way I’d schemed to hook up with a pro ballplayer. And, I had succeeded.
    But I didn’t want Angel to go. If she were in New York, what would that mean for us? We wouldn’t be together during her high school years, and I wanted to be there for her first date, when she got her driver’s license, and even when she had her first heartbreak. I wanted to spend those years cheering her on through every triumph, and wiping her tears through any trials.
    But if she were in New York, my time with her would be limited to holidays and maybe part of the summer—if she wasn’t too busy to come home. Angel would be spending all her time with Caroline, and I had this feeling that Caroline was doing more than just being the kind stepmother.
    I clicked off the lamp on my nightstand and slid back down in the bed, but didn’t close my eyes. Inside the darkness, all kinds of questions swirled around me. What if Angel really wanted to do it? What if this wasn’t Caroline’s idea and it was all Angel? Could I eventually find a way to say yes? If I said no, would I be holding her back?
    The seconds turned to minutes, and with each new hour, new questions came to mind. I never closed my eyes because my thoughts were too loud. So, I just stayed awake and tried to make sense of the noise.
    My mind never quieted, I never slept. Somewhere around four in the morning, I let insomnia have the victory. I sat up, grabbed my cell phone, and sat in the dark, waiting for more time to pass. It was way too early to make any telephone calls. I’d have to wait for a more decent hour—like seven.
    But I was never one to do things decently and in order. By the time the digital numbers on my clock flipped to six, I was already pressing the phone icon on my cell.
    â€œSheridan,” I said to the groggy voice who was one of the most important people in my life. “I really need you. Can we talk?”

Chapter
    Five
    I glanced down at my ringing phone. Dang! Was Noon really up this early? My mouth stretched into a wide yawn as I pressed ignore, exactly the way I’d done at least a hundred times over the last three days.
    That’s how long it’d been since I’d seen Bobby . . . and last talked to Noon.
    From the time I met Noon in middle school, we’d never gone more than one day without speaking to each other, and on every voice-mail message, Noon reminded me of that.
    My hope was that the blush of her new love with Brett would keep her away from my front door; and it did, but it wasn’t enough to make her stop calling me.
    When my cell rang again, and Noon’s name popped up, I yawned and powered off my phone. My best friend’s I-told-you-so’s, and then her trying to convince me to do Plan B were going to have to wait. Right now I had the issue of Angel to handle.
    I shoved my phone inside the pocket of my