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show up at Willa’s in the middle of the night,” he said with a wink before he took off to find his mother.

    Horrified, Lu turned to Pete and said, “I have to go. Can you grab Willa for me and tell her to meet me at the house?”
    Pete, looking dazed, responded slowly, “Lu, you might as well just talk to him now. You know his ass will follow you to Will’s just because he’s Lex. Don’t force his hand on this one.”
    “I can’t, Pete. I just can’t tonight. I’m exhausted and confused. I can’t have a casual conversation with him. I need to fortify myself. Please just tell Will that I’ll be waiting for her.” With that, Lu made a break for the garage door through the kitchen—knowing it was the easiest and quickest way out. She hurried across the well-worn path between their two houses, yanked on their side door, and flew up the stairs to her room, where she grabbed her bag. She headed back downstairs and threw her bag next to the front door. Fighting against the pull of the past, she exited out the back door and followed their porch around to the opposite side of the house. From there, although hidden from view, she could see Willa’s approach.
    Sitting heavily in one of the white rocking chairs, Lu allowed herself a moment to catch her breath. Leaning her head back on the chair, she resisted the urge to rock. The big fat wooden planks groaned and creaked with the slightest movement. Paralyzed by her reluctance to give away her location, she sat stiffly, waiting impatiently, impotently for her sister to make a more graceful exit than she had. With a slight smile she remembered the look on Pete’s face as her panic blew up on him. He had to wonder how she managed to mother his niece when she could barely manage to control her emotions.
    Heaving a wavering sigh, Lu shut her eyes and concentrated on the night sounds all around her. She was searching for some quiet for her overactive mind. But the quiet allowed all of the memories in, and before she could stop herself from going there, Lu was remembering the moment she became friends with Lex. They had never attended the same school. Lex and Pete’s parents had sent them to the Catholic school down the street. Lu had skipped second grade and found herself at the gifted school by the time she entered fifth grade. That move had earned her the nickname Harvard—another moniker from Lex. It was right about that time that Lu realized that Lex was a lot smarter than he let on to everyone.
    “Hey, Harvard, how was school today? Did you skip any more grades this week?” he had teased. The teasing from Lex was merciless but mostly harmless. On this particular day, though, Lu wasn’t in the mood.
    “Shut up, Alexander James,” she yelled because she knew the use of his full name annoyed him as much as the use of her nicknames annoyed her. “Why can’t you just be normal?” she screamed. God, she mostly hated him, she thought as she took off toward the wooden play set at the back of her yard.
    He juggled his soccer ball, flipping it up into his hand. With his other hand, he grabbed her arm, cocking his head to the side and said, “What exactly is normal?”
    It wasn’t that profound a statement. And being in the snit that she was in, she was surprised when her blue eyes met his green ones and she knew there was a lot more to him than she thought. Shrugging him off, she started to walk away.
    “Come on, Harvard. Whatcha got?”
    She kept walking toward the play set, Lex in tow. They sat up in the fort that day, just talking. Had anyone in the neighborhood seen the two of them, they wouldn’t have believed it. The two became each other’s confidant that day. And from then on, if Lex was in town and didn’t have a game, Lu wasn’t far away. She couldn’t help it as a smile spread across her face, lost in the memory. Distracted.

    It took him approximately twenty minutes to make his way back to the spot where he had left her. But when he got there, both