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always count on her.
    Click . “Hello?”
    “Piper. I’m trapped in the den closet. With Thane. With an armoire in front of the door. I need you and Jacob to circle back and get me.”
    “OMG. With Thane? How did that happen?”
    “I’ll tell you later.”
    “I’ll hurry.”
    “Please,” I said, and clicked off.
    “Can I have my phone back now?”
    I shook my head, making sure the screen stayed on, brightening the closet.
    Thane grinned and raised his eyebrows. “She might take a while. Do you want to—”
    “No. And we’re not talking about it.”
     
    ***
     
    Breakfast came with cereal and smiles: relieved ones from Mom, proud ones from Dad, and watery ones from my sister. The boys were too little to know what was going on. They had one goal, to fight over the remains of the Fruit Loops. Caleb won and emptied box over his blue plastic bowl, shaking it to get the powdery sugar from the bottom.
    “Mom,” Mark said. “He’s taking it all.”
    Caleb shook his head and threw a green loop at Mark. Mark caught the cereal with his mouth, and they both started laughing.
    My own mouth was dry, and my stomach churned. The symptoms weren’t caused by the beer I shouldn’t have drunk or the guy I shouldn’t have kissed. They were caused by sick anticipation. I’d left a note at Rhys’s trailer, and I expected him to drop by any second and pound on our door. Or blow up our car.
    Last night, during the drive home, Piper had thanked me, over and over again. Piper, who’d snuck back into the party with her boyfriend to free me. Piper, who counted on me. But, I couldn’t steal someone’s future, not even for her.
    Mom put a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of me, filling the trailer with a breakfast aroma. “Honey, we just wanted to thank you again for doing this. We know leaving isn’t your thing, and I suspect a lot of your decision has to do with the money we’ll get.”
    “She knows she doesn’t have to go.” Dad snagged a piece of bacon off my plate. “The school will be great. And don’t you worry, we’ll fly you home for your birthday and Christmas.”
    I made a show of finishing breakfast and spent the day with my family. All of us tried to act normally. The tension of holding back my own tears while catching my family cry at odd moments brought back the worst memories of Dad’s accident, and it was almost a relief when it was time to head for the airport. Up until the time we got in the car, I still had expected Rhys to show up. He didn’t and my family drove me to Intercontinental Airport where we said our goodbyes.
     
    ***
     
    The flight to Alaska lasted eight hours, not counting the layovers in Seattle and Anchorage. I reclined my seatback and pretended to sleep but was conscious of Thane the whole time. He sat beside me and his big shoulders crowded my space.
    The airline attendant’s voice came through the speaker: “We’ll be arriving in approximately twenty minutes, so now would be a good time to power down those laptops, and bring your seatbacks and tray tables upright for landing.”
    I ignored the instructions, shifted against the thin navy fabric, and drew in a breath. We’d gotten cereal before landing in Anchorage, but nothing on this leg of the journey. The cereal had helped clear part of the fuzzy feeling I had after the long trip, but not all. I yawned and wished for caffeine. The flight attendant had said the trip from Anchorage was too short for a drink service, but I bet she had caffeine hidden in the galley.
    Thane shifted, and his big shoulder bumped mine again, this time on purpose. “Hey, I want to clear the air before we get there.”
    I stretched and yawned, keeping my eyes closed.
    “I get that you’re probably into me.” Thane paused. “But, I just broke up with Portia, and we’re headed to a new campus. So let’s see how things go.” He interrupted his own insulting words with a shrug and his shoulder bumped into mine. “You know.”
    My eyes sprang