Page 65 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“Shut up.” At least it got a slight smile out of him, though. And if the rims of his eyes were a bit red, Myles did them both a favour and didn’t mention it.

“Look, just come with me. I think she might be more open to the idea if you’re there to help her pick what classes she wants to do. And there’s no pressure for you to do anything you don’t want to. But you won’t know what your options are if you don’t check it out, right?”

Jet settled back to his slouched position. “You said we were coming here for six weeks.”

“I did.”

“It’s been four.”

“Yes.”

“We’re not going home in two weeks, are we?”

“If I ask what you want, will you be honest with me?”

“Shell seems pretty happy here still.”

“She does, but you’re hedging.”

“And there’s Steven.”

“There is.” Because he’d asked for honesty, he figured Jet deserved it in return. “It’s early days with him. I’m not going to base a decision for our whole family on what he means to me, because honestly, I don’t even know that yet. But I’m not going to discount it, either.”

“Right.” Jet flipped his phone over and over, then finally grunted. “Fair. But then, there’s the cooking lessons. You can almost do eggs now.”

Myles snorted.

“Can I tell you something?” Jet asked, his voice so low Myles almost leaned over to hear him better.

“You can tell me anything.”

“I know you brought us here to get me away from Brady and the gang.”

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t pleased at that consequence of the trip.”

“It was a mistake to get involved with them.”

“Okay.” Myles wasn’t going to jump for joy at hearing Jet’s admission, as much as he sort of wanted to.

“If we stay longer, they just might forget about me by the time we get back.”

“And that would save you some trouble?”

“Probably save you some trouble, too.”

“Okay.” He wanted desperately to ask what had possessed Jet to even get involved with that particular group of kids, but he didn’t dare rock the boat too much. Not while Jet was being this open with him.

“I knew they were a bad influence. I did.”

“Then…?” It was as close as he would go to prompting him. Jet was as skittish as any hurt wild thing, and Myles wasn’t taking any chances of scaring him off.

This time when he moved, Jet sat up completely, feet on the floor, elbows on his knees, hair falling forward so once again, Myles couldn’t see his face. “It was stupid. Because of a girl.”

“Someone you like?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter. Can’t save her.”

“Save her?”