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“Why not?”
Damn. “I… I’m thinking of dropping out of college. Listen,” I rush to say when Erin gasps in the phone, “I’ll pick Miles up. Just tell me the time.”
“Tess…”
“Please, Erin. Don’t wanna talk about college now.”
With a sigh, she rattles the address and time off. “After you pick him up, take him to Dylan’s neighbors. Miles will spend the night there. Gotta go now. Talk to you later, and thanks a bunch!”
She disconnects, and I stare at my cell.
So much for Dylan being ancient history. So much for keeping away. For deciding I shouldn’t care. One word of trouble about him, and I’ll drop everything to help.
No. It’s not the same. I’m just going to help with his brother. Nothing more. Just today.
Worried and distracted, I grab my bag and go.
***
My discovery of the day is that Miles looks a lot like Dylan. He’s a real miniature of his brother. He stops when he sees me waiting at the school gate and scowls.
I wave and smile. It’s hard not to, in spite of his scowl. He’s frigging cute. He’ll break hearts when he grows up.
Just like his older brother…
“Hi, Miles,” I say when he approaches enough to hear me. “I’m here to take you home.”
“Where’s Dylan?” he asks, still hostile.
“At the hospital with your brother.”
“And Erin? She was supposed to pick me up.”
“Well, she has to work and asked me to do it.” I study his small face and say on impulse, “and I’m happy she did.”
He eyes me skeptically as I lead the way to my jeep. “You are?” he finally mutters, as he climbs into the car.
“Yeah. Why?”
He says nothing for a while. He buckles himself in and clutches his backpack to him. “I thought you don’t like us,” he says as we drive away.
That brings me up short. “What? Why would you think that?”
“You never visit. Not like Dylan’s other friends.”
I chew on my lower lip. “I would visit, if Dylan invited me.”
He shoots me a wide-eyed look. “Why hasn’t he?”
Oh man. “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t like me.”
“He likes you,” Miles says quietly, looking out the window. “He’s just stupid.”
A snort escapes me. “You are something, aren’t you? That wasn’t nice to your brother.”
“I mean he’s stupid if he told you he doesn’t like you.”
“Why’s that?”
