Page 52 of Again, In Autumn

“Sorry,” Adam grumbles when our legs touch.

I pull myself inward and say, “No, I’m sorry.”

The environment whips past, Maggie turns on some music, and I listen to the sound of singing in the front seat. She takes Diego’s hand.

I’d made a face the first time I heard this song, fourteen years ago.

“What is this?” I had asked Adam.

His jaw dropped as he climbed back into the bed of his truck. “You don’t know Fleetwood Mac? Stevie Nicks? Wow.” He leaned back beside me. “Trust me, your ears are begging to take a break from The Black Eyed Peas.”

The sunlight shined off the front of my phone screen. “This is my music playing device, Mr. Flip Phone, so you’re not allowed to shame my music tastes.”

“All right little rich girl,” he waved his hands around. “Just surprised Daddy didn’t buy you any decent music.”

“My dad doesn’t listen to music.”

“Because he’s too busy robbing children?” He laughed. “What? What you just said doesn’t make any sense. What kind of person doesn’t listen to music?”

“The kind that spends his whole life in a business meeting to get away from his daughters,” I mumbled. My new phone didn’t feel like a win. The updated gadgets and money and expensive gifts never did.

Adam had purposefully bumped his knees against mine then. I loved every time he touched me, with his eyes or his skin, and I loved the moments we snuck out just the two of us. He reached for my hand and drew his fingertips along the lines like I did to him in the treehouse.

“Does your father know how clever you are, pretending to run errands with me?” he asked. “Fran and David didn’t think it was weird at all.”

“I wasn’t being clever.”

He frowned.

“I genuinely need tampons,” I laughed. “It just so happens to be one subject Dave won’t question, but if I was lying, then Fran would know.”

Adam nodded. “So…you’re really just using me for a ride into town?”

“Does it look like we’re in town?”

He glanced around at the scenery of the mountain. The overlook on which we parked only had a single other car and we watched those hikers set off already.

“Nope,” Adam said, breaking into a smile. “So that doesn’t mean we have a lot of time to ourselves. Heddy will send out a search party soon.”

He wrapped an arm around my lower back, and I giggled as he sank his mouth into the ticklish part of my neck. We fell back against the hot metal and closed our eyes against the sun.

“Vienna?”

I blink and turn away from the window. “Sorry?”

Maggie says, “We were talking this morning about doing something in town tonight. Do you have any ideas?”

“Oh.” I stare at the back of her seat. “Um, well there’s some decent restaurants. Romano’s and The Plumhouse are really good. I don’t know much about the bar scene, but we used to get into The Wayfarer as teenagers and it was a mixed crowd. More casual. There’s a dancefloor.”

“Oh!” She turns the rearview mirror to spy me in it. “That sounds like a lot of fun!”

His face smushed into the window, Adam says, “Won’t Diego feel left out if we go dancing, Maggie? Oh wait. That’ll be me.”

She adjusts hair from underneath her knit beanie. “I’m not thinking about making anyone a third wheel. We should all go! Do you think one of the sisters will babysit the kids?”

Yes and no.

“Caroline will,” I reply. “She’s saving up money for a backpacking trip this summer.”

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