Page 61 of All In Good Time

“It’s Mal’s.” He scanned his work, before nodding in approval, and picked up the remainder of his cone.

“Well, thanks.” She licked at the stickiness on her fingers, now confident enough not to worry about her styled hair getting in the way.

Derek chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. He’d sobered up a bit, she could tell.

He was relaxed, his sighs deep and his eyes clearer. Becca leaned her seat back, too, wanting to feel as content as he looked.

He closed his eyes, and for a moment, Becca thought he might be falling asleep. Sleeping sure sounded nice right now, and Derek’s comfortable car seats practically called to the lingering sedative qualities of the alcohol, but she still had a tiny bit more of her cone left.

“I have a confession to make.” Voice low, it sounded like he was about to share a deep secret.

Becca paused from finishing the last of her ice cream to look at him. His smile was so slight she almost couldn’t see it in the dark car.

“What is it?” Becca matched his volume and tone in reverence.

He released a deep sigh. “It’s my birthday today.”

Ice cream forgotten, Becca shot upward and nearly lost her grip on the cone. “Derek! What the hell?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have gotten you something.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want anything. No, actually I did.Thisis exactly what I wanted for my seventeenth birthday.” He gestured at the general space between them.

“Sitting in your car?”

“No, ice cream.” He pointed at her cone. “I just wanted to go to a party and then get some ice cream with you.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” He paused and turned away from her to look out the window. The night was clear, so the stars were bright and easy to see. He didn’t answer her right away. He took his time and let the quiet sit in the car with them. “It’s what I used to do with my mom.”

Becca blinked. Derek hadn’t mentioned his mom since the night she found out her father died, and she knew it wasn’t something he liked to talk about. The history of their parents was a sore topic for them both. “Every year until she left, she took me to this ice cream place, just like this one. Right on my favorite beach outside LA. She’d let me pick whatever flavor I wanted and let me get three scoops.” He laughed and closed his eyes.

Becca wondered what he must see in his mind’s eye. What did the beach look like? What did his mother look like? Was he as happy right now as he was back then?

“Those were the only times I cared about my birthday.”

The story had been short, and Becca was positive there was more to it than just that, but from the smile on Derek’s face it was sweet how it was and she didn’t want to ruin that.

“Except this year,” he added.

“What changed?”

He looked back at her. “I thought that was obvious.”

Becca furrowed her brow.

“I have something else to confess.”

“Oh, great.” His confessions, like the first one, always packed a punch.

“I planned on leaving Highburg soon. I was gonna get as far away from this place as I could. Go back to California and never step foot near here or my dad again. I’ve been planning it since he dragged me here.”

Becca stared at Derek, inhaling deeply with her mouth open, unsure of how to respond to that.

A painful crack formed in her chest, and a lump grew in her throat that made it difficult to swallow the ice cream in her mouth. She no longer cared about the chocolate cone, or the fact that her hair was sticky, or anything else. The thought of Derek leaving Highburg made the world around her stand still and shatter all at once.

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