Page 17 of All Your Tomorrows

“Did you get your mom a gift yet? I bet you could pick her up something today.”

“Come to think of it,” I said, “I do need to pick up a gift.”

“Great. It’s a date.”

I pushed back the butterflies trying to take flight in my stomach. It wasnota date. “Let me just get showered and I’ll be ready to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured me.

But he was. It was just a matter of when.

* * *

“So, you’re still up for going to my house tomorrow?” Kyler asked as we walked down the sidewalk after stopping at a couple of shops.

I nodded, trying to use as few words as possible so I didn’t draw attention to me talking to myself.

“Do you think it’s gonna work? Me getting into the house?” he asked.

I shrugged as a girl and her mother walked directly at us, not giving up their space on the sidewalk. I moved to the side, thinking Kyler would too, but he kept walking and they passed right through him like he was nothing more than air. I gasped, stopping in my tracks. “Why didn’t they walk into you?” I whispered, not even waiting for them to be out of earshot.

“I don’t know.”

“Can you control it?”

“I have no idea,” he said. “Sometimes, maybe.”

“Good to know,” I said as we were about to pass the café. “Mind if I stop in?”

“Not at all.”

As soon as the bell’s jingle announced our arrival inside the café, Daci called, “Here on your day off?”

“What can I say? The hot chocolate is to die for.” I instantly regretted my choice of words. “Sorry,” I whispered to Kyler.

He laughed.

“Whip cream?” she asked as we approached the counter during what appeared to be a lull in customers.

“Obviously.”

She spun away from me and went to work on my drink. “Any good stories?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder at me.

“Tell her about the hot guy who’s been sleeping over at your house,” Kyler said. “You know she wants to know.”

“Pretty boring,” I told her.

Kyler laughed, knowing the intentional omission was intended for him.

“Come on,” she whined. “You’re killing me. I need to live vicariously through you, and you’re giving me nothing.”

“As soon as something interesting happens, you’ll be the first to know.”

She turned toward me and handed me my drink. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not telling me something?”

I dodged her inquiry with a smile. “Thanks, Daci.”

She hmphed.

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