Page 142 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“That doesn’t sound like an addiction to me. Sounds like love.”

“He said to trust us. That it would be okay.”

“Sounds smart.”

Myles sighed. “He is smart. And pretty. And brave.”

“Okay. I’m hanging up before this gets weird.” But he sounded like he’d put the phone back on speaker.

“Tell him⁠—”

“No chance. Tell him yourself.”

“Oz.”

“Yeah.”

“I love you guys too, you know.”

“Yeah. You made it weird.”

“Love you too!” Tris called. “And I’m saving Shelly a kitten.”

“I’ll see you later,” Ozzy said.

Myles chuckled. “See you.”

He was so preoccupied with thoughts of Steven, he didn’t even notice that seeing each other wasn’t something that would happen very soon. Maybe it didn’t occur to him that it would be that long. Maybe a part of him knew something he hadn’t completely allowed himself to think out loud yet.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Jet carried both cardboard trays with hotdogs and fries to a picnic table while Myles grabbed a handful of napkins and hobbled after, leaning on his cane more than he wanted to. The short walk from the house, around the block to the dog cart had taxed him more than he’d expected.

“We have to talk about school,” Myles said as they settled at the wooden table.

Jet watched and said nothing as Myles spread a few napkins out over the faded blue paint and carved initials; then he set Myles’s tray on top of them.

Jet’s leg bounced, and he scowled from under the fringe of his bangs. Most of the red had been trimmed away over the summer, but the black that was left only served to draw attention to his dark eye makeup. “Right now?”

“Yes, now. We don’t have any more time to put it off. You don’t have to go back to the high school, but you do have to graduate.”

“How would I do that without going back?”

“Online. Part-time. Different school. This is what we have to figure out.”

Jet scowled at his hotdog. “What about Shells? Have you registered her yet? Because I know Mom wanted to put her in a different school from where she went to kindergarten.”

“I know that too.”

“So?”

It was Myles’s turn to squirm. He’d asked Pat for advice, but Pat didn’t have kids, and her information about appropriate schools was third party, at best.

“You haven’t, have you?” Jet accused.

Myles decided silence was the better option than admitting he’d also put off Shelly’s school registration.

“Maybe,” Jet said, suddenly much less confrontational and aggressive, “you should ask yourself why that is.”