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He opens the front door, and I follow him outside into the quiet night. It’s cooler than usual, the first traces of fall evident in the breezy air.
“I’m sorry, Wes. You know I have plenty of issues with my own dad, but I can’t imagine going through what you are. I wish I could fix it for you.”
“You help, Maeve. I’ve never talked to anyone about this stuff before. Talking to you helps.”
“I’m glad.” The trip back to my mother’s car passes much more quickly with Wes by my side. “This is me,” I say as we stop next to her silver SUV.
“New car?”
“No, it’s my mom’s. Liam needed the sedan. The team had an extra-long practice, or something.”
Wes doesn’t say anything in response, but he gives me another soft kiss before shoving his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and backing away.
“Night, Cole.”
“Good night, Stevens,” he replies. “I’m glad you came.”
I smile. “Me, too.”
I climb in my car and drive back toward Glenmont. There’s a goofy grin on my lips I can’t seem to shake, even in the fifteen minutes it takes me to pull into my driveway. I’m surprised to see about a dozen cars parked on the street, most of them directly in front of my house. I climb out of the car, grab my practice gear, and hope my parents haven’t called out a search party for me as I open the front door.
Our front hallway opens into the living room, and as I shut the door behind me, I’m greeted by the faces of every senior on the Glenmont football team. When I appear, they all look away from the diagram my father’s drawing out on a whiteboard he must have brought home from school. At me.
“Uh, hey guys,” I greet, self-conscious. I haven’t glanced at my appearance since I left Wes’s, and I really hope there’s no obvious evidence I just spent a few hours making out with Alleghany’s quarterback.
A few greetings sound from around the room, and Matt and Sam give me smiles.
“Where have you been, Maeve?” Liam asks. “Mom said you were supposed to be home hours ago.”
“Yeah, I was at Maggie’s,” I reply, grateful for the first time they’ve all iced her out following her move to Alleghany. “I forgot to let Mom know I was staying so late.”
“You forgot to let her know?” Liam echoes, sounding surprised. It’s unlike me, and we both know it.
I shift uncomfortably. “I’ll let you guys get back to learning plays.”
My mother is at the kitchen table when I enter, squinting at the computer screen.
“Hi, Mom,” I greet, strolling over to the fridge to pour myself a glass of water.
“Maeve!” she exclaims. “Where have you been? I expected you home hours ago! And you didn’t answer any of my texts.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I reply. “I was at Maggie’s, and I lost track of time.”
This lie is a slightly bigger gamble. My mother is friends with Maggie’s. But I can’t change my story from what I already told Liam. I can only hope it will never come up, and that if it does, enough time will have passed that no one remembers the discrepancy in the three hours it took me to make a twenty-minute drive.
“All right, just let me know next time,” my mother tells me. I nod. “There’s dinner in the fridge if you’re hungry.”
“Okay.”
Matt enters the kitchen as I’m watching my meatloaf spin inside the microwave. “Hey, Mrs. Stevens.”
“Hi, Matt,” she replies, smiling warmly.
“What’s for dinner?” Matt asks me as he grabs a sports drink from the fridge.
“Reheated meatloaf,” I respond.
“That’s what happens when you stay out gossiping until nine,” Matt teases me. “Maggie doing okay?”
