of yours, too. You make me feel like I don’t have to be perfect all the time. That song? ‘Creep?’ It’s like our little secret.”
I hang my head. I don’t feel like anyone’s safe place tonight. But I am definitely a weirdo, like the song says.
“Look—my ex was really good at pretending he had everything figured out. And he turned out to be the scariest person I’ve ever met.”
“Jesus. Don’t compare me to that violent fucker.”
“I'm not, and you know it. But if you want me to really trust you, you have to be willing to share.”
“Hell,” I curse. “You’re too smart for your own good.” I reach across the seat and take her hand in mine, smoothing my thumb across her palm. She’s right, of course.
And now I realize I have another problem. I recognized her ex, too. But I haven’t told her that. I recognized him enough to tell Lenore about it, and to dream about him, too. Yet I haven’t shared, because that’s just freaky. Why stir up the specter of that jerk for nothing?
She opens her mouth again, and I expect another plea for me to talk. But she changes the subject instead. “Rick, we forgot to go upstairs for a look at the empty room in your house.”
I lean back against the headrest and smile. “We did, didn't we? Never made it past my bedroom.”
“Chastity says nobody is allowed to go in your bedroom. Ever. But I did.”
“I thought I explained this already. You’re not just anybody. You’ve already had a first row seat to my bag of crazy. And now you’ve got a backstage pass.”
She laughs. “All right. Then I’ll take that empty room in your house. Sight unseen.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she says. “Because I trust you. And even if things don't work out for us, I’ll still know that you're a good guy.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I don’t really deserve you, Daphne Shipley.”
“Just try to, McFly. That’s all I ask. The whole Meghan Trainor thing was a nice touch, by the way.”
“Was it?” I really had enjoyed watching her blush while I sang it. So now I hum the chorus again, and I can feel her smiling in the dark.
“Encore?” she asks, hopefully.
“Depends what kind you’re asking for, really.” Then I hitch myself closer to her on the truck’s seat, and pull her in. “There’s all kinds of ways I could interpret that. Just saying.”
The kiss I give her is sweet, and deep, and it’s everything I need.
Thirty-Five
Daphne
I’m making out in a pickup truck with Rickie. Maybe I’m a real Vermonter after all.
Lately my libido is cranked up to eleven. I feel shameless. In fact, I’d like to become a card-carrying member of the sex-in-a-truck club, please.
Except we’re parked in my family’s driveway. So it’s probably a very bad idea.
Rickie pulls back, studies me, and then kisses me on the nose. “We’d better go inside.”
“I guess so,” I sigh.
He laughs and climbs out of the truck.
I grab my pack and do the same. And it isn’t until I get closer to the house that I realize my entire family is on the front porch. The whole family, including Grandpa, my mother, Griffin, Audrey and Baby Gus. Also Dylan, Chastity, and even May and Alec are sitting there.
And everybody's holding a champagne flute. “Oh, boy,” I stammer. “What did we miss?”
“I was just wondering that same thing,” May says slowly.
“Didn’t you guys pull in, like, ten minutes ago?” Dylan asks. “What were you doing out there?”
Uh-oh. I don’t risk a glance toward Rickie. But instead, I try a page out of his book. “Making out, of course.” I wave a hand, like it’s a joke.
Dylan laughs.
But May squeals.
“Ohhhh finally,” Chastity says.
“What?” Griffin asks.
Doesn’t it just figure that I can’t pull off the same slick tricks that Rickie gets away with? So now I’m standing here, my face heating, wondering what to say next.
“She’s just kidding,” Dylan says, reaching over to pull his girlfriend’s ponytail.
“No, it is true,” my mother says from her rocking chair. “We always expect Daphne to be okay, and to do her own thing. We don’t pay enough attention.”
“I get that,” Griffin agrees. “Daphne doesn’t even feel like she can tell us what’s wrong in her life. Transferring colleges during your senior year? We should be asking more questions.”