“Come on,” Walker said. “Let’s get you out of here. Do you really have to go home or were you just giving Susan space? We could get something to eat, or go for a drive. Whatever you want.”
Keira sighed. She needed to practice. She hadn’t spent enough time at her piano lately. But she didn’t want the evening to end, either. The glow of the parking lot lights blotted out the stars and she looked up at the pure, dark sky. She had to curl her hands into fists before she could make herself say no.
“I really do need to practice. I’m sorry—I know that’s lame.”
Walker pulled his car keys out of his pocket and held out his hand. Keira slid her cold fingers into his warm ones. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he said. “I know that no matter what happens between us, I’ll never be your first love. I’d never be your only love, either.”
The word—that word—sent an anxious thrill straight down through Keira’s middle. He tugged on her hand, pulling her to a stop. “Your music comes first,” he said. “It should come first. I’d be thrilled to be a close second.”
Walker wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. The parking lot seemed to swirl away, leaving only the two of them. Keira’s eyelids drifted closed. The smell of him surrounded her. He brushed a kiss against the corner of her mouth and Keira drew in an aching breath. Her lips parted as an enormous gust of wind came out of the dark, cloudless sky. It whipped through her hair and tugged at their coats. Instead of kissing her in earnest, Walker leapt away from her, his eyes raking the rows of parked cars that surrounded them.
His agitation was contagious. “What?!”
He shook his head. “That wind—your hair . . . ” He touched his face, then looked at the confusion on hers. He let out a shaky laugh. “It startled me.”
Keira crossed her arms in front of her. “Uh-huh. The unflappable Walker Andover got startled by a breeze?”
Walker stepped back over to her. “I was pretty distracted. I’ll make it up to you. Besides . . . ” He glanced over at the sidewalk beneath the marquee. “I don’t want to kiss you with an audience.”
Sure enough, a couple of guys were standing in the cold, staring straight at the two of them.
Ew.
“Come on,” Walker said. “Let’s get you home.”
Chapter Twenty
THE PING OF AN incoming text woke Keira the next morning. She rolled over and dragged her phone off the bedside table. Her mouth was cottony and her eyelids felt swollen from the lack of sleep. She’d spent hours at the piano after she got home from the theater, but her fingers hadn’t wanted to cooperate. She’d fumbled easy chords and misfingered arpeggios she’d had down cold. Finally, her dad had shuffled into the living room and looked pointedly at the couch, saying he needed to get some sleep. Keira couldn’t say no, so she stumbled into bed. Which had only been—she cracked open one eye—three hours and five text messages ago.
Five texts. She should have checked her phone before she collapsed.
Keira sat up, blinked the sleep out of her eyes, and scrolled through them.
Susan, texting to say she’d seen six people from school at the coffee shop.
Susan, texting to say that Smith had kissed her.
Susan, texting to say she hoped Keira remembered that as far as Mrs. Kim was concerned, the two of them had been together ALL EVENING.
And, just now, Susan.
Texting to say that she wasn’t going to school—with a little winky face—and asking Keira to bring home her assignments.
Keira sighed and texted back.
Of course she’d bring the assignments. But why wasn’t Susan going to school?
As if she didn’t know the answer. As if it didn’t have anything to do with Smith.
? ? ?
Keira staggered through school, one class droning into the next. She almost forgot to check in with Susan’s calculus teacher.
Right before lunch, she saw Jeremy at his locker, joking around with Tommy and Chip Maxwell.
Jeremy looked up and saw her. Instead of looking guilty for his snarky behavior at the theater last night, hope flared in his eyes. He tugged at the hem of his shirt and ducked under Tommy’s hand.
“Hey, Keira,” Jeremy called. “How’s it going?”
She swallowed the fanged words that filled her mouth. “I can’t talk. I have to go get Susan’s homework.”
Jeremy’s face fell.
“Oh. Right. Listen, I thought you should know that Brian and Chip saw you and your boyfriend in the parking lot last night. And if that had been me? I would have given you an actual kiss.” He slung his backpack onto his shoulder.
Keira was too stunned to answer.
Jeremy seemed satisfied. He gave her a small smile, spun on his heel, and sauntered off down the hall.
She shook herself. Kissing Jeremy Reynolds. Ew. She was going to have to put a fast stop to whatever was going on with him.
A really, really fast stop.
? ? ?
When the bus dropped her off at home, Keira had her phone in her hand, ready to call Susan and tell her to drive over and get her homework. Before she could dial, though, a jolt ran through her.
Her dad’s car was in the driveway.
At three thirty in the afternoon.