Keeping Secrets in Seattle

Prologue


Gabe hopped off the swing and faced me with a grin. “Are you ready?” he asked. “My mom and dad are waiting in the car.”

I clambered over the fence, landing in the grass at the back end of the Parkers’ lawn. “’Course.” I brushed dust off the knees of my pants, pretending like his aquamarine eyes didn’t make my heart start double-dutching inside my chest. It’d been that way for a while, Gabe feeling less like the best friend I’d had since I was little, and more like the boy in my sixth-grade class that made my palms sweat and my throat close up.

He held out his hand for me to take. “Well, let’s go, then.”

I slipped my hand in his and prayed my face wouldn’t turn red. We went up the back steps, through the house, and out the front door, where Nora and Guthrie were waiting with smiles on their faces. On Guthrie’s head there was a worn Mariners cap—the same type that rested on Gabe’s—and on Nora’s lap was a brightly wrapped gift.

My stomach whirled with happiness as soon as I saw them waving. They were my second family. The people I counted on almost more than I counted on my own mother. Whenever I was with them, I felt like I was part of a real family.

“Happy birthday, Violet,” Nora called through the open window of the car.

“Thanks!”

When I hopped into the car, Guthrie turned around in the driver’s seat and winked at me.

“Got an exciting night planned, kiddo.”

“Dad, she knows what we’re doing tonight.” Gabe climbed into the backseat next to me and rolled his eyes. He always acted embarrassed by his parents.

Nora’s mouth dropped open, even though a smile tickled the corners. “Say it ain’t so.”

I laughed and played along. We’d been playing this little game every year since my eighth birthday, when our annual trip to Benito’s for pizza and Safeco Field for a Mariners game started. I looked forward to it every year with the same enthusiasm most kids waited for Christmas. Nothing felt better than sitting down to a margherita pizza with the Parkers.

“No, it’s a surprise, all right.” I offered Gabe a half shrug and buckled my belt.

“This girl’s a keeper,” Guthrie said with a chuckle, turning the key in the ignition. He always said that about me. And I loved it.

Gabe nudged me with his shoulder, and I saw through the corner of my eye that he was grinning. “Yeah. We’ll keep her.”

Emotion pricked at the backs of my eyes, and I blinked a few times to keep it at bay. This was the best place to be on my birthday. With Gabe’s family. My family. The car backed out of the driveway, and Gabe’s hand covered mine on the backseat as we rolled down the street.

“Happy birthday, Vi.”