Jack lapses into silence. My body grows tauter and tauter as I wait to see if he’ll stop with the euphemisms, acknowledge outright what I just asked, and talk to me straight.

His blue eyes meet mine directly. “I’m saying that for the most part your life has been a pretty nice road. A few bumps here and there, but always surrounded by people who love you. Neil loved you and was a good father. Jesse loved you and was a fantastic stepfather. And Alan has loved you every minute of your life. Isn’t that the most important thing? Looks to me like you’ve been a pretty lucky girl.”

“Have I?”

Jack smiles. “Without a doubt. It doesn’t matter if your life isn’t exactly how you think it should be or even hoped it would be. If it’s good, it’s good. And I’ll take that over everything else, baby girl, any day of the week.”

I stare down at my clasped hands, frantically sorting through everything he’s trying to tell me without saying it, and trying to escape the unwanted pricks of hurt.

Bobby’s hands move soothingly up and down my arms. “I think we’ll go back to the party, Jack.”

Jack’s eyes shift to Bobby. “I’ve always liked you. You’re a nice, kid. Respectful. But the pool house is closed until further notice. Remember, son, you can either be a man or a fuck-up, and no one can make you a fuck-up unless you’re willing.”

A tense quiet surrounds us.

I stare, stunned.

Oh God, did Grandpa Jack really just slip in the don’t be a fuck-up speech on top of everything else that went down out here?

“I’ll remember that, sir,” Bobby says as he stands.

Jack nods. “Good. And maybe you can come back during the week and we can do some surfing. Pool house is closed, but you are welcome here always, Bobby, so long as we understand each other.”

CHAPTER 22

Two months later

The audio-visual lab door opens and Bobby crosses the room and settles on the edge of the desk beside me.

“Are you ready to go?” he asks.

I continue to edit my video and don’t look up. “I can’t. I’ve got to finish cutting this short and get it turned in today or I get a zero on my midterm grade and then I have to be at OCD in half an hour.”

He fixes me in a disbelieving stare. “OCD? You got dentation the last day of school before spring break?”

“Uh-huh. And my free bonus gift is I think Mr. Jamison e-mailed Chrissie because she texted me like right after and I have to go straight home after detention so we’re not going to have any time together before you take off to Palm Springs with the guys this weekend. Groovy, huh?”

He lets out a slow breath. “What’d you do this time?”

For some reason I’m a little irritated with that. I make a face at him. “I didn’t do anything. Natasha and her posse strike again. Filled my locker with a wonderful collection of scintillating tabloid tidbits about my family and when I opened the door they all fell to the floor. And of course they were all watching and whooped it up over the whole thing. And I’m the one who got written up for bullying for giving them the finger while I was on the floor cleaning up their mess.”

He gives me a sympathetic grimace, his head tilting to one side just enough to making him look really adorable and totally forgiven for the earlier flash of criticism. “You’ve got to be kidding. They wrote you up for bullying for giving Natasha Blackburn the finger?”

“Yep. Mr. Jamison was in the hallway, saw the entire thing, but the second I gave those girls the finger it was ‘Miss Stanton, principal’s office.’”

He shakes his head. “Unbelievable. It’s just not right. Did you try to explain that you weren’t the instigator?”

I click save on the edited film and slouch back in my chair. “Nope. It wouldn’t have mattered and it doesn’t matter how many freaking pink slips I get. I got my acceptance e-mail to USC today during fifth period, we’re out of here next month, and I’m never looking back, Bobby.”

“You got into film school? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m telling you now.”

He takes my hands, guides me onto my feet, and eases me between the V of his legs. “That’s incredible. I’m so proud of you, Kaley.”

“So you see I don’t really give a fuck what any of them do to me anymore. I’ve got my guy. I’ve got my film program and I’m out of here next month forever.”

He doesn’t laugh. He frowns instead. “If that’s how you feel, how come you’re in OCD again? Why not just let Natasha’s bullshit roll off your back? I know all the ink about your family sucks for you but it’s all bullshit so why can’t you ignore it?”

“I know that the shit in the tabloids about Mom and Alan is just that. Shit. Nothing new, Bobby. I’ve been reading crud about Alan, crud about Mom, crud about my family in print as long as I can remember. I’m surprised there isn’t an article in the rag sheets claiming Chrissie had sex with a Martian and all five of us kids are green aliens. So stupid, I’ve lived this movie before and it’s no big deal. That part of it I do ignore.”

He studies my face. “OK, then how come you keep ending up in OCD? This is your ninth time in April alone.”

“If I had known Natasha could be such a malicious bitch I would have never called her a ‘twat’ the first month of school. She’s positively relentless like those monsters that die in horror films but keep on coming back. I don’t care what she does to me, she knows it, so now she’s bullying Zoe and no way am I backing down with that crap going on.”

His jaw drops. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

I stare up at him. “Nope. And don’t tell Jake. Zoe doesn’t want anyone to know. She’s so embarrassed. They stuff Zoe’s locker with little notes about Jake and photoshopped pictures of her that are just awful. I know it was them. They’ve been posting some really cruel things on their pages. Harassing her in group texts. They are all-out cyberbullying her just because she’s my friend. Zoe pretends it doesn’t bother her, but she’s a mess over this. They’re hideous girls. Somehow they never get into trouble for any of it. How do you ignore girls like that? I can’t. Zoe’s my best friend.”

“Do you want me to stay at OCD with you?”

I brighten. “You’d really do that?”

“Yep. I’d do anything for you.” He brushes aside my hair and starts kissing me on the neck. “It’s going to be awful not seeing you until Tuesday. Why don’t you come to Palm Springs with everyone, Kaley?”

I groan as his kisses move to my ear. “I can’t. It wouldn’t be right, Bobby, because everyone isn’t going. Zoe can’t and she’s really down, really depressed that Jake is going without her. I don’t want to ditch her. It wouldn’t be a nice thing to do.”

His mouth moves to my lips, teasing me slowly, and then eases back. “Fine. But I’m not going to have fun without you.”

I make a pout. “Yes, you are. Just don’t have too much fun. Instead, think of how much fun you’re going to have when you get back Tuesday.”

He grins. “Oh yeah. Definitely want to think about that.”

Laughing, I go back to the desk and quickly attach the video project to an e-mail and send it off to my visual arts teacher. “There. Done. If I can I’ll stop by your house before you leave.”

He loops his arm around my shoulders and walks me down to the detention room. He reaches for the knob and pulls me in for a fast, heated kiss before he opens the door.

“Try not to get into any more trouble for one hour,” he teases. “If you rack up a pink slip while serving time for a pink slip I’m pretty sure that’s not going to go well for you and I don’t want you grounded so we can’t take off for Santa Cruz next week.”

I make a silly face. “I’ll be a perfect angel.” I can feel my eyes grow sparkly. “I’d hate to ruin Santa Cruz for us.”

Bobby breathes out in a slow, luscious way. “I’ve been looking forward to a repeat of Thanksgiving for weeks.”