“As soon as I text him and tell him you’re ready for him.”

Micah turned and ran toward his room. “Text him. I’m getting my football.”

That was way too easy.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quickly sent Dewayne a text that Micah and his football

were waiting on him.

I hadn’t even set my phone down when the front door of the Falcos’ opened up and Dewayne

stepped out. He must have been waiting anxiously for that text. He was so big and tough, but the little

boy inside him that he never let others see owned me.

“Looks like he’s on his way over,” I called to Micah.

Micah came running around the corner with his football tucked under his arm. “We’re gonna play

some ball,” he told me before letting the screen door slam behind him.

I walked over to the door and watched as Micah ran straight for Dewayne and held up the football.

The smile on Dewayne’s face as he looked at my son made right everything that had been wrong.

His eyes lifted from Micah and found me, and then he winked before looking back at Micah.

I stood there and watched them toss the ball back and forth. Dewayne showed Micah how to

improve his throw, and I watched as Micah worked hard to get it right. I finally let myself accept

something I’d been fighting since I was fourteen years old. I had always loved Dewayne. It had always

been him. Dustin had been my best friend and I’d been his. But my heart . . . Dewayne had stolen that

in front of a locker on my first day of high school.

Six years ago . . .

SIENNA

They hadn’t let me out of my bedroom since my doctor’s visit. I had been throwing up so bad for two

mornings in a row that my mother had taken me to the doctor. She’d thought I had a stomach virus.

But we had both been surprised when the doctor informed us that I was pregnant. Not sick.

Pregnant.

Mother hadn’t spoken to me the whole way home, and then she’d sent me to my room and ordered

me to stay. My dad never once came to see me. Mother showed up with food at my door three times a

day. I even had to open the door and ask to go to the bathroom.

I knew they were upset. I was terrified. Dustin was gone, and I had no one I could tell. No one to

share this with, and now my parents were shutting me out. That scared me more than anything. The

one thing I could be sure of was that this baby was safe. My father was too religious to make me have

an abortion. For once I was thankful for his strict beliefs.

But I had questions, and I had no one to ask. My mother refused to speak to me when she brought

me my meals. I didn’t have a phone in my room, and no one had stopped by to see me. That wasn’t too

surprising. Dustin’s friends had accepted me, but they had never really been my friends.

So I sat here in my window seat and watched the world outside. I watched the people who came and

visited the Falcos. People were still bringing them food. It was what we did here in the South. If

someone died, you took their family food. I never understood that. I hadn’t been able to eat for days

after Dustin’s death. I had cried and slept. That had been all I could manage.

At his funeral, what little strength I had to keep it together was gone the second I saw Dewayne

Falco’s shoulders slumped, jerking harshly from crying. I never even imagined that Dewayne could

cry. He was so tough and larger than life. But in that moment, seeing him broken, I lost it all over

again. I hated seeing him in so much pain. He loved his brother, and Dustin had worshiped Dewayne.

At night whenever I closed my eyes, the image of Dewayne sobbing over his brother’s grave

haunted me. I had wanted to hold him even though I knew he wouldn’t welcome it. No one could

console him. No one could bring back Dustin.

We had all lost him.

Including the little life inside me.

I touched my stomach reverently, closed my eyes, and dreamed of the child inside. What would he

or she look like? I wondered if it would have its father’s smile and charm. If it would grow up a Falco

or a Roy. If the Falcos would accept this baby. I knew my parents were upset, but surely Tabby would

love this baby.

I opened my eyes just as Dewayne walked across the street toward my house. Quickly I moved back

behind the curtains and watched as he stepped up onto my porch. The doorbell rang, and I hurried over

to my bedroom door to crack it open so I could hear him. Why was he here? I hadn’t seen him leave

his parents’ house much over the past few weeks.

“Hello, Dewayne,” my mother said in a gentler tone than I’d expected. At least she respected the

fact that he’d lost his brother. She didn’t have to be angry at him because I was pregnant. I was just

glad my dad was at work.

“Is Sienna here?” he asked.

He was here to see me. Someone to talk to. Someone else who was hurting and lost without Dustin.

Someone I trusted above anyone else.

“No. She isn’t here any longer. She’s been sent to a . . . facility up North. She had issues dealing

with everything, and she wasn’t right emotionally.”

What?

“Oh. Uh, I didn’t realize she’d left. I . . . When is she coming back?”

“I don’t know. Not anytime soon,” my mother replied.

What? Was she serious? I was right here in my bedroom like I had been for a week now. Did she

honestly plan to keep me locked up like this? Wasn’t that illegal? I had to see a doctor at some point.

“Is there a number where I can reach her?”

“No. She can’t communicate with anyone here. It upsets her. Talking to you will upset her. She

needs time and medication.”

Holy crap! My mother was making me out to be a crazy person.

“Well, when she’s ready to talk to someone again, can you please have her call me? I can leave my

number. I’d like to check on her. See if she’s doing well. I don’t want her to think we don’t care. We

know she lost him too.”

I got a funny tightening in my chest that only Dewayne Falco managed to inspire. How could

someone like Dewayne, with his party-boy ways, be so incredibly sweet? He’d been like that my

freshman year. He always seemed to be there when I needed him.

“Sure. I’ll give her your number,” Mother said in a clipped voice. I’d never see Dewayne’s number.

She’d burn it first.

“Thanks. Tell her that I came by and that I’m thinking about her.”

“Okay. Thank you, Dewayne. Tell your parents they are in our prayers. You all are.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

I closed my door quietly, then ran back over to my window and watched as Dewayne walked away.

I would find a way to see him and talk to him. He’d made the first move, and now it was my turn to

make a move. He would love this baby. It was part of Dustin. If my parents wanted to lock me up, he

could help me escape. He was older. He would know what to do. I just had to find a way to get to him.

* * *

The next morning before the sun came up, my mother woke me and hurried me out to my father’s

station wagon, then handed me a suitcase before she climbed into the passenger seat. My father was

already in the driver’s seat. I looked over at him, but he didn’t say a word. He didn’t even turn to look

at me.

“Where are we going?” I asked, almost afraid she was about to make good on that story she’d told

Dewayne. I wasn’t crazy. Surely they couldn’t get doctors to keep me if I was perfectly sane.

“Your aunt Cathy’s. She’s agreed to take you in until you’ve had the baby.”

That was the last thing my mother said to me. We rode in silence the eleven hours it took to drive

to Fort Worth, Texas. My father never once acknowledged my existence. When we arrived, they