I walk outside, blinded by bright sunshine, and find Nora sitting on the porch. She’s wearing the blue dress she knows drives me wild and has her eyes closed and face turned up to the sun. Since she took the ACT and SATs in the spring—and got impressive scores, of course— she relaxed considerably, though she didn’t slow down. When summer rolled around, and I graduated, she filled in her free time with volunteer work and hassling me to apply to a bigger school and change my major from criminal justice to art.

It’s Monday morning, the second one of the new school year, and I have class half an hour after Veronica and Nora start school, enabling me to give them a ride to school a few times a week. Veronica finally passed her driver's test but doesn’t have a car, and whines about it every chance she gets.

Nora squints her eyes open at me. “Hey, birthday boy, you’re blocking my sun.”

I laugh and sit next to her on the porch. “It’s not my birthday I’m looking forward to celebrating. What’s the countdown?”

“Seventy-one more days until Halloween.”

I groan. “That’s so fucking far away.”

“Hey, we’ve made it this far.” Nora loops her arms around me and pulls me in for a kiss.

“So,” she starts, not letting go just yet. “Brayden got in trouble at school already.”

“What he’d do?”

“I’m not really sure. All I know is his dad had a court date that didn’t go well.”

Around the end of the summer, Brayden came to live with the Kellers. He’s fifteen and has been in and out of the system his whole life. “Poor kid.”

Nora sighs, shaking her head. Her ability to care for others despite her own shitty situation never fails to impress me. “I know. But it’s your birthday so let's not worry about stuff like that today.” She kisses me again. “I want to give you one of your presents early.”

“I told you not to get me anything.”

She smirks. “I didn’t listen. Come inside. Stephanie’s at school with Brayden for a meeting and Doug is already at work. And we don’t have to leave for fifteen minutes.”

I’m on my feet in an instant, stealing a glance at my house before going in the front door. Since my parents found out about Nora and me, they’ve made it nearly fucking impossible for us to be alone together. If Nora came over to hang out with Veronica, my dad or my mom would walk by our rooms every few minutes.

Our study sessions the rest of the year happened either at the Kellers’ or at school. The Kellers had strict rules about Nora being alone with boys. I’m not allowed in her room. Ever. If I come over to hang out, we aren’t allowed to turn lights off in the room we’re in, even if we’re watching a movie, and we can’t cover up with the same blanket. They know we’re dating but believe Nora when she says we’re waiting to have sex. I know Nora feels bad lying.

Since my parents treated me like a criminal, I thought we should just go ahead and act like it. Nora wasn’t keen on my plan. She’s a rule follower by nature and didn’t want me to get in trouble. It’s been hard but being treated like fucking babies is better than not being able to see each other at all. Even though I’ve been cock-blocked by my parents, the last few months haven’t been terrible. We’ve been able to find time alone, not as often as before, but a few times a month at least. Nora made me hang out with my old friends again. She drags me on volunteer assignments and even got me to tour two colleges over the summer. The flashbacks have dwindled, and I’m sleeping through the night most nights.

I almost feel normal again.

She shuts and locks the door behind us and hurries up the stairs. I’ve only been in Nora’s room once before this. It’s small, but always neat and tidy with a perfectly made bed.

“Sit,” she tells me, pushing me down onto her bed. She picks up her phone, setting a timer.

“Really?” I ask with amusement. “You’re giving me a time limit?”

“We can’t be in here that long or someone will come looking for you. No pressure or anything, right?” Her hands go to the straps of her dress. “Though I don’t think it’ll be an issue.” She pulls the straps down and the dress cascades to the floor, revealing black lacy lingerie. “Happy birthday, Jack.”

I grab her and bring her down onto the bed. The timer isn’t going to be an issue at all.

* * *

“This is the haunted cabin?” Nora pulls her sunglasses off and tips her head, studying the rundown building several yards off the road from us. “It’s huge.”

“That’s what she said.”

Nora looks at me, rolling her eyes. “It really is though. I imagined a shack or something, not this.”

I reach around and pull a water bottle from my backpack. “It’s the cabin people claim is haunted. I’ve been inside and have never seen a ghost.”

“But have you brought ghost-hunting equipment?” She takes the water from me.

“It wouldn’t do any good. There are no ghosts.”

Lee Jones, the man in charge of the Dale Hollow cleanup program Nora signed us up for, comes to our side. “I’ve been inside, and I have seen a ghost. Granted, I was so high then, I was smelling colors.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s high now,” Nora whispers. Our little group spreads out, collecting trash from along the road. We’ve been doing this every Friday since the beginning of May. I’ve lived in Dale Hollow my whole life and was never aware of the small group of volunteers who go out and clean up the rural roads along the river in the mountains.

“It’s pretty here.” Nora uses her trash-grabber to pick up a soggy Miller Lite box and sticks it in a garbage bag. “Do you ever look at old places like that cabin and wonder what it was like when it was new?”

“Not really.”

“I do, and I wonder what the person who built this place would think if they saw it like this. At the time, this had to be super secluded. I mean, it still is, and we have cars and a road that runs nearby.” She pauses, and the golden light from the setting sun illuminates her face. “The view from the second-story balcony has to be incredible.”

“Want to take a look?”

“Is it safe?” Nora walks down the road, gravel crunching underfoot, looking for more trash. We’ve combed our assigned section pretty well already. “I don’t want to fall through the floor or anything.”

“It’s been years since I’ve been here. Jason and I used to come here.” As soon as I say his name, I get hit with the memory of us riding dirt bikes out here with his older brother. We were young, enjoying simple, carefree fun. What the hell changed?

Nora takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“It looks like it’s been boarded up since then.” I head toward the house and after a second of hesitation, Nora follows behind.

The floorboards on the covered porch feel dry and brittle underfoot, and I tread carefully. The two windows on the front are boarded with plywood, and a new lock has been put on the front door. We peer in through cracks in the wood, trying to get a look in the ancient space.

“Most of the clients Mimi worked with were rich celebrities who had brand-new houses. But sometimes someone would hire her to come up with a plan for an old space. She’d sit down with an architect and they’d come up with ways to reinvent everything. The end results were amazing.”

“Are you imagining reinventing this place?”

“I am. This porch is great, but I’d have it wrap around the front of the house where it’s narrower than the rest. And you’d need a couple of wooden rocking chairs.” She moves down, finding another spot to look in. “Is there a loft overlooking a two-story living room?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty narrow though. It takes you to a room up there. The one with the balcony.”

She moves off the porch and looks up. “That would be the master bedroom, of course, since it opens to the other balcony. It’d be a perfect place to sit and drink coffee in the morning. And of course, you’d need a big stone fireplace in the living room with the stones going all the way up to the top. Oh, and there would be built-in bookshelves on either side. I imagine them to be white, matching the light gray stone on the fireplace as well as the white cabinets in the kitchen. I like the rustic look but can’t handle all that natural wood. I’d add windows to that wall in the living room. And at least one twelve-foot tree at Christmas.”

“Don’t forget the million dollars it’ll take to renovate this space.”

“I’m assuming the new owner is a filthy rich reality TV star or something like that.”

“If that’s the case, make sure they add a hot tub in the back.”

“And a fire pit.”

We go around the house, picking up trash that blew off the road. Buried under dry weeds, we find a for-sale sign.

Nora’s eyes light up. “See? I told you a movie star will sweep this place right off the market.”

“Right, because this is prime real estate right here. Have you checked your cell service since we got here?”

“Going off the grid is hot right now. There are a lot of rich people who are legitimately scared of either zombies or the government spying on them. Maybe both. Are government-owned zombie spies a real thing?”

I laugh and reach out to brush her hair from her face, stopping at the last second when I remember I’m wearing old work gloves. The rest of our group draws near, and we comb through the sides of the road another time before moving on. We have miles to cover, and I doubt we’ll be able to get it done before sunset.

* * *

“I never thought picking up trash would be so tiring.” I stick my key in the deadbolt.

“I’m sore,” Nora says with a laugh. “That’s pathetic, isn’t it?”

“Just a little. The offer still stands for you to come running with us.”

“You and Charlie are in much better shape than me,” she says, and I love how she assumes I meant the dog and not my dad. I prefer to run with only Charlie, though, but I won’t tell my dad. Things have been strained between us since the day he tried to forbid me to see her again. And the fact that Mom refused to back him on forcing me to break up with Nora drove a wedge between them.

It’s awkward as fuck.

I open the door and step in, trying not to trip over Charlie as I feel for the light. I flick it on and Nora gasps in shock. My dad is sitting at the kitchen table, apparently waiting for us. Speaking of awkward…

“Hello, kids.”

“Dad. Hey. Why were you sitting in the dark?”

“It’s dark?” He looks at his watch. “There’s no way it’s dark. Because you have a curfew to not be together after dark.”

“We were picking up trash.”

“In the dark?”

“We left before it got dark.” I take off my shoes. Nora stands by the door, not moving. If she could slink out unnoticed, she would. “It’s the strangest thing. The sun continued to set on our way back into town.”

“Two months,” Dad says slowly. “You have two months until her birthday. Can’t you wait?”

“We really were picking up trash,” Nora says and digs her phone from her purse. “You can check my call log if you don’t believe me. I called Stephanie when we were finishing, about half an hour ago. We were on Ridge Road. It’s about half an hour away.”

Dad lowers his eyes to the phone. “I believe you.”

Nora puts her phone back in her purse. “I’m, uh, I’m gonna go.”

I turn to her. “You don’t have to.”

“I think it’s for the best. See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Jack.”

We don’t even get to kiss goodnight. Fists balled, I face my father. “Why do you have to be such an ass to her?”

“I’m not an ass to Nora.”

“Really?” I throw my hands up. “So sitting here in the fucking dark hoping to catch us in the act was a friendly gesture?”

Dad stands up “When are you going to get it? I’m looking out for you. For both of you!”

“It’s more than that. You don’t like her for some reason.”

“That is not true, and you know it. I’ve told you many times I think Nora is a good kid.”

“Then why do you do this all the fucking time?”

“You watch your mouth.” Dad holds up his hand, sticking a finger at my face. “You’re still under my roof. You have to abide by my rules. And I do this because you don’t have the best judgment when it comes to that girl. You say you love her, don’t you?”

“I do love her.”

“Then why would you want to risk it, huh? You love her and want a future together? How’s that going to work out when you have a charge against you? It’ll make it hard to get a job and provide for your family that way.”

Your family.

My family.

Our family.

It’s the one thing Nora wants more than anything, even though she won’t admit it.

“Jack,” Dad says, tone softening. “It’s not fair, I know. Nora isn’t a kid. She’s more mature than a handful of adults I know. But she’s still a minor. Two more months is nothing compared to a lifetime of having a criminal record. The second she turns eighteen, I’ll back off. Though I still think you should wait. Having a baby can feel like a prison sentence, you know.” He looks up and smiles, trying to lighten the mood. “Nora’s worked very hard to get where she is. If she got pregnant, it would put a halt to all her plans. And I can’t preach waiting until marriage to have sex. Your mother and I didn’t, and I don’t want to be a hypocrite. Just be smart about it and use protection. You know how all that works, right?”

And the awkwardness just got worse. I crouch down to pet Charlie, trying to decide if I should tell my dad I’ve been having sex since I was fifteen and haven’t gotten anyone pregnant yet.

“Yes, I know how it all works.”

“Pulling out isn’t birth control. That’s how we got your sister.”

Just when I thought things couldn’t get more awkward. “I could have lived my whole life not knowing that.” I shudder.

“Your mother and I love you. What happened with Jason…” He lets out a breath and rubs the back of his neck. “It was hard on us all. We want what’s best for you. And Nora.” His hand falls and he sits back down with a sigh. “I don’t want to fight, Jack. I’m not the bad guy here, and someday you’ll understand.”

“Someday.”

“Hungry?”

I take Charlie’s collar off and scratch his neck. He prefers Nora’s long nails, but his back legs still twitch when I itch the right spot. “Starving.”

“Want to go to Jimmy’s?”

“Give me five to shower and change?”

Dad smiles. “Sounds good.”

I put Charlie’s collar back on and go upstairs. Nancy is spending the night, and she and Veronica dash away from Veronica’s bedroom door when I come up the stairs. Most of Nora’s and my friends know about us. Ignoring them, I go into my room and get into the shower. Dad’s words echo in my mind, and as much as I try to push them away, they start to nag at me.

All I want out of life is to make Nora happy. She’s everything to me. The reason I get up in the morning. She brought me out of the dark and keeps me warm in the sun. If I ever did anything to hurt her, to darken her bright sky even one shade, I’d never forgive myself.

Dad said one truth I cannot ignore: I don’t have the best judgment when it comes to Nora.