I sit in the treehouse, feet hanging over the edge. Tom Petty plays on my iPod, drowning out the sounds of the morning. I lay back, looking at the clouds and roll the pearls on my grandmother’s necklace between my fingers. I focus on the lyrics of “You Wreck Me” and try not to think.

I fail.

Today is Mom’s birthday. Stephanie was going to take me to Greendale to visit her grave, but last night Brayden tried to punch Doug, missed, hit a wall, and broke his hand. They spent a few hours at the ER last night and are dealing with social services now. Stephanie already called me out for school, and I suppose I could go. But all I want to do right now is lay here and not think.

The treehouse shakes, and I look over to see Jack climb the ladder. He sits next to me without saying a word, putting his arm around me. My heart is heavy today, making me feel alone without a real family all over again.

“She would have liked you,” I whisper to Jack, pulling my headphones off.

“Who?”

“Mimi.” I close my eyes, trying to remember her voice. Lately, when I think of her, my mind goes to her final moments. She’d hate to be remembered like that. “And she’d tell me how Mom would approve and how we remind her of my parents or something. Minus the whole teenage pregnancy part.”

“I know I would have liked them too. They had to be pretty awesome to raise a badass chick like you.”

I lean on Jack, so grateful he’s here. And then I realize that he shouldn’t be here. “Don’t you have class?”

“Technically. But so do you.”

“I planned to take today off days ago.”

“I know.” He slides to the ladder and jumps down. “So let’s go.”

“We can’t just leave.” I wrap my headphone cord around my iPod and shove it in my pocket.

“Like that’s ever stopped us before?” He flashes a grin and holds out his hand. I climb down and take it, following him to his Jeep where he opens the passenger side door for me. A bouquet of yellow lilies sits on the seat.

I turn to Jack. “You remembered?”

“You’re not the only one who planned to take today off days ago.”

My eyes fill with tears. “Dammit, Jack. You’re making me cry.”

His arms fold around me. “I love you, Nora. Let’s go.”

* * *

I circle my finger around the scar on Jack’s side, trailing my finger across his stomach and up over his chest. We got back into town with time to spare, and we put that rare hour alone to good use.

The rough skin on Jack’s palm slides over the naked flesh on my back as he pulls me down against him. We just had sex, and he’s half-asleep. My phone buzzes and I reach over Jack to grab my purse from the floor. It’s Stephanie. Shit.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Oh good, you’re okay.”

I sit up. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“There was a home invasion on Jefferson Street this afternoon. We just heard about it on the radio. Jefferson is only a few blocks away and you’re home alone.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

Jack opens his eyes, looking at me in question. I pull the phone away from my ear and put it on speakerphone.

“No, thank God. According to the news it was done by a man dressed in all black wearing a ski mask. He was armed and got away with several hundred dollar’s worth of jewelry. The homeowners walked in on the break-in taking place.”

“That’s terrifying. There are no leads?”

“Not any reported on the news. Are the Harringtons home? Doug thinks I’m overreacting, but the thought of you being home alone today is freaking me out.”

“Uh,” I start. “Let me go look out the window.” I cringe and act like I’m walking through the house. “I see Jack’s Jeep in the street. Do you want me to go over? I can have him try to get a hold of his dad and find out more details.”

“That would make me feel a lot better. And I’m sorry, honey, about today.”

“It’s okay,” I tell her, and it really is. “How did things go with Brayden today?”

“As good as they could have. I’ll tell you more about it later. We’ve been waiting to see people most of the day.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

“It is. Though I feel better now that I know you’re safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assure her. “I’ll just make Jack hang around until you’re home.”

“It goes without saying but be responsible.”

Jack makes a face and motions to his naked body. I swat at him, trying hard not to laugh. “I will.”

“Bye, Nora.”

“Bye.”

I hang up and snuggle up next to Jack. “Now we have a reason to stay together. You need to keep me safe.”

“I will,” he promises. “Always.”

We get dressed and I make Jack’s bed while he calls his dad. Veronica comes home soon after, and the three of us watch TV the rest of the afternoon until the Kellers get back. Jack walks me home.

Things are tense with Brayden when I get into the house, so I go upstairs to shower and change, and then text Becca. She hasn’t sent me a picture of Binx in a while and I’m really missing my fat cat tonight. She replies a few minutes later with a picture of Binx looking very unamused in his pumpkin Halloween costume.

I hang out in my room for another half-hour, then get driven downstairs by hunger. Brayden’s coming up the steps as I go down and goes out of his way to shoulder bump me. I grit my teeth and ignore it. For now.

“Did the mail come?” I ask when I see Stephanie in the kitchen.

“Yes, and hun, it’s way too early to hear anything from college,” she tells me. “You’ll get in to at least one of your top choices. Try not to worry.”

“It’s hard not to.” My stomach twists thinking about it. “Where I get in determines where I’ll live after this. If I don’t get into a good school, then I won’t have a good home.”

Stephanie looks at Doug, smiling. He smiles back and gives her a tiny nod. Something is going on between them, and it’s not the reaction I expected after confessing I’m worried about where I’ll live next year.

“We were going to wait,” Stephanie starts. Doug’s by her side with his arm around her shoulders. “Things have been so crazy lately there hasn’t been a good time. And there probably won’t be a good time.” Her smile grows. “We want to adopt you.”

I blink. So many emotions go through me. Too many. I shut down to keep from being overloaded. “Why?”

“We love you.”

“But I’ll be eighteen in two weeks.”

“That doesn’t make a difference to us,” Doug says. “You’re never too old to need a family. We want to be yours.”

* * *

I walk outside Halloween morning, basking in the bright sun shining down on me. A cool breeze came down from the mountains overnight, giving the air just enough chill to make today feel all the more festive and creepy.

Jack is already standing by the Jeep. He’s holding a small wrapped box and smiles when he sees me. He throws his arms around me, lifting me off the ground and pins me between himself and the Jeep. We kiss, and for the first time, don’t care who sees.

“Happy birthday, babe. Finally.”

“Finally.” I kiss him again, taking his lip between my teeth. “I was so tempted last night to knock on your door at a minute past midnight.”

“I was up then thinking about you. I almost did come over. Then I remembered you guys have an alarm system now.”

“Stupid technology.”

After two more break-ins, and Brayden trying to sneak out in the middle of the night, the Kellers got an alarm system installed. I know the code to disarm it at night, but the Kellers would know.

“We have tonight,” I remind Jack.

“We do. And I’ll have an empty house.” He lets go of my legs. Once my feet are on the ground, I grab him by his belt buckle and bring his hips to mine.

“How’d you manage that?”

“My dad’s working all night. He thinks whoever is behind the break-ins is going to take advantage of people opening their doors to strangers tonight and will size up the best houses to hit and see who’s home. The guy’s only hitting empty houses, so it seems like everything is planned well in advance. And my mom and Veronica are going with my aunt and my cousins to the Halloween fest downtown before trick or treating.”

“How much time will we have?”

Jack kisses the nape of my neck, fully knowing how irresistible I find it. “Enough.”

The Harringtons’ front door opens, and snaps shut. Jack’s dad steps onto the porch.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jack mumbles through gritted teeth. He doesn’t let me go and instead tightens his grip on me. I look over Jack’s shoulder at Mr. Harrington. He’s dressed for work and is holding a to-go mug of coffee.

“Happy birthday, Nora,” he calls and gets into his squad car. Jack and I watch him drive away, taking off quickly down the street.

“He kept his word about backing off once you turned eighteen. I wasn’t sure if he actually would.” Jack kisses me again and then turns to grab my present. I tear off the paper, revealing a little black box—the kind that jewelry comes in. I can feel Jack’s eyes on me as I open it.

“It’s beautiful.” A smile comes to my face and I gently touch a tiny glass rose. It hangs on a delicate silver chain.

“It’s the rose from Beauty and the Beast. I had my cousin who works at Disneyland send it to me. And,” he pauses, pulling something from his back pocket. “There’s a musical of it playing in Greendale in April. If you don’t want to go, I understand. But I remember you said you wanted to, and you helped me do things I never thought I’d do again. I want to do the same for you.”

I’m not an emotional person. I don’t cry easily at things like this. But I’m looking at Jack with tears in my eyes. Right now, I feel like things are finally going right.

For both of us.