“Miss Becks?”

I looked up from my computer, and my heart sank when I found my gaze meeting Hunter’s. School had gotten out, and he’d ducked back into the classroom for a moment to talk to me. He was the last kid I wanted to see at that moment but at the same time, the only one. I managed to smile at him.

“Hey, Hunter.” I greeted him with as much lightness as I could muster. “Are you all right?”

“I made you this.” He reached into his bag and thrust a piece of paper in my direction. I picked it up and checked it out, turning the orange card over in my hands, and my heart sank when I saw what it was. Just a card, a little one with his spidery handwriting over the front, telling me that he missed me.

“Thank you, Hunter.” I smiled at him, trying to keep the rush of tears that were threatening to take me over at bay. “I really appreciate this.”

He smiled, but he didn’t look satisfied yet.

“I don’t know what my dad did wrong,” he said, “but I’m sorry. I hope you come back soon.”

My heart twisted, and before I could stop myself, I got out of my seat and went to give him a quick hug. I knew I should have sent him away to meet Holden at the gates, but he looked so forlorn standing there in front of me that I couldn’t leave him to it.

“It’s all right, Hunter,” I promised him. “Thank you for the card.”

I drew back from him and found him gazing at me expectantly. I knew he wanted me to tell him I was about to come back, that all of this had been a mistake and I was going to turn around and head back home with him and his father. But I couldn’t as much as I wanted to.

“Spring break’s coming up soon,” I reminded him, trying to cheer him up before he left. “Do you have anything planned?”

“Nothing yet.” He shook his head, still looking a little down.

“I’m sure your dad has something awesome planned for you.” I smiled at him, squeezing his arm. He managed to smile back, but I could tell it was strained.

“You should get going,” I told him, nodding toward the door. “I’m sure your dad will be waiting outside to pick you up.”

With that, he ducked out of the classroom and left me all alone. I had been working on some of the grade curves since class had let out, and it was so much easier now that I was using the program Holden had made for it. Every time I booted up the website he was hosting it on, I felt a little pang, remembering how we had gone through this in his study after he’d cooked me dinner. I just wanted to be near him again, more than anything else in the world. I wanted to feel his arms wrapped tight around me, wanted to rest my head on his chest and tell him I loved him, those words I had been too nervous to say before, certain it was too soon.

“Good evening.” Zoe breezed into the room, flashing me a big smile that dropped suddenly off her face when she saw the expression on mine. “Hey, are you all right?”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. I had caught Zoe up with everything that had happened, and she had been so supportive all that time, but it would be impossible to express the mess I found myself in right now.

“You working on the grade curves?” She came around my desk to get a look. “I was too. But mine got done so quickly. This program works so fuckin’ well. I can actually take some time off for spring break this year for a change instead of being stuck at my desk churning out those godforsaken things.”

“Yeah, I’m getting my last few done,” I told her. I had no plans for spring break. I was only planning on lazing around at my house feeling sorry for myself and mulling over what had happened between Holden and me. It was far from healthy, but I needed time to process it properly. I had been throwing myself into work to avoid thinking about it, which was only going to make it harder in the long run. Especially since Hunter was right there every time I came to my job, a potent reminder of what I’d walked away from when I ended things with Holden.

“You going to take some time off?” Zoe asked, flopping down in the seat opposite me and crossing her arms over her chest. I knew she was trying to distract me, and I appreciated the effort to help me out, even though I was having a hard time thinking about anything but Holden and what had happened between us.

“I mean, I guess I should,” I admitted, and I could see her eyes shining with—well, I wasn’t sure what it was, but I had a feeling, given that she was here, that it had something to do with me. I cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s going on?” I asked, and a huge grin spread across Zoe’s face.

“I…” She shook her head and closed her eyes as though savoring this moment before she dropped the news on me. “I want to take you on a trip, Autumn.”

“Like where?” A smile spread over my face, despite my mood.

“Vegas.” She raised her hands as though offering me some sacred gift. My eyebrows shot up, and I burst out laughing.

“Vegas?” I giggled. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“You’ve never been, have you?” She leaned forward eagerly.

I shook my head. “No, and I can’t say I’ve ever been that interested.”

She lifted a hand to stop me in my tracks. “Trust me, you’ve got no idea what you’re in for. It’s the most fun you’ll have in the states. And it’d be good for you to get away.”

“I’m not looking to go get drunk and sleep with strangers.” I shook my head again. “It’s not my style.”

“Oh, fuck, me neither,” she agreed. “But there’s so much more to do out there than that. I spend most of the time there lazing around beside the pool and drinking cocktails.”

“Then you actually do the getting drunk bit?” I waggled my eyebrows, and she rolled her eyes playfully.

“So sue me, I like a few mimosas by the water.” She grinned. “Come on, Autumn. We’ll both have the time to spare. Just for a few days. I’ve already booked the hotel.”

“What? Without speaking to me first?”

“Because I knew you’d find some way to talk yourself out of it,” she pointed out. “Like you’re doing right now.”

“Yeah, well, maybe because—”

“Maybe because you were hoping to spend that whole week sitting around at home and mulling over everything that happened with you and Holden?” she asked. I fell silent. She was right. I would have hung around my house feeling sorry for myself and wishing I could be somewhere else. Well, Zoe was offering me that chance for something else. I would have been crazy to turn it down.

“I suppose you’re right.” I finally gave in, and I felt a little flutter of excitement at the thought of it. It could be fun to get out of town, to blow off some steam. It had been a hell of a stressful few months with everything happening, even if most of it had been good stress, and I was already looking forward to leaving that all behind right here and spending more time than was strictly necessary lying around in a bikini and sipping on expensive cocktails. I had a little savings put away, and they weren’t doing anything right now, so I might as well tap into it to show myself a good time for a change.

“We should think about looking at those red-eye flights,” I suggested. “Get something really cheap.”

“Plus it’ll cut the cost of the hotel room if we get in there early,” Zoe pointed out with a smile. “More money for cocktails and cheap bikinis.”

“Okay, that does actually sound pretty good,” I conceded, and she clapped her hands together.

She beamed. “I knew you’d come around to it. It’s going to be so much fun. That place is built for blowing off some steam and having a good time. It’s totally where you need to be right now.”

“All right, but if I go bankrupt gambling, I’m holding you personally responsible.” I leveled my finger at her across the table.

“I solemnly swear that I’ll keep you away from any and all casinos.” She planted her hand on her heart like she was making the Girl Scout pledge. “Unless that’s where the cheap drinks are.”

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.” I shook my head. “Just to be clear, this doesn’t give you the right to start planning trips for me all over the place.”

“I promise.” She flashed me a smile, and I could already tell she was planning where to take me next now that she’d managed to twist my arm into going to Vegas with her.

“Thank you for this.” I reached over and touched her hand. “I really needed to get away. I feel like I’m going crazy, you know? With all this stuff that’s been happening with Holden, especially with Hunter around on top of everything.”

She smiled at me sweetly. “You’re welcome. Anything to help you out. You know that.”

“And when it comes with a trip to Vegas as well—”

“All the better,” Zoe finished up for me and got to her feet. “Let’s go get some dinner, and we can start looking at what flights we’re going to take out.”

“Sure thing.” I closed off my computer, and a weight lifted off of me. It wouldn’t last forever, but I would take it for now—the relief, the briefest little moment of peace from the maelstrom that had been consuming my brain these last few days. I paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then followed Zoe out of the room. I was going to be all right. All of this was going to be all right. Or, at least, that’s what I had to keep telling myself until it became true.