“I feel terrible,” I said to Noah.

His voice sounded hollow on the phone, and a little static crackled too.

The signal was awful. Now he was talking and I couldn’t hear him.

“I can’t hear you, Noah.”

The damn line went dead.

I stared down at the phone, hoping he’d call back. There was only one signal bar, and it kept flickering. Seconds later, a message came through from him.

Noah: I’ll be with you in two hours, can’t stay long though. I have a date with Vanessa.

I would have loved for him to come by, but his mention of Vanessa stalled me.

Brooke: Don’t worry about it. How about we have lunch tomorrow?

The blue dots on the screen jumped, and as the signal bar bounced across to the bar next to it, his message came through.

Noah: You need a hug. I’ll be there in two hours. Chin up.

I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling gratitude in abundance. He was such a great guy.

Brooke: Thank you. I do need a hug.

Noah:

I looked at the clock on the wall: it was only five. I’d been back home for just over two hours, two hours of one wasted day. I went into the sitting room and lowered myself onto the sofa that sat in front of the sliding doors. It had an amazing view of the sea, and in the distance there were sailboats. I hadn’t managed to go exploring yet. My gaze landed on the boardwalk attached to Officer Asshole’s back yard. If it had been mine, I would have gone to sit out there. I’d have gone at night too just to take in the surroundings.

That look he’d given me earlier entered my mind as I thought about him. Thinking about him wasn’t exactly something I wanted to do, but it beat thinking about Sally. I didn’t know what I was going to do about her. She didn’t like me.

That was it: she didn’t like me.

But…neither did Officer Asshole.

Eight months with a gorgeous next-door neighbor who was possibly the most attractive man I’d ever seen in my life and a former Olympian who thought I was unsuitable for my job—just great.

The doorbell rang and I turned to look.

Who could that be? Not Noah; he’d said he’d arrive in two hours, and it’d only been a couple minutes.

I made my way out to the hallway and opened the door to find a girl standing before me holding a gift basket. She looked to be in her early teens.

Her striking features lit up when she saw me, and she held the basket up a little higher.

It contained an assortment of fruit.

“Hi, I’m Aria. I live next door.” She beamed, nodding her head. Her long ponytail bobbed as she moved.

Next door—must have been the Johnsons’ daughter. They were on the opposite side of me, but I was sure they’d said they had a son.

“Hey, I’m Brooke.”

“Wow, your name’s as pretty as you are.”

What a darling girl. “Thank you, that’s so sweet of you to say.”

“You’re welcome. I made this for you. It’s a welcome to the neighborhood present.” She smiled wide, green eyes sparkling with delight. Something about her seemed familiar, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I was pretty certain I hadn’t seen her before. “You didn’t look like you’d like cake so I went with fruit.” She handed me the basket.

The Johnsons came by on Saturday evening with a casserole and Mrs. Granville, the elderly lady who lived in front of me, had stopped by as well yesterday with a cake and some homemade jelly. Now I was getting fruit, delicious fruit being handed to me by a girl with a friendly face. It was just the pick-me-up I needed.

“Oh my gosh, you’re the best. I love fruit, and these are all my favorites.”

Pineapples, apples, ripe juicy grapes, and massive oranges filled the basket, which was encircled by a pink ribbon.

“Yay! I’m so glad.”

I liked her energy.

“Do you want to come in?” I stepped aside so she could enter.

“Oh wow, yes please.”

When she walked in, she looked around and her whole face brightened.

“The place looks amazing. You really made it look like one of those homes on Beautiful Houses.”

I laughed. “I wish I could say it was all me, but my friend hired a designer to deck the place out.”

I’d unpacked all the stuff I’d bought, spent the whole weekend doing that, and Noah had gotten Tina to actually decorate and furnish the place. She was coming back on Thursday to look at my bedroom. I wanted a new bed and matching wardrobe. Perry had gotten his own designers to get all that stuff for me a few weeks back, but the bed was uncomfortable and I needed my beauty sleep.

“That’s so cool. I saw the trucks from Neiman Marcus come by the other day. I’d love to go there one day. There was a really cute dress I saw once in their online shop.”

“We should go together.” I nodded. “We could be shopping buddies.”

Her face when I said that was classic. I actually thought she was going to cry.

“Really? I could go with you?” Her hands clasped together and she did a little hop.

“Sure.” I had an idea. It wasn’t like I was going to be as busy as I’d thought I’d be today, and I needed to prep to see Sally tomorrow—needed to prep my mind. Maybe hanging out with my new shopping buddy would do the trick. “Do you want to see the stuff I got? I probably got too much makeup, and there’s a skirt or two that I think would fit you perfectly.”

“Oh my God.” She breathed and nodded. “I must be in heaven.”

If only. I’d thought I was in heaven too when I’d been selected to do the piece on Sally.

Clearly I wasn’t.

“I still can’t believe I met Noah Whyte,” Aria gushed, smiling ear to ear. “God, what a great day.”

I laughed at her starry-eyed expression. I’d forgotten how much attention Noah got and how other people saw him.

Before he’d come by earlier to give me that hug, I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed him until I saw him. Seeing him helped; it reminded me that I had someone who believed in me.

“Well you did.”

“He’s so nice. I’ve never met a real live athlete before.” Aria chuckled. “I always kind of thought they wouldn’t be as nice as he was.”

Noah was nice. I loved that his fame hadn’t gotten to his head and he was still the same crazy guy I’d always known, the same crazy guy who always made time for me.

“He’s always been like that.”

“You are so cool, and you know the coolest people.” That smile of hers widened, reaching her eyes, which seemed even greener.

“I wish.” I smirked.

If I had been cool, maybe I would have had a great day too.

Aria had been with me for a good three hours, and she’d had a great time indeed. We’d talked, eaten pizza, tried on my new clothes, and gotten lost in makeup, and now we were up in my room practicing how to contour. In the background I had When Harry Met Sally playing on the TV with the volume low.

I’d had enough to distract me, but I was crumbling inside because of my meeting with Sally. I was worrying about tomorrow and wasn’t sure what to do.

I’d never worked with anyone who took such an intense dislike toward me, never, and not the way she had. It was like everything I said was the wrong thing.

“You are, Brooke, and I really appreciate you hanging out with me today, and everything you’ve given me. I’d have to work all my life to afford half that stuff.” Aria nodded.

Gratitude filled her eyes, and she actually looked like she might cry when she glanced over at the massive bag of clothes and makeup. I hadn’t realized how much I’d bought until we started going through it all. There were a lot of outfits I’d gotten just because purchases, and wouldn’t get use out of.

Well, those just-because purchases made one sixteen-year-old very happy.

“It was a pleasure.” I lowered myself to sit opposite her and looked her over.

I’d done her makeup to look like Amanda Seyfried at the previous year’s Academy Awards. We’d looked online for ideas, and that was what she’d wanted. The look was very youthful but striking with neutral and smoky shades. Aria looked like she was ready for the red carpet herself. She glanced at her reflection in the dressing table mirror and smiled.

“I wish I could look like this for prom.” She lifted her shoulders and ran her hands through her hair.

“Seems like you’re in luck—your wish is my command. I’ll do your makeup for you.” I’d taken a liking to her. I supposed as bad as the morning had been for me and as much as I wished I could get Sally out of my head, Aria had provided some distraction. Her presence stopped me from going crazy.

“Oh my gosh, really? Would you?”

I nodded and smiled, crossing my legs then hugging my knees to my chest. “I love doing makeup, and it’ll be cool to fix you up for the prom. Think of me as your fairy godmother.”

Again, she looked like she might cry. “I’m so grateful. Thank you.” She glanced at herself again and her expression shifted, becoming sad. “I wish I could look like this forever, but my dad would probably freak out if he saw me like this.”

God, I hadn’t thought of that—but she was sixteen, going on seventeen.

“Your dad doesn’t like makeup?”

“My dad doesn’t like anything. Think overdramatic psycho.”

I couldn’t resist the laugh that escaped my lips. “Really, he can’t be that bad. Most dads get all weird about their daughters wearing makeup. Just tell him it was practice for prom.”

“Brooke, I think if I left things up to him, I wouldn’t even go to prom. He’s just unbearable at the moment, and every day it gets worse. I’m actually grounded, but he’s working late so I was able to come over here.”

“God, I don’t want to get you in more trouble.” I really didn’t. The Johnsons had been so nice to me, and I didn’t want to upset them.

“No. I actually don’t care anymore. If I was wrong, I’d admit my error, but I’m not, so that means I’ll do whatever I want. You wouldn’t believe what he did just last week.”

“What did he do?” I pulled in a breath and shuffled so my knees were to the side of me.

“He sent the cops to look for me when I didn’t come home on time.”

My jaw dropped. That was dramatic. “Really?” Mr. Johnson didn’t look like the overdramatic type. He seemed so cool and chilled out. Really chilled out. So it was surprising to hear he’d done that.

“Yes, really. I understood that he was worried and he couldn’t reach me because my phone battery died, but that was over the top. Every Friday for months he’s worked late. I don’t like being cooped up in the house, so I thought I’d go hang out with my boyfriend, who he also freaked out about. We were at the ice cream parlor in town when the cops came in and took me away like I was some kind of criminal. I was so embarrassed.”

That sounded like a nightmare. “What did he say when you spoke to him?”

“We actually haven’t really talked about it properly yet. I’m too mad to talk, and I can’t stand arguing with him. I hate it so much. He never listens, and he just jumps on his own train of thought. It’s awful and I can’t wait to move out.”

Sounded like she really needed to offload the stuff that was on her mind.

“For college?” I assumed she meant that, but she shook her head.

“I don’t want to go to college. I think I may head to New York and do something there. I don’t know. I’ve always lived in this town and I want to go somewhere exciting.”

“And you don’t want to go to college?” I found that a little hard to believe since way back when I was sixteen, I’d dreamed of going just for the experience. I had been excited about what I was going to study, but it was like going to college made me grow up.

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t really think it’s for me. Plus, I don’t know what I’d do there. I’m not exactly an A student. I’m not even a D student, so I doubt any college will accept me.”

“I think it’s better not to go if you don’t know what to do. College is important and you need to know how to have a good balance. Work very hard then you can play harder.” She smiled when I said that and came over to sit next to me.

“Play harder?”

“To reward yourself. That’s important. I always do that, and I did that when I was in college.”

“Where did you go?”

“Yale.”

Her chin nearly hit the floor. “Yale? As in Yale?”

“Mmhmm.”

Now this was nice, and so unlike Sally’s reaction this morning.

“Yale was amazing, but I made sure I had options.”

“Options? God, like what?”

“Harvard and UCLA offered me scholarships, but I turned them down because Yale had a program I felt was more suitable for me and my career.”

“That’s so amazing. I’ve never met someone so intelligent.”

“Thank you.” Hearing that and seeing her admiration of me made hope spark in my heart.

“It’ll never happen for me though.” She shook her head in dismay.

“If you believe you can do something, you can do it, but make sure it’s what you want and not what someone else wants. College is a fantastic experience and you’ll get lots of opportunities. That is something you shouldn’t turn down, because it takes away from the choices available to you.”

“You make it sound so cool.” She bit the inside of her lip. “Dad wants me to go to college.”

“And you don’t?” I was starting to get the impression she didn’t want to go because she wanted to spite her father.

“I…don’t know now. I don’t see myself going, and I don’t really have the desire to go.”

“How about you do more exploring before you make up your mind?”

“I’ll think about it. Tell me about your major—it sounds amazing.”

That was like flipping the switch in my mind that made me talk nonstop.