“Look, I--I’m not gonna hold your hand like Clyde did,” she muttered darkly. “If you wanna know, go figure it out yourself.” And like that, Vanessa slipped away from the scene, leaving me in a familiar, spiraling turmoil I was growing far too used to.

Chapter Twenty-One

S

omehow, I managed to get back to Laura without showing any signs of falling apart at the seams. I came up with some lie about Vanessa getting school notes, being embarrassed about asking up-front, and then ...