HAYDEN

I pulled out of Coleen’s driveway with my chest still buzzing from the evening, the image of her dad’s half-smile burned into my mind.

My grip on the wheel was tight, not because I was nervous anymore, but because I was still riding the adrenaline of surviving dinner with him, and not just surviving, but actually feeling like I’d been accepted.

The roads were quiet, the glow of the streetlights stretching across the hood of my car. My phone buzzed on the passenger seat, and for ...