just in case.”
She nods and attempts to sit up, so I assist her. Her mother walks back into the room with a small glass of juice and hands it to Sky.
“I’m sorry,” she says, extending her hand out to me. “I’m Karen Davis.”
I stand up and return the handshake. “Dean Holder,” I say, taking a quick glance at Sky. “My friends call me Holder.”
Karen smiles. “How do you and Sky know each other?”
“We don’t, actually,” I say. “Just in the right place at the right time, I guess.”
“Well, thank you for helping her. I don’t know why she fainted. She’s never fainted.” She turns her attention to Sky. “Did you eat anything today?”
“A bite of chicken for lunch,” Sky says. “Cafeteria food sucks ass.”
Karen rolls her eyes and throws her hands up in the air. “Why were you running without eating first?”
“I forgot,” Sky says defensively. “I don’t usually run in the evenings.”
Karen walks back to the kitchen with the glass and sighs heavily. “I don’t want you running anymore, Sky. What would have happened if you had been by yourself? You run too much, anyway.”
The look on Sky’s face is priceless. Apparently running is as vital to her as breathing.
“Listen,” I say, finding an opportunity to appease all parties involved, especially myself. “I live right over on Ricker and I run by here every day on my afternoon runs. If you’d feel more comfortable, I’d be happy to run with her for the next week or so in the mornings. I usually run the track at school, but it’s not a big deal. You know, just to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Karen returns to the living room and eyes both of us. “I’m okay with that,” she says. She turns her attention to Sky. “If Sky thinks it’s a good idea.”
“It’s fine,” Sky says with a shrug.
I was hoping for a “
She attempts to stand up again, but she sways to the left. I immediately reach out and grab her arm to ease her back down onto the sofa.
“Easy,” I say to her. I look at Karen. “Do you have any crackers she can eat? That might help.”
Karen walks away to the kitchen and I give Sky my full attention again. “You sure you’re okay?” I run my thumb over her cheek for no reason at all other than the simple fact that I wanted to touch her cheek again. As soon as my fingers graze her skin, chills rush down her arms. She tightens her arms over her chest and rubs the chills away. I can’t help but grin, knowing it was my hand on her skin that did that to her. Best. Feeling. Ever.
I glance at Karen to make sure she’s not making her way back into the living room, then I lean in toward Sky. “What time should I come stalk you tomorrow?”
“Six-thirty?” She says breathlessly.
“Six-thirty sounds good.”
“Holder, you don’t have to do this.” She looks me directly in the eyes as if she wants to give me the opportunity to back out. Why the hell would I want to back out?
“I know I don’t have to do this, Sky. I do what I want.” I lean even closer, hoping to see the chills run down her arms again. “And I want to run with you.”
I pull away just as Karen is walking back into the living room. Sky keeps her eyes focused hard on mine and it makes me wish more than anything that it was tomorrow morning already.
“Eat,” Karen says, placing crackers in Sky’s hand.
I stand up and tell Karen good-bye. “Take care of yourself,” I say to Sky as I back my way toward the front door. “I’ll see you in the morning?”
She nods and it’s all the confirmation I need. I pull the door shut behind me as I leave, pleased that I somehow managed to redeem myself. As soon as I’m out of her driveway and back on the sidewalk, I pull my phone from my pocket and call Daniel.
“Hey, Hopeless,” he says when he answers.
“I said stop calling me that, Jackass.”
“Shoulda thought about that before you got the tattoo,” he quips back. “What’s up?”
“Sky Davis,” I say quickly. “Who is she, where’s she from, does she go to school here and is she dating Grayson?”
Daniel laughs. “Whoa, buddy. Slow down. First of all, I’ve never met her. Second of all, if that’s the same Sky that I claimed to have deflowered in front of Val at that party the other night, there’s no way I’m asking around about her. I’m still trying to convince Val I never really slept with the chick. Asking people about her will only make it worse for me, man.”
I groan. “Daniel, please. I need to know and you’re better with this shit than I am.”
There’s a long pause on his end. “Fine,” he says. “But on one condition.”
I knew there’d be a condition. There’s always a condition when it comes to Daniel. “What condition?”
“You come to school tomorrow. Just one day. Enroll tomorrow and try it for one day and if you absolutely hate it you can officially drop out with my blessing.”
“Deal,” I say immediately. I can do one day. Especially if Sky will be there.
Chapter Eight-and-a-half
Les,
Holy shit, Les. HOLY. SHIT.
It feels like forever since I wrote to you but it was just this morning. So much has happened, my hands are shaking and I can barely write.
I still haven’t talked to Mom about dropping out yet, but only because I’m not so sure I want to drop out anymore. We’ll see after tomorrow.
Are you sitting down for this? Sit your ass down, Les.
I.
Found.
Hope.
But I didn’t.
Well, I’m still not so sure I didn’t, but I’m more sure that she isn’t Hope than sure that she is. Does that even make sense? I mean, the second I saw her I was positive it was her. But when I realized she didn’t recognize me, I thought maybe I was wrong or she was pretending or . . . I don’t know. I just started doubting myself. Then I acted sort of stalkerish and crazy so she showed me her ID, which was really dumb of her if you consider how stalkerish I was acting. But her ID proved she wasn’t Hope, which crushed me, but only for a couple of hours. Because when I went running I ran into her again thanks to fate or coincidence or divine intervention or maybe you had something to do with it. Whatever or whoever made it happen, she was there, standing in front of our house, looking all beautiful and shit. Jesus, she looked good, Les.
I’m sure you want to hear that, right?
Anyway, so I’m convinced now that if she really is Hope, she would have remembered me. Especially after I told her mother that my name was Dean Holder. I glanced down at Sky to see if my first name rang a bell but based on her lack of reaction, it didn’t ring a bell at all, so there’s no way she could be the same girl.
Do you want to know the strangest part, Les? The part of this entire day that has thrown me for the biggest loop?
I don’t even want her to be Hope.
If she’s Hope, all of the drama and the stress and the media attention would surround us again and I don’t want that for her. This girl seems happy and healthy and not at all how I expected our Hope to be if we ever found her. So I’m glad Sky isn’t Hope and Hope isn’t Sky.
