“Your parents should be here any time now,” Mrs. Hanson said to Tracy, glancing out the living room window.
Tracy nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly. “And, um, thanks for calling them.”
Mrs. Hanson gave a small smile. “No problem, Missy,” she said.
“Um, that’s Tracy,” she corrected.
Mrs. Hanson gave another smile and a nod of her head. “I knew that. Really, I did.”
“Sure you did, Mom,” Taylor said, walking into the living room. He smiled at his mother and then looked at Tracy. “Do you want to wait outside?”
“If you’ll wait with me,” she said.
“Of course,” Taylor said obviously. He walked toward the door and opened it. Tracy followed him. He led the way to the middle of the front yard and sat down on one of the large rocks positioned there. He sat down atop it and motioned for her to do the same.
Tracy looked out toward the road. She couldn’t think of anything to say. The morning was bright and sunny, but the air still had a sharp cold nip to it. Tracy shivered.
“Cold?” Taylor asked. Tracy nodded. He scooted toward her and put an arm around her shoulder. “That better?”
She leaned toward the warmth of his body. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Tay looked down at her. “For what?” he demanded.
Tracy shrugged. “Everything. I wish I could’ve stopped Ally.” She paused. “But it wasn’t all her fault. It was half my idea and -”
Taylor shushed her. “Just forget about it, okay? I don’t want to think about it. It’s over.”
She nodded. “Okay,” she agreed. She took his free hand and laced her fingers through his. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered.
He squeezed her fingers. “Me too, Tracy. I’ll miss you.”
Just then, a car pulled up in front of the house. A tall, blond haired man and a slim blond woman climbed out of it. Both of them took one look at Tracy and started toward her.
“Tracy!” her mother called.
Tracy slid out from under Tay’s arm and started toward her parents. “Hi, Mom, Dad,” she greeted, forcing a smile.
Her father took her up into his arms and kissed her forehead. “You are in so much trouble,” he whispered.
Tracy gave a small laugh. “I know, Dad.”
Her mother hugged her. “Ready to go home?” she asked.
Tracy looked from her mother to her father and then to Taylor and the Hansons’ house. “Um, could I go say goodbye to everyone?” she asked. “I’ll make it quick,” she prompted.
Her parents exchanged glances. Finally, her father nodded. “Okay,” he said softly.
Tracy started toward the house, Taylor at her heels. She opened the front door and stepped into the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson were looking at her.
“Your parents are here?” Mr. Hanson asked. Tracy nodded. He nodded as well. Without another word, he and Mrs. Hanson walked past Tay and Tracy, out the front door.
“Ike, Zac,” Taylor called when his parents had exited the house. “Come say goodbye.” Moments later, both Isaac and Zac were in the room.
“So, you’re leaving?” Zac asked quietly, looking up at Tracy with liquid brown eyes.
She nodded. “Yeah. My parents are waiting out front.”
Zac took an unsure step toward her. “Well, bye,” he said with a small shrug.
Tracy smiled. “Bye, Zac.” She took a step toward him and pulled him into a hug. “I’ll miss you, Sweetie.”
Blushing, Zac pulled away. “I’ll miss you, too.
Next, Isaac took a step toward her. Sticking out his hand, he said, “I wish we could’ve met under different circumstances.”
Tracy took his hand and shook it. “Me too,” she told him.
Isaac released her hand and glanced at Taylor. He then looked at Zac. “Uh, Zac, we’d better get back to cleaning our room,” he said, starting for the hallway.
Zac gave him a confused look. “But, Ike, we’re not -” Then, knowingly, he caught himself and hurried off after his oldest brother.
Taylor turned to Tracy and took her hand up in his. “I haven’t even known you a whole twenty-four hours yet,” he said softly.
She drew her eyebrows together, confused. “Taylor -?” she began.
He shushed her. “Trace, I’ve known you one night, but I feel like we’ve known each other for so much longer. Does that make any sense at all?”
Tracy smiled and glanced at her and Tay’s interlaced fingers. She looked back up into his blue eyes and said, “Yes. It makes a lot of sense, Tay.”
He smiled too. “So,” he began slowly, “what’dya say? You want to keep in touch?”
She squeezed his fingers. “Of course.”
He returned pressure in her hand. “So, do you have, like, an e-mail address or something -”
“I think I’m gonna lay off the Internet for a while, Tay,” she said, cutting him off.
He gave a soft laugh. “Yeah. I probably should, too,” he agreed. “Although, if it weren’t for the Internet, we probably would’ve never met.”
She shrugged. “Granted.” Then, releasing his hand, she said, “Tell you what: I’ll give you my snail mail addy, okay? We can write to each other the old fashion way.” She paused for a moment, thoughtful. “For a while, anyway.”
Taylor nodded, picking up a piece of loose-leaf and a pen from a small end table and handing it to her. “And maybe I could even come visit,” he suggested. “I mean, I’ll be sixteen in March, and until then I could ask Ike if he’d drive me . . .”
Tracy quickly scribbled on the paper. She then looked up and handed the paper to Taylor. Once again, he was captivated by her strange-neat green eyes. “I wrote my phone number down, too. Just in case you want to call,” she said. Still staring into her eyes, Taylor didn’t respond. Tracy drew her eyebrows together. “Tay?”
All at once, Taylor lifted her chin up with his forefinger and brought her lips to his. He kissed her softly and then drew away. As soon as their lips had parted, Tracy slid her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I’d better go,” she whispered. Taylor nodded. Slowly, Tracy broke the embrace. Without looking back, she walked out the front door.
When she was gone, Taylor looked down at the sheet of loose-leaf. An address and phone number were written down. Below them were two words:
Love, Tracy.
