“Better?” He asks.

“Better.”

I rest my head back against the car seat and close my eyes, letting the music ease away the stress of the night. Music has always been a huge part of my life. I may not be a musician like the rest of my family, but the love of music is embedded in my bones and lives deep in my soul. Nothing makes me feel more content than my favorite songs. While I love both of my parent’s bands and their music, I have lots of other favorite bands that I listen to. A favorite song or melody can be so therapeutic and take you back to a better time and place, almost make you feel like you’re really back there again. These songs on Tor’s playlist remind me of when my mom was still here, and she and Dad would sit on the back porch and talk, drink wine and listen to the Eagles. I’d get comfy in my beanbag chair with my favorite books, and we’d sit out there for hours. It didn’t happen often since both my parents traveled a lot, but those nights were always my favorites. I’d do anything to have just one more night like that again with my mom and dad.

“Can I stay at your place until tomorrow afternoon?” I ask Tor when we get near the exit to our town. “If you take me home now my Dad is going to know something happened.”

“Where the hell is Chloe?”

“Probably under Brendan.”

“Terrific,” he sighs.

“Yup.”

“You can stay at my place, and I’m not going to tell your father about this. He’ll lose his mind if he knows you lied to him to stay at a hotel with a guy. So now we’re both lying to your dad.”

“I’m sorry, Tor. Really. And I didn’t know about this. Chloe and I were supposed to share a room. She switched everything up when we got there and there was nothing I could do.”

“Let’s just get home. What’s done is done, and I’m too tired to fight about teen drama.”

I’m half asleep by the time we pull into Toren’s driveway, and I feel bad that he must be utterly exhausted after working all day, probably chasing dogs around all night, and then driving almost three hours for me.

“I really do appreciate you doing all this for me,” I say when we get inside his house. “I didn’t mean to piss you off and ruin your night.”

He lets out a deep sigh. “I’m not mad at you, Kenz. I’m glad you called me. You can always come to me. You know that.”

“I know. And I appreciate it. I’m sorry if I disappointed you. That bothers me more than anything else that happened tonight.”

“You didn’t.” He throws his car keys on the kitchen table. “You can’t get through life without making mistakes, right? It’s how we learn.”

I nod and pull the clip out of my hair, letting it fall around my shoulders. “True.” I kick off my shoes, relieved to be out of them. “Jason started to drink and hang out with his friends as soon as we got there. I just sat there getting blisters. I didn’t even get to dance or anything; it was a total waste of time and money.”

He tilts his head and smiles at me. “I can fix that.” He crosses the living room to his mp3 player that’s hooked up to his speaker system, hits the play button, and Elvis’s smooth voice fills the room.

My mouth falls open in surprise. “Wow. I remember this.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. You danced with me on your feet when I was little. I used to love that.”

He moves to stand in front of me and takes my hand in his. “Let’s try it without you standing on my feet.”

Laughing, I put my hand on his shoulder as he lightly touches my waist. “Okay,” I reply. “But I’m afraid I’m not much better than I was when I was five. Your feet still aren’t safe.”

He laces his fingers through mine. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not any better, either.”

As we sway together, our bodies a few inches apart, I realize my forehead comes to his chin. I don’t know why I like that, but I do. Jason and I are the same height, and it felt awkward to me when we kissed – as if we were sorta unbalanced even though we were even in height. I think the man should be taller than the woman, it looks better to me. And now I know it feels better.

“I always loved when you played these songs for me when I was little.”

“That’s because you thought it was your dad singing. Actually, you thought every guy singer you heard was him.”

I laugh because that’s true. It took me a long time to understand that not every man on the radio was him singing. “I’ve just always loved his voice.”