told me you’d be coming today. I’d have made something special. How about grilled cheese?”
Jasper nods. “Sounds good.” He hates grilled cheese. It’s something his mom has always refused to know. It’s right that he should be forced to eat it now as punishment.
A FEW MINUTES later, Jasper sits staring down at the sandwich that he doesn’t want. But his mom is watching him, and the whole point of coming here is to make her feel better. The least Jasper can do is eat the damn sandwich. He takes a huge bite and chugs a bunch of water to wash it down.
“How was practice this morning?” his mom asks. She sounds nervous. Probably afraid of giving Jasper a reason not to come back. “The other boys on the team still okay?”
Jasper nods. And they are okay. Everything is okay. Sometimes he still has to remind himself. “Preseason is good, really good. You were right about it,” he says. “Chance, my roommate, is a nice guy. Coach is great. A hard-ass. But great.”
His mom nods and forces something of a smile. “That’s wonderful,” she says, but her voice catches.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
Suddenly, she grasps Jasper’s hand, making him startle back. Her fingers are icy, bony. So old, all of a sudden. “I just don’t want you getting distracted, that’s all. Especially not after all the work you’ve put in getting your life back on track.”
“Distracted by what?” he asks. “I was just telling you it was all good.”
“By whatever.” His mom’s eyes dart away. Jasper can’t read shit, but she is a terrible liar. “I’m just saying. You’re doing well. It’s a good thing. We should keep it that way.”
Jasper raises an eyebrow. “Mom, what is up?”
“Nothing’s ‘up’!” she shouts, twisting a napkin so tight it begins to tear. Then she jerks to her feet and starts clearing the dishes. “I just worry about you. That’s what a mother is supposed to do.”
This is her loving me. This is her loving me, he tells himself. But it’s just so hard to believe.
“Mom, I know you only want what’s best for me,” he says. “And you were definitely right about me needing to go to hockey camp and BC. I totally admit that. It’s been really good for me to be there. So thank you for encouraging me to go.”
She takes a loud breath, then smiles up at him. Her eyes are glassy. “I’m so glad.”
“And I’m being straight with you now. So you be straight with me. Why are you all wound up?” he asks. “What’s going on?”
His mom takes another deep breath, looks down at the table, and crosses her arms. “She’s out,” she says finally.
“Who’s out?” Jasper’s heart has begun to pound.
His mom looks up at him and shakes her head, eyes brimming with tears now. “That girl,” she says, the tears finally making their way onto her cheeks. “The girl.”
“Wylie?” Jasper almost shouts. “She’s out of jail?”
His mom nods. “She called here,” she says reluctantly.
“What? When?” Jasper snatches his phone and taps hard through the call log. “She didn’t call me.”
“Not long ago. Couple hours. She doesn’t have your new number.”
“You gave it to her, right?”
“I did not,” his mom says firmly.
“Why not?” Jasper shouts.
“To protect you,” she exclaims, like this should be the most obvious thing. “And I know it’s not going to be easy to stay away. But it’s already been weeks since you’ve seen her. You’re already out of the habit. A clean break. That’s all you need. Don’t get yourself tied into knots again. You got out, Jasper. Keep it that way.”
But Jasper is already on his feet. She’s out. She’s out. That’s all he can think. “I have to go.” He’s moving quickly toward the door.
“Jasper!” his mom shouts after him. “You have a real chance now. Don’t throw your life away for another girl.”
Jasper forces himself to stay calm as he turns back at the door. He can do this. He can say no but stay kind. Respectful.
“I’ll be careful, Mom,” he says, opening the door behind him and backing toward it. “But I need to go see Wylie, right now.”
His mom’s face is slick with tears.
“Jasper!” she shouts one last time as he steps through the door. “Why do you need them all so much?”
JASPER TRIES TO steady himself as he drives toward Wylie’s house in his old red Jeep—officially his since he paid his brother five hundred dollars for it. Why do you need them all so much? It’s ringing in his head. Because his mom isn’t wrong, in general. She’s just wrong in particular about Wylie.
Jasper pauses at a stop sign as he approaches downtown Newton, meets eyes with a cop parked there, waiting for people to blow through. A reminder: be careful. But Jasper can do this. He can have Wylie in his life and keep himself on the straight and narrow. It doesn’t have to be either-or.
Though it is eating at him that Wylie didn’t even mention she might be getting out. He just saw her and not a word? Jasper wants not to be hurt. Wants not to feel suspicious. But he is. And he does.
Another five minutes of driving, and Jasper stops again—this time at a red light, ready to turn right toward Wylie’s part of town. The so-much-nicer-than-where-Jasper-lives part. Those differences between him and Wylie don’t matter. At least so far they haven’t. But then Jasper and Wylie have been together together in a bubble. What if things are different between them in the real world? What if that’s why Wylie didn’t tell Jasper she was getting out? Does she have doubts?
A horn blasts behind Jasper. The light has turned green, and he’s been sitting there, lost in the tangle of Wylie loves me. She loves me not. He startles, punches down hard on the gas, and lifts the clutch. The old Jeep hesitates before finally lurching forward.
Almost instantly, there’s a vicious crunch. And then a yelp. Jasper’s eyes shoot up as the horn behind him sounds again.
“Shit,” he gasps, jamming the Jeep into park. He claws at his door. “Oh, shit.”
He jumps out, hands shaking, heart pumping as he races around to the front of the Jeep.
“Oh God, did he hit somebody?” a man shouts from somewhere behind. “Holy crap.”
Jasper sees the bike first. The wheel bent, but otherwise in one piece. And then the girl, sitting on the ground, gripping her knee. Her eyes are open. She’s breathing.
He finally exhales.
“Are you okay, honey?” An old woman rushes past Jasper and kneels down next to the girl. “Don’t get up. You need to take your time. Did you hit your head? You could have a concussion.” The woman has short, gray hair and a frumpy tent dress. She turns and gives Jasper the most hateful stink-eye. “Were you on your phone? You were, weren’t you? You could have killed somebody! You could have killed her!”
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Jasper asks the girl.
She looks down at herself. “Yeah, I think—”
“So stupid!” the old man piles on as he rushes up from behind.
“You honked at me,” Jasper says quietly, though he knows that getting into it with them is stupid, pointless.
“I’m calling an ambulance. And the cops!” the woman barks, pulling out her phone. She looks him up and down, disgusted. “What