Chapter 40

Andy wondered what it meant. If it meant anything. Scooter hadn’t kissed him again—not that he expected it, of course—but Scooter dropped an arm across his shoulders even more frequently, leaned into Andy’s space when they drank their coffee in the morning, and saved Andy a seat when they all went out to breakfast or for midnight pancakes at Denny’s.

They were well into June when the first really slow day hit. It was a Thursday, and it had been raining cats and dogs all day, keeping everyone indoors and drowning the sidewalk in a slurry of sand. The rain beat a comforting patter against the tin roof, but it was still so hot that on the rare occasions someone opened the door, a wave of thick, sticky heat roiled in. It was like trying to breathe under a wet blanket, and Andy had learned from the occasional brief squall that it would be even worse once the rain had stopped and the sun came out again. So, of course Kat threw an umbrella at him.