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Graduation was hosts, irls …

By the ti into a heap She’d tried to convince Zach to go to the grad-night party with his friends You’ll always reh they both kneas a lie Intellectually, she knew she shouldforward on the same old track, but she couldn’t really feel that

So they’d driven hoainst the car , cold to the bone even though the seat’s heater was set on high In the seat behind her, Zach druot home, he bolted out of the car and ran up the stairs No doubt he wanted to lose hiames

“Lexi was there,” Miles said later, when he and Jude were alone in the kitchen

Jude felt a rush of anger Whole, healthy Lexi, with just a white arht

“That takes nerve I hope Zach didn’t see her ”

“He did,” Miles said, looking at her “Don’t do that, Jude You’ll make it worse ”

“Worse? Are you kidding et worse?”

“Don’t make Zach choose between you and Lexi He loves you; you know that He’s always done everything he could to ainst his to work out ”

Jude sighed heavily and headed to her bedroo the door behind her

For the next forty-eight hours all she did was lie in bed, so She lay there with her eyes closed for hours, thinking co happened Not a breeze across her face that felt like a breath, not a flickering of the bedside la And she didn’t really believe that Mia could hear her

By the time she finally crawled out of bed, she looked like a ninety-year-old honer dress on the street and worn it for weeks She knew Miles didn’t understand Last night he’d h of desperation or despair—when she couldn’t change into a nightgown He didn’t understand how fragile she felt If she lifted her arht break off

She changed into an old pair of sweats Not bothering to shower or brush her teeth, she made her way out of the bedroom, drawn forward by the scent of Starbucks coffee

Miles was in the kitchen, sitting at the granite counter, sipping coffee At her entrance, he sat up straighter, gave her a smile of relief that should have warmed her broken heart

The television was on Before Jude could say anything, she heard the newscaster say, “… killed her best friend in a drunk-driving incident only a week before graduation ”