I nodded at Nora. “Okay.”

She left me to help the customers who had no idea I’d been here this entire time.

Somehow Gloria hadn’t missed me in my absence. Whatever Nora had done had made Gloria think I’d been doing my job since I’d walked in the door. Only when we closed up for the night did she sit down and question why she was so exhausted.

“I didn’t think there were any more people than usual tonight, but I’m wiped out.” She kicked her shoes off and rubbed her feet.

“Yeah, I think everyone was overly demanding tonight. I felt like I was on the go nonstop.” I wiped the counter down to avoid eye contact. More lies. Did I even know how to tell the truth anymore?

“Go collect that boy of yours and get out of here. It’s a school night.” She held her hand out. I untied my apron and gave it to her.

“Goodnight, Gloria.”

“Goodnight, Samantha. Don’t keep that boy up too late, you hear me? I heard about that kiss in the hall today.”

“How did you hear about that?”

“A couple of your school friends were in here. Some girl—what was her name? Beth something or other. She said the whole school is talking about that kiss.” Gloria winked at me. “I remember when Jackson used to kiss me like that.”

I smiled, but it faded quickly when I thought about why I’d kissed Ethan in the hallway. I was losing him.

Ethan came out of the kitchen and looked back and forth between Gloria and me. “Uh oh, looks like I walked into some girl talk.”

“Don’t worry,” Gloria said. “Samantha is a lady. She doesn’t kiss and tell. Your other school friends are a different story, though. They had plenty to say about that kiss.”

Ethan blushed. If it were his guy friends who’d said it, he’d be laughing and high-fiving. But coming from Gloria, it was totally embarrassing.

I took his hand, and we walked out to the car. “Let’s go somewhere where we can look at the stars for a while, okay?”

“You sure? It’s getting late. Don’t you have homework or something?” He opened my door for me.

“I don’t care. I want to be with you.” I sounded needy again, but I did need him. I needed to savor every moment I had with him because I wasn’t sure how many more there would be.

“Okay.” He walked around to his side and got in. “Mountain view or open field?”

“Doesn’t matter. You pick.”

He drove us back to the spot overlooking the river—the spot we’d stopped at the other night. It was perfect. Just big enough for the two of us. We reclined our seats and opened the moon roof.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, looking up at the stars.

“You’re beautiful.” He rolled over onto his side so he was facing me. “But there’s one problem with this arrangement.”

“What’s that?” I mimicked his sideways position.

He patted the center console between us. “I can’t get to you.”

“I have an idea. Follow me.” I got out of the car and climbed onto the hood, leaning my head against the windshield. Ethan did the same. My hair got tangled in the windshield wiper. “Ow. Okay, maybe I didn’t think this through.”

“Here.” Ethan untangled my hair and slipped his arm around my shoulders. “Now you can lie on me instead.”

I stared into his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He kissed me, and I pulled him closer. I wanted to feel every inch of his body against mine. His warmth, his love. I kissed him more passionately as the seconds passed. I could feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. I wanted to stay with Ethan forever. That had been the plan. My cancer had come between us, and he’d found a way around it. I wasn’t sure what was killing him now, but I owed it to him to find a way to bring him back.

Ethan pulled away and stared at me. “You’re crying.” He kissed my tear-stained cheeks. “Talk to me, Sam. What’s upsetting you?”

“I wish we could be together like this all the time. Now, tomorrow, thirty years from now.”

He pulled me closer, wrapping me tightly in his arms. “We can be.” He kissed the top of my head, and I breathed in his scent. “We will be.”

My insides ached at his words. He didn’t even know he was dying. Maybe that was a good thing, because knowing was killing me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE next morning, I sat in Mr. Ryan’s class, staring out the window, thinking about Ethan. I’d tried to convince him to ditch school with me. I wanted to go for a long drive, like we used to. I wanted to spend the day soaking him up. But Ethan was Mr. Rational. He said we’d already missed the beginning of the school year, and there was no reason to get even further behind. I tried everything to get him to change his mind, but in the end, we just wound up being late for school.

Now here I was, unable to even pretend I was paying attention to Mr. Ryan or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I thought about texting Ethan to meet me in the bathroom, but every time I reached for my bag, Shannon would turn around and watch me like a hawk. I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to get me in trouble with Mr. Ryan. I didn’t really care if I got in trouble, but I didn’t want to make Ethan’s last days—however many were left—anything but good.

“Ms. Smith?”

“Huh?” I turned to the front of the room where Mr. Ryan was sitting on the edge of the desk.

“I asked if you could explain the passage I just read.”

He’d read something aloud? “Um, sorry, but I’m not sure.”

Mr. Ryan sighed. “I’m certain you won’t find any answers out that window, Ms. Smith. And I can tell you for a fact that tomorrow’s test will count for twenty percent of the semester grade.”

The end of the semester was thirteen weeks away. Who worried about final grades this early in the year? I nodded and pretended to show interest in the rest of the class.

By the time I got to Sculpture, I only had one thing on my mind—finding out how Ethan had brought me back. Nora had asked me not to ask him, but maybe if I indirectly dropped a few questions I could get some clue.

Ethan was sitting with Beth when I walked into class. I wanted to talk to him right away, but Ms. Matthews assigned Ethan to first shift on the pottery wheel. He smiled at me and got a blob of clay for his project.

“So,” Beth said, sketching her design. “I was at the diner yesterday.”

“Yeah, I know.” I took out my sketchbook and pencil, pretending to work but really watching Ethan.

“It’s funny, but I didn’t see you there. You waitress right after school, don’t you?”

“Yeah, five days a week. Well, I work on weekends, too, but I go in earlier.”

Ethan dropped a large chunk of clay on the floor and was left with a tiny misshapen thing on the wheel. I heard him tell Ms. Matthews that he was working on an abstract piece about minimalism. She totally bought it.

“That’s what I thought.” Beth turned her sketchbook upside down and continued with the pattern she was drawing. “So I was surprised that I didn’t see you. I thought you could be my waitress. I was even prepared to leave you an insanely large tip.”

“Oh, well, that was sweet of you. I’m sure Gloria appreciated the tip.”

“She’s your boss, right?”

I wished I could find a way out of this conversation. Being cornered and questioned by Beth was not good. “Yeah. You know, I just remembered I forgot my—”

“She was running all over the place yesterday. It was like she was waiting on all the tables by herself.”

Because she was. “I’ll be back in a minute.” I got up and walked to the kiln. I fished through the finished projects and found mine. A small vase with uneven lines running around it. It looked hideous, and I was sure it would get me an F, but I loved it. The lines were made with Ethan’s and my hands when he laced his fingers through mine.

“You should keep your fingers together if you want a smoother end product,” Ms. Matthews said, walking up behind me.