“I am?”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Cary said. He knew his face was bright red.
Shiloh stepped closer to her roommate. “Could I talk to you... ” She tipped her head toward the door.
“Sure...”
They stepped out into the hall.
Cary stood up. He looked in the mirror. He wasn’t sure what would happen now. Would he and Shiloh get to be alone some more? Maybe he could take her out, he was really hungry—would that be a date? What would it be like to date Shiloh? What was evenhappeningright now?
She and Darla came back to the room almost fifteen minutes later. Cary had found some crackers on Shiloh’s desk. He was eating them. He stood up when the door opened.
“Darla’s going to take our picture,” Shiloh said.
“Okay,” he said. And then to Darla—“Thank you.”
Shiloh gave Darla the camera and came to stand by Cary. He put down the crackers. He let his arm come around her shoulders.
“Do we look good?” Shiloh was smoothing her hair. “Make sure we look good.”
“You look great,” Darla said.
Cary swallowed. He hugged Shiloh. The flash went off.
“Take another one,” Shiloh said.
Darla did, then handed back the camera. “And now I am going to go study,” she said. “For thirty-six to forty-eight hours.”
She quickly grabbed some clothes and picked up her backpack. Shiloh looked embarrassed. Carywasembarrassed.
“Thank you for your service,” Darla said at the door. “My grandpa was in the Navy.”
“Oh,” Cary said. “Thank you. I mean—thank him and you.”
Shiloh walked Darla out.
She was frowning when she came back in.
“How’d you make that work?” Cary asked.
“She’s staying with someone down the hall, and now I owe her something big and unpleasant that is yet to be determined.”
“That was nice of her, I guess?”
“Cary, sit down.”
He sat in the desk chair.
“No, sit over here, with me.” Shiloh sat on the bed.
He came to sit next to her.
She looked antsy. Her fists were clenched.
Cary braced himself.
“I’m not sure what we’re doing,” she said. “You’re on your way to Orlando, right?”
