Page 26 of All the way home

“Canadian Space Agency.” Before Kieran can ask him any more questions, Zach switches gears. “Kinesiology, then? Why?”

“It’s not as cool an answer.” Kieran shrugs. “It seemed like a good option, and I’ve always liked bio.”

There’s more to it than that, obviously. Kieran’s doing the exact thing Mara does when she wants to talk about something but doesn’t want to be obnoxious. It’s the exact same combination of aloof body language and that all-too-casual lilt to the phrasing.

Zach bites. “And?”

“Rena—my sister—and I were both into soccer in high school,” Kieran tells him. “But I busted my knee. My physiotherapist was fucking awful, my leg didn’t heal right, and I had to stop playing. So I want to do better.”

“Ah,” Zach says. “Spite.”

“You get it.” The approving smile Kieran shoots him is warming straight through to his toes. “I knew you would.”

And sure, the part of Zach’s brain that’s trying to figure out Kieran’s angle is still on high alert. There’s still a voice in his head that’s saying: This is a bad idea. You’re going to get hurt, somehow.

But now there’s another voice in his head. An unfamiliar voice, one that rarely emerges from where it usually cowers in the corner.

A voice that says: And it’s going to be worth it.

Chapter Eight

Rena

“Can I ask you something?” Lucas murmurs.

Rena sighs. Just ask, she wants to say, but she’s said it so many times over the years that if he hasn’t gotten that now, she doubts he’s ever going to. “Shoot.”

He puts his hand on her leg. “Please don’t take this the wrong way.”

She lifts both eyebrows.

“What was that earlier, with Sahar?” Lucas lightly squeezes her knee. As light as his tone is, she can sense the anxiety crackling in the question. “You walked right past her. I thought you guys were friends.”

“We were,” Rena admits.

Just the thought leaves a sour taste in her mouth.

“Good friends,” Lucas prompts.

Rena shoots him a look. “Seriously?”

“I know that’s all you were.” Lucas lifts both hands. “I’ve already said sorry for that. I just want to know what happened.”

Suspicion curdling, Rena swallows thickly and lifts a shoulder. The last words Sahar said to her before Rena ruined everything rise to the surface.

You know that’s not normal, right?

“I graduated,” Rena says helplessly, with a little shiver. “She had a year left. We drifted. It happens. It’s not a big deal.”

It’s a huge deal, and Lucas doesn’t bother hiding his sidelong look and raised eyebrows.

But Rena can’t tell him more. What would she even say?

Well, we fought about you.

When she turns back to Lucas, his frown is reproachful. It’s not the first time today he’s looked at her like this either. They’re not fighting, but she has a feeling they’re headed for one, or maybe they’ve been fighting long enough that now they’re only occasionally coming up for air.

In the beginning of their relationship, it was a point of pride for Rena that she and Lucas never fought. What was there to fight about? She understood him, and he understood her. At least until she realized he didn’t. At all.