My kid brother could get out of this maze, but I couldn’t? And why did it seem like nobody was left in here but me? I hadn’t seen another soul for at least fifteen minutes.

“Hello?” I yelled out. “I give up! Send in the rescuers!”

I pulled my phone back out and tried to power it on again. The battery hadn’t magically been charged by my jeans. I shook the phone in frustration. I was shoving it back into my pocket just as I rounded a corner and slammed, full body, into someone. I tripped backward, barely keeping myself from falling.

“Andrew,” I said in relief.

He smiled down at me. “This place is like a …”

“Maze?” I finished for him.

“Like a really hard one.”

“One that apparently an eleven-year-old can accomplish.” I brushed my hair out of my face.

“Are you saying Gunnar found his way out?”

“Yes.”

Andrew smiled again, letting out a breath. “Good.”

“Can I borrow your phone?” I asked. “Mine ran out of battery.”

“Ah. Is that why you stopped answering my texts?” He handed me his phone. “I thought maybe you got tired of me mocking your sense of direction.”

“That too.”

I pulled up his contacts, found Micah, then pushed Call.

She picked up after one ring. “Did you find him?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Oh, it’s you. You and Andrew never split up?”

“No, we did. We just now found each other again and my phone ran out of battery. Anyway, do you need to be rescued?”

She let out a single laugh. “No, I’ll find my way out. I actually circled the entrance twice now. My dad is going to kill me.”

“Yeah …” I shifted from one foot to the other. “Thanks for helping.”

“Yep,” she said, then she hung up.

I sighed, trying to decide whether to call her back or not, when Andrew said, “It’s probably not a conversation to have over the phone.”

“You think you can read my mind?” I asked, handing him back his phone.

“I already told you that I can. I have you figured out, Sophie Evans.”

I shook my head, feeling tired. “Maybe you can clue me in.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Why don’t you figure us out of here, Mr. Know-It-All?”

He jerked his head back the way he’d come from. “I think I can at least get us to the platform. That will help.”

“If not, I have a match in my pocket. We can burn this mother down.”

He laughed. “Maybe I don’t have you all the way figured out.”

We walked in silence for several moments before I said, “You see what I mean about the stars?”

He looked up and so did I. “They are pretty incredible out here.” His voice sounded as heavy as mine.

“You okay?” I asked. He’d stood up to his dad and I knew that hadn’t been easy for him.

“Walking in a maze all alone has a way of making one analyze oneself,” he said.

“I agree. We should all be required to do it once a week. A therapy maze or something.”

“How has nobody thought of this before?” he asked.

I let out a small laugh and we kept walking.

“So what did you figure out?” I asked.

“That’s maze-client privilege.”

“You’re right. I hope the maze is good with secrets.” Because I didn’t feel like telling anyone what I’d been dealing with in this maze tonight either. I just wanted to put it all out of my mind, let the maze hold on to it for a while.

Andrew met my eyes, his expression teasing again. “Should we give it some more secrets to keep?”

I shoved his shoulder. “You’re funny.”

Andrew reached out and batted at a leaf as we walked. “Here’s the thing: My dad is a jerk. You’ve always known that, I’ve always known that, the world knows that. But I just wanted to … I don’t know, give him the benefit of the doubt. Try to understand why he is the way he is. And since you know how good I am at figuring people out, obviously—”

“Obviously.”

“I thought I understood why he does what he does. Stress, pressure. Trying to climb out of some failure hole he feels he’s fallen into.”

“Failure hole?”

“Yes. His show failed, his marriage failed, his restaurant—the one he tried to open after the show—failed. So he takes on these failing businesses and helps make them successful. I think it keeps his demons at bay. But just barely, apparently. Because the demons that make him think it’s okay to yell at a little kid are still thriving in there.”

“For what it’s worth,” I said, “my brother is going to be fine. It’s not like he’s never been yelled at. Plus, he got through the maze on his own and was super proud of that.”

“As he should be. This thing is no joke.”

“Right?”

Andrew sighed. “There’s no excuse for what my dad did and since I doubt he’ll say sorry, I apologize for him.”

“You don’t need to do that. By the way, my mom told him off. Your dad, I mean.”

Andrew’s eyebrows shot up. “Your mom?”

“Yep. My normally selfish, usually apathetic, often oblivious mom stood up to the man she’s been flirting with for the last five months. It’s been a strange night.”

“For the record, I don’t think your mom should’ve worn heels to a farm either,” Andrew said. “I’m not sure why that particular comment set Micah off.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. “I’m sure it wasn’t that comment. This has obviously been stewing in her.” A stalk of corn brushed my elbow, and I shook it off. “But I do have a bias when it comes to my mom. She pretty much can do no right. She has this habit of embarrassing me.”

“What?” Andrew asked in faux shock.

“I know. I’d lost my patience for her and stopped seeing her, I think.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. The maze didn’t really tell me exactly what my deep-seated issues with my mother are. We were working on that before I ran into you. But maybe I’ve been wrong … about a lot of things.”

We turned a corner, and in front of us were the wooden stairs leading to the platform.

“I knew I could find it,” he said. We took the stairs, climbing to the top. When we were there, we gazed out at the whole cornfield in silence.

What were my issues with my mother? Aside from her embarrassing me at every turn. There had to be more than that, didn’t there? Because that would be a really dumb reason to be so angry with her all the time.

“Maybe I blamed her … for my father leaving,” I said at last. “If she wasn’t so … her … then he’d have wanted to stay. My dad would still be here.” I put my hands on the railing of the platform and lowered my head. “That’s so wrong of me. He left. I should’ve been mad at him, but it’s like I thought I understood why he wanted to. I mean, look at me, I can’t wait to get out of here. Micah is right about me. I’m a judgmental, self-righteous, horrible person.” And Micah had finally figured that out. Had finally had enough of me. She’d called me out and was done.

“Sophie,” Andrew said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I turned into him, letting him wrap his arms around me.

“You aren’t horrible,” he said.

“I am. I’m not mad at my dad. I mean, I wasn’t until tonight. He’s been lying to me and he’s irresponsible and flighty and selfish and what if I’m exactly like him?” Tears streaked down my face, the ones I’d been holding in all night. I couldn’t hold them back now.

Andrew rubbed my back softly. “It was easier to be mad at your mom because you see her every day.”

“I’m tired of being angry.”

“My mom left and I only blamed her, never saw that my dad would be hard to live with. We’re opposites.”

“We are,” I said. “In so many ways.”

“Is that why we have a hard time getting along?” he asked, his breath on my temple.

“Probably. Or you’re just impossible.”

He chuckled a little and I could feel it rumble against my chest.

I started to smile but then the night weighed on my shoulders.

“The maze will keep this a secret, right?” I asked, looking up at Andrew. “We can’t have people getting the wrong idea about us.”

I couldn’t make out the expression in his eyes, but he nodded. “I have complete faith in the maze.”

When we finally made it out, we both let out a shout of victory.

“Remind me never to enter us into any sort of puzzle race,” Andrew said.

“If this was a puzzle, I would’ve figured it out a lot faster,” I argued.

“Oh really?”

“Yes.”

He started to respond but then he looked around. “Um … the whole town was just going to leave us in there?”

I looked around too. How long had we been in that black hole? All the booths were broken down and trucked away. All the tables were stacked and waiting to be moved. And nearly every car in the dirt parking area was gone. All except the flower van. The tins of flowers were lined up beside it. Caroline had left. Micah had left. Everyone had left.

“You think you can give me a ride home?” Andrew asked.

“Of course.”

Our jovial mood from before subsided as we walked to the van. “Your dad will get over it,” I said after a few minutes of silence.

“So will Micah,” he responded.

I could tell that neither of us completely believed the words we’d just uttered. Because if I knew one thing about Micah it was this: Once she’d moved on from someone, she moved on for good.