28

Friday afternoon, drumsticks played a tattoo on their front door.

Jayce. Maybe Zan too.

Kasia leaned her guitar against the bookcase, content, hopeful. Coraz lepiej. Fingerpicking—playing at all—was getting better, easier, all the time. Alone, she worshipped through song, her fingers and voice in full cooperation. Finally. Even if she could only play familiar songs, any progress satisfied.

She’d compose again.

One day.

She opened the door.

“All right, ladies! Zander and I have decided we must participate in the homecoming festivities. Bare minimum, the bonfire tonight.” Jayce, the king of laid-back, had a bounce in his step.

Good. Kasia wanted to hear the music. Kyle had promised a great show.

“I thought we’d decided to avoid the crowd and watch a movie,” A.J. strode out of her room.

Zan closed the door behind Jayce and raised a plastic grocery bag over his head. “This wasn’t part of the equation until now.”

“What’s in the bag?”

“S’mores stuff.” Jayce counted off, drumsticks in the air. He played a drum solo on every piece of furniture within his reach.

“Are we going early enough for the concert?” Kasia asked. “Kyle said he’s got a killer lineup before the bonfire. Nick Flora, Green River Ordinance…”

Zan stuck a hand in his hair and messed it all up. She loved that for some reason. When he caught her looking, he grinned. “Unless y’all want to go to the Warehouse for dinner first,” he said. “I haven’t been there in a while, and I’m craving some excellent java and a meatball sandwich.”

“Mm, but I do want to get back in time to see some of the show if we can. The Beggars’ Guild plays first. They don’t play together much anymore.”

“I’ll call in our order so we can pick it up and have dinner in my CJ. Best seats in the house.”

Could the night get better than that?

Kasia packed Tatuś’s hoodie and blanket in her backpack while A.J. grabbed a jacket. Mountain autumn had come to stay.

The four of them ate dinner in the stadium lot, serenaded by Nick Flora. The brisk night air was full of change. Kasia’s stomach knotted into a ball of solid anticipation, and she found it hard not to shiver. Especially when Zan looked at her. With eyes like the Andean sky.

Maybe it was time to get up and walk around. “Let’s go over by the fire.”

Clusters of students milled around near the parking lot.

Their group stuck together as they wound their way through the crowd, but the throng of people near the stage was pretty impenetrable.

Kasia’s neck prickled. She searched the sea of faces for Blake’s but couldn’t spot him. She moved a step closer to Zan.

He leaned down. “You all right?”

“I think Blake’s out here somewhere.”

“He won’t bother you if you’re with me.”

His confidence was a warm blanket. “Thanks.”

She noticed Kyle under a tent at the big soundboard and waved.

~*~

Zan blew out a breath. Kyle.

All four of them were headed straight toward him, but Kyle’s eyes were all for Kasia. By the time they made it over to him, he still hadn’t taken his eyes off her.

“Hey, Kyle,” Zan interrupted. “How’s it going?”

“Decent.” He finally tore his eyes away. “You?”

“Same.”

The conversation remained stilted and awkward for way too long. When music came up, though, everyone loosened up. Kasia knew The Gray Havens, Waterdeep, Christopher Williams, Andrew Greer—a lot of the bands Kyle mentioned—and a lot about the local concert venues.

Zan knew nothing. Except that he loved Kasia’s passion when she talked music or Peru. Her eyes came alive, and her smile lit up.

“If we don’t get in there and claim a spot, I’m gonna have to make these s’mores Southie style. With a burn barrel and coat hanger.”

A.J. smacked Jayce’s arm.

“What? Bonfires are frowned upon—would be if anyone had a yard anyways.”

“I’ll go to see if one of the other guys will give me thirty minutes to hang with you,” Kyle said. “Nicholas and a few others from small group are around too.”

“I’ll text them and tell them where we are,” A.J. said.

They made their way fireside and pulled out the bag. Their Bible study friends found them, and they claimed a good slice of ground. Zan didn’t let Kasia get too far from him, but there was the Kyle factor. Neither of them had any right to claim the spot at her side as their own, but they both wanted it. That much was obvious.

Rather than compete, Zan hung back as the small group connected, and he occupied his time getting to know Nicholas and a few other guys—always keeping an eye out for Blake.

Just in case.

Every so often, he caught Kasia straightening up and scanning the mob. Kyle noticed and stepped closer. But Kasia went into stealth mode each time, moving away from Kyle and closer to Zan.

Zan stood a little taller in those moments. Not that he would be a punk about it.

Kasia nudged him. “Feel like roasting some marshmallows with me?”

“Absolutely.”

“You hold the hanger. I’ll skewer the little suckers.” And skewer she did. In record time. She licked the sticky off her fingers and shrugged. “Sorry. I know that’s gross.”

Zan squatted down and opened up the chocolate bar, breaking it in pieces. When the first marshmallows came out of the fire, Kasia held the hanger down, and he used the grahams and chocolate to slide them off. “You try first.”

She bit into hers, and her eyes fluttered shut.

He looked away for a second.

“Are you going to try yours, Zan?” she asked. “Przepyszny.”

He hoped it was as good as she made it look, because all he could think about was the dot of chocolate right beside her lip. And he did not need to be going there. “What’s that mean?” He bit into the graham crackers.

“Better than delicious. I can never get enough melty chocolate.” Her smile was sweeter than the chocolate though. “Oh, you’ve got”—she reached up and, with the tip of a finger, wiped his cheek, and Zan felt it inside. Like a shockwave—“some chocolate.”

She tugged a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her finger on it.

“Thanks.”

She held out the hanger again. Time to skewer some more.

“Hey, Kasia. Have you checked out the new Josh Garrels studio project?” Kyle asked.

Zan had almost forgotten he was there.

“It’s incredible. He’s such a poet—and I love that he does so much with humanitarian projects.” She pulled her hair back, tied it in some kind of adorable knot.

“Do you have a favorite album?” Kyle asked.

“Can’t pick.” She positioned their marshmallow-kabob over the outermost flames.

“He’s going to be at Escape to the Lake this year—you know about that?”

“Yeah? I’d love to get there some year. Love everything Under the Radar does.”

Zan had no idea what they were talking about, so he decided he’d find Jayce and reload their graham-cracker-and-chocolate cache. Kyle had finally gotten her attention. He deserved to enjoy it.

~*~

Whew, it was warm. Kasia pulled the marshmallows back and tapped them. Not done yet.

“Kyle!” Nicholas called. “Come let me introduce you to somebody.”

He turned to her. “You good with me going a minute?”

She nodded. Kyle ducked back into the crowd, and Kasia pulled out her marshmallows, leaning back to see if she could spot Zan. They needed to make their s’mores before the mallows got cold.

Ow! She sucked in a breath and her hand flew to her neck as her eyes locked onto the flames, stunned. Had a spark hit her? She pulled her hand back and saw blood. Her eyes skimmed the faces around the edge of the fire.

That’s when she saw him. A satisfied smile twisted his mouth as he stepped backward into the throng, blended in. Disappeared.

Her insides turned to ice, and everything went black.