Mark apologizes.

I reach for my backpack and pull out the community college catalogs I've collected and start going through them.

Lucy kisses my cheek. "I'm so proud of you," she whispers, her breath shaky.

"Thanks," I tell her. "But it was all for nothing."

***

It's been three weeks since I got the letter, and a week since I sent off the applications for community college. I plan on going there this weekend to look around for any job opportunities.

"Dad invited us for dinner tonight," Lucy says with a grimace. "I guess to celebrate me getting into UNC. He said he's been waiting for you to get your letter. I guess he's just been hesitant because you can't go, but he still wants to take us, and your parents too... I mean your mom and Mark."

"Of course," I tell her. "Did he not want to do it earlier because he was afraid I'd be upset or something?"

She shrugs. "I guess."

*

We meet Tom and the rest of the boys at one of the few family restaurants that can accommodate a family their size. Mom and Mark have worked out their issues about him paying. He doesn't understand why we're both so stubborn, but he's accepted it and moved on. I think we've all moved on from the high of me being accepted in the first place.

"I have eleventy-three sticks hidden in Filmore," Lachlan, Lucy's youngest brother, the baby of the family, tells me from his position on my lap. After Filmore died, Tom got it towed to his house and Lachlan's been using it as his own little clubhouse since.

"Eleventy-three?" I ask him. "That's a lot of sticks."

He raises a finger, and then curls it, asking me to bend down to his level. Once my ear is to his mouth he whispers, "I have to hide them from the others. Don't tell."

I chuckle. "Okay, dude. I swear it. I won't tell a soul."

He grins from ear to ear.

"Cameron's an amazing secret keeper," Mom tells him.

"It's true," Mark agrees.

Lachlan's eyes narrow from me to Mom then back again. "Your mamma's pretty," he says. "I'm gonna marry her."

I laugh.

Mark chimes in, "Sorry, Lachlan, she's all mine."

"Did you call dibs?" he shouts.

Mark rears back in surprise.

"DIBS!" Lachlan yells. "I WIN!"

The table erupts with laughter, just as a tray of champagne is set on the table.

Tom hands them to Mom, Mark, Lucy and I, and then takes a seat. "Before we do a toast to my little girl," he says. "I wanted to mention something real quick."

"Daddy," Lucy whines.

"Daaaaddy," Little Logan mocks, rolling his eyes.

That gets laughs.

"It's okay, Luce, it's not about you, or how you used to eat your boogers until you were seven."

She gasps.

We laugh again.

"Actually," Tom continues, looking right at me. "Remember that sketch you made one night? The night when I was panicking and thought I'd lost the deal?"

I nod. "The development ones?"

"Yeah. You remember how I told you that I took it to the developers and they loved it? After that I had to find an architecture firm to do the proper blueprints. I went to Bradman. Have you heard of them?"

I nod. "Yes sir, they're one of the biggest architecture firms in the state."

He smiles. "They didn't change much with your plan. They actually thought it was amazing—what you managed to do from just your eye alone."

Lucy holds my hand under the table, smiling as she does.

Tom adds, "Anyway, we're working together again on a new development so I had a meeting with them today. I was there for two hours while I waited for all these kids who were in and out of Mr. Bradman's office. When I finally got to meet with him, I asked him what it was about. He said they were experimenting with a scholarship program—"

"You got him an interview?" Mom cuts in, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Tom huffs out a breath. "No," he says, and I can see the instant disappointment in Mom's eyes. "See that's the thing," Tom continues. "I mentioned you, asked if he remembered that sketch. He didn't realize that you were still in high school. He thought you were in college, already on your way..."

He sips his champagne while we all wait for him to continue.

"And?" Lucy says, sitting on the edge of her seat.

"And they don't want an interview," he deadpans.

My shoulders slump in disappointment.

"They said they don't need it. Your work is miles above the other kids. They want to offer you the scholarship, Cameron. But just for the first year, until they decide if it's beneficial to the firm. It includes housing, and they—"

"The whole first year?" Mom whispers.

I can't breathe.

Tom nods.

Mom drops her head in her hands. "I'm sorry," she sobs, getting up from her seat. "Excuse me."

And then she's gone.

"Babe." Lucy gets my attention.

"Did you know?" I ask her, still unable to breathe.

She shakes her head. "I swear it. This is the first I'm hearing about it."

I pass Lachlan to her and leave the restaurant. I need fresh air. I need to think. I need to clear my head.

"Cameron," Mom says. I didn't even know she was out here. She throws her arms around my neck and pulls me down to her.

She cries.

And I let her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

-CAMERON-

"Dammit, Lucy, I've wanted to get you out of this stupid prom dress ever since I saw you in it.”

"You think it's stupid?" she asks, unlocking the door to the cabin.

It only takes a second before I have her up against the wall and I'm inside her.

"I like this dress," she moans, her head throwing back against the wall.

I grab her ass and lift her so I can slide in better.

We're both buzzed. No. Beyond buzzed. We're drunk, and having sloppy sex. It's one of my favorite types of sex, because with her, there are types of sex.

Some nights, she wakes me after reading something and wants to try it.

I swear to God I'm the luckiest asshole in the world.

"I think there's too much of this dress," I tell her, my mouth sucking hard on her neck.

She rips my shirt open, and buttons fly everywhere. One hits her in the eye. "Ow!" she winces, holding her hand to it.

"You're too rough, Lucy. You need to learn to control yourself."

She scoffs. "I'm rough? What about that time you tried to shove it in the wrong hole?"

I laugh onto her nipple, now in my mouth. "You were begging for it!"

"Not in my ass."

"One day."

"Why did you tell everyone I take it there?" she moans. I don't know how she can talk with me slamming into her like this.

"Because I'm drunk."

"Valid. I read about it though, you have to start with your pinky finger or something. And then two, and then you can probably do it. Wait. For your sized cock, maybe three or four fingers."

I stop and straighten up so I can look at her. "Are you trying to make me come early?"