I double-check that everything in the house is clean and in order before I grab my skateboard and backpack to head to A Quiet Café to meet Briar. My parents and Roman are all at work, so it's not like anyone can tell me not to go. And it's not like they can yell at me about not doing chores either. But I'm sure they'll find something to lecture me about tonight whether I get home before they do or not.

I'll worry about that later, though. For now, all I want is some reprieve from the house.

A couple blocks away from the café, I spot Briar with her guitar case in hand. Before I can pass her, I say, "Hey." She startles, whipping her head in my direction. I laugh, jumping off my skateboard and kicking it into my hands. "Sorry. I thought you heard me coming."

She shakes her head. "Lost in thought."

I take her hand, walking side-by-side with her the rest of the way to the café. "About what?"

"My first lesson with Amalia." She squeezes my hand. "I think it went well."

I bump her with my shoulder. "I'm sure it did."

Briar nods. "She asked me to play a song for her at the end of the lesson, and I chose this Broadway song." She hesitates before quietly adding, "I think I always choose songs that fit with what I'm thinking about, and I was thinking about you."

Something about her tone makes me pause, but I also can't help but smile at the fact that she's thinking about me. So I ask, "What about me?"

She inhales. "About how good of a person you are." A pause. "Like Hien. And how like Hien, you don't think you're a good person because of your family."

I stop walking just out of sight from the windows of the café. Briar turns to face me, her hand still in mine. Her eyes darken as they flicker across my face like whatever she's reading in my expression worries her. Except I don't know what expression I'm making because I weirdly don't feel anything. Maybe adoration because someone as sweet as Briar is worried about me. But I guess there has to be at least a little sadness that she's even worried about me because of all she's seen and heard from my family.

I take a step forward and kiss her forehead. "There's nothing to worry about."

When I pull away, she frowns up at me. "You should feel like you're a good person, though. And..." She pauses, glancing away with a sigh. "I guess I'm still thinking a lot about how you and Roman are a lot like Hien and Hai. And how Hien doesn't care about Hai."

I scoff. "That's not something you need to worry about?"

She tilts her head to the side with a pout. "You don't think so?"

Damn. Every time she does that, it makes her eyes a more enchanting color, and I can't help but spiral into her eyes and her thoughts. That's how I know she's really worried about this, and all I want to do is reassure her that everything's fine. Except I can't because I can't lie to her when she's looking at me with so much care.

"Look," I sigh. "I do care about my brother. How can I not when he's my brother? But that doesn't mean I'm not on edge around him or that I don't resent him for lashing out at me for no reason." I shut my eyes, letting out a breath. "It's exhausting, Briar. I never know what will piss him off, and if I don't care—" I shrug "—I don't have to worry about it, right?"

Briar nods slowly, her eyes a little too dark now to be enchanting, but I still find myself wanting to tell her the whole truth when she asks, "What about your parents then?"

"I think that's a little more complicated. I wouldn't be alive without them. They've taken care of me for my entire life, but it still hurts when they stop talking to me or tell me that I'm being an awful son or that Roman was never as terrible as I am."

"A lot of conflict," Briar murmurs.

I nod. "Like Hien."

"Like my dad."

I blink. Briar does, too, like she's just as surprised about what she said as I am. She hasn't explicitly made the connection between my experiences and her dad's experiences growing up with Everett whenever we talk about The Quiet Nights series. But I guess she has to be thinking about it a lot now, and... I don't think I can blame her. Not when I'm starting to think about it, too.

"It'll be fine," I say, squeezing her hand. "It's been like this way before I even met you." I just didn't think about it. "I'm used to it."

Briar frowns. "That really sucks."

I shrug. "That's life." Her frown turns into a slight pout. I smile and kiss her. "Thanks for caring."

"Of course, I care."

I feel my smile widen. "One of the best things about you."

She lifts my hand to her lips. "One of the best things about you, too." I inhale, and—of course—Briar doesn't miss it. She smirks at me. "Remind me to compliment you more."

I roll my eyes, hoping it gets rid of the heat in my face. I'm sure it doesn't, but she lifts herself on her toes to kiss me instead of continuing to tease me about it. I drop my skateboard and wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me. When Briar pulls away, I keep my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.

"I will never get over the fact that we're together," I say.

She laughs. "Me neither."

Fuck. I like her so much...

I want to say so just to see if I can get her to blush with a compliment that's not about her talents when a movement catches my eye. It's just a car, but I have to do a double-take when I see what car it is. It's already turned a corner before I can tell for sure if it was the car Roman and I share, but I swear it had to be the silver Hyundai.

Briar follows my gaze, turning back to me with a confused look. "What's wrong?"

I slowly shake my head, keeping my eyes on the corner the car disappeared in like I can will it back that way. But if it's actually Romans' car, maybe that's a bad idea, so I focus on Briar instead. "Nothing. I guess I'm just a little paranoid right now."

"About what?"

I take my time responding, bending down to pick up my skateboard. When I straighten, I can't look at Briar. If she visibly freaks out when I tell her, then I'll just freak out even more. So I focus on one of the wheels of my skateboard as I fidget with it. I quietly say, "Roman suspects that I'm hanging out with you."

She inhales sharply. "Oh..." She shifts her weight, adjusting her grip on her guitar case. "So... what then...?"

I shrug. "I don't think he's said anything to our parents or that he even knows for sure that we're hanging out. But he asked me if I was with you the day we went to Woodworth. I'm pretty sure he didn't believe me when I said I wasn't."

"What are the chances that he's lurking around, though? Just because he suspects? He's busy with his internship, isn't he?"

I nod. That makes a lot of sense, but I still can't meet Briar's eyes. "I don't want to think about my brother right now."

But I know he's all I'll be thinking about now that I'm starting to believe that he knows about me and Briar. I try to push it from my mind, though. Partly because I don't want Briar to worry about it either. But mostly because if she starts to worry about it, so will I.

I hold the door open to A Quiet Café for her, forcing a smile on my face. "So how did things go with Amalia?"

I step inside after her and look around. The place is closed for renovations since Marlowe's repainting the walls, but Briar, her family, and I still come here to keep Marlowe company. It's just her right now, wearing old sweats and already splattered with paint. She frowns at the now completely white wall, a pencil in hand as she decides where to start.

"It went okay," Briar says, turning to me. "Amalia loves me apparently."

I laugh. "Of course, she does."

Marlowe looks over at us. "Talking about the girl you're teaching?" We nod. "What'd you teach her?"

Briar laughs, sitting at one of the tables. "A song from My Little Pony."

I pull out the chair next to her. "You knew it already?"

"I wish I was that cool." Briar smiles as Marlowe and I laugh. "No, we learned it together."

She recounts the lesson to us. I want to pay attention and hear about how adorable both Briar and Amalia are, but the further into the story Briar gets, the more my mind can't seem to focus on her. And that's when I know I'm starting to panic because Briar's voice is so melodic that I usually can't focus on anything else when she's talking. So if my mind can't even focus on Briar, maybe I do have a lot to be worried about.