As Christmas break wore on, Dylan didn't call Leah, and Leah didn't call Dylan. He tried not to feel offended, but he was offended: if Leah really cared about Talia, she would have called.

He took Talia to the optometrist a few days after the holiday, and the doctor checked her retina and gave her a vision test.

"Talia's very lucky," she told Dylan. "She has no permanent vision loss, and her eye looks very healthy. Was it her brother who shot her?"

"No. Just a friend, sort of."

"Well, be sure that he understands the potential consequences of what he did. This injury could have been a lot worse."

Dylan felt glad Leah wasn't with him. Her version of make him understand meant hurt him until he says he understands.

Dylan thought about texting Leah to tell her the good news, but he refrained.

Since he couldn't afford to stop working for the entire two weeks of break, he'd asked Ellie to watch Talia for the second week of break. She acted odd when he dropped Talia off on Monday, like she wanted to tell him something but was refraining. She probably wanted to tell him he shouldn't get back with Leah, and if she'd been brave enough to say it, he might have listened.

Back in the shop, he bent over an Escalade. One of Ellie's friend's husbands had brought it in earlier, complaining of a noise coming from the engine. The guys at the auto shop weren't used to seeing luxury vehicles in the shop; the rich-ass locals who owned rich-ass cars had to take them to Denver to be serviced, the owner's son Todd would say. Luckily, the only thing wrong with the guy's car was the ignition cable, and they had one on hand that would work.

"You have a visitor, Dylan," the owner, Steve, said, the subtlest hint of annoyance in his tone, and his son Todd winked from behind him.

Dylan looked up to see what Todd was winking about, and he looked just outside the open garage, where he saw Leah leaning against her decrepit Hyundai Accent, and he worried for a moment she was going to ask him to work on it for free. Steve would never allow him to work on her car without getting payment.

Dylan got up and started walking over to her. "That thing running alright?"

"The check engine light's been on for a couple months, but that's not why I'm here."

"You here to say sorry for bolting on Christmas?"

"I'm here to say sorry about Trigger."

"Please, Leah, don't sweat it. It was an accident. And we just went to the doctor. Talia's fine." Dylan took out a cigarette and lit it up. He took a few drags, waiting for Leah to say something else. Eventually, she took his cigarette from him, and they shared it in silence.

Finally, she spoke. "Trigger acts out sometimes. It isn't just because of his dad. He has a sensory processing disorder. He's sensory seeking. It's the reason he's at Lake End, because their special education program is meant for kids with needs like his. It's really hard sometimes, parenting him."

Dylan looked at Leah sympathetically. But then he remembered why he was mad at her, and said, "Don't you think that's even more reason not to spank him?"

Once more, her look turned dark and dejected.

Steve called Dylan's name, and Dylan turned his head to see his boss pointing at his wristwatch. "I'm not paying you to chat, you know," Steve said.

"Sorry. Coming." Dylan turned to Leah. "I really gotta get back to work."

Leah nodded, but she still looked hurt.

She followed him back inside, telling him she needed to use the restroom, and as his concentration moved once more to Dean's Escalade, he didn't take notice of her again.

After work, his dad called him, and he ignored it. His dad called twice more after that, so he finally answered. "What?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Trina has invited you to come with us to her New Year's Party."

"You can't be fucking serious, Dad. No way you're going to that woman's party."

"I don't exactly have a choice, Dylan. Ellie wants me to go. She wants us all to go. In fact, she's probably going to call you soon to invite you."

A night "celebrating" with the parents of LEPO sounded like a nightmare. "I'm not going. And I don't think you should, either."

"I'm looking for a way out. But can you go? Ellie's going to be pissed when she finds out I'm not going, but you can make her night better."

Was it going to come down to this—Dylan going so his dad wouldn't have to? "I'll think about it." He hung up.

Later that evening, Ellie did call, just as his dad had predicted. "What's up?" he said.

"You've officially been invited to the Smiths' New Year's Eve party. You don't have to go, but your dad wanted me to let you know."

"I'll go."

"Really?" Ellie sounded...reluctant.

"You don't want me to go?"

"I'm just surprised. I didn't think you'd want to spend New Year's Eve with all the Lake End parents."

Well, she guessed that right. He reached for a believable excuse. "Hey, free alcohol, right?"

"Please don't get as drunk as you got on Thanksgiving," Ellie pleaded, and he finally realized why she seemed so reluctant to go with him.

"Don't worry, I'll behave," he told her, and he would make sure his dad behaved, too.

After hanging up the call, Dylan waited for a call from Leah, thinking that maybe she would want to continue their conversation from earlier in the day, but the call never came.

For the rest of the break, they didn't speak, and he wondered if whatever he had with her was over.