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“Well?”

“What do you want me to say? I’m happy for you.”

“You sound very jealous. Are you?”

“I’m too tired to be anything, Kiera.”

“Um. I loved what you did to that Shayne Peters. His older brother wasn’t much different. He used to follow me around like a puppy. I finally had to tell him not to bother even speaking to me if he didn’t get a face transplant. How’s my mother?”

“She’s upset that you don’t call her more.”

“Did you tell her anything more about Richard?”

“Just that you said he was a proper Englishman.”

“And what did she say?”

I didn’t want to tell her exactly what she had said. “She said she wished you’d call her to tell her more about him and you. Your father was asking.”

“He was? He hasn’t called to see how I am for weeks,” she said, trying to sound angry but unable not to sound more disappointed and hurt.

“He seems very busy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He’s traveling more and longer.”

She was quiet for a moment and then said, “There are phones everywhere, and he has one of the world’s best cell phones, doesn’t he?”

I didn’t know what to say. “Maybe you should call him.”

“To do what? Remind him he should be calling me? He’s the father; I’m the daughter. Forget about it. Let’s talk about really important things. How’s your car?”

“Still smells brand-new.”

“We have a four-day weekend coming up, but I’m not sure I’m coming home. Richard has nowhere to go, and I don’t want to leave him alone.”

“Bring him here.”

“Not yet,” she said. “I’m afraid that once he meets my parents, he’ll make for the high road, as they say in England. Gotta go. I was supposed to write a summary of an essay for tomorrow’s English class. It’s so annoying to have to do any work,” she added with a laugh. “Watch for my next sexual episode.”

I let her hang up first, and then I did and fell back onto my pillow. What was it she saw about her parents now that made her afraid of introducing a new boyfriend to them? Or was it simply that she was afraid he’d be so overwhelmed by her home and wealth that he would be intimidated and leave her? She had told me he was the son of a knighted, successful architect. Surely that couldn’t be it, and Kiera was never one to understate herself and her family’s wealth. No, I didn’t expect that there would be any surprises. Maybe she feared that her parents would not approve of Richard, and not vice versa. Of course, their approval of her friends or boyfriends never seemed to matter very much to her anyway. That made me even more curious about him.

I closed my eyes, but my thoughts wouldn’t stop dancing. Go back to dreaming about Ryder, I told myself, or you’ll never get to sleep. I was able to do just that, and my dreams and sleep became so deep that once again, Mrs. Duval had to waken me.

“I swear,” she said, raising the curtains to let the sunshine slap me in the face. “I’m going to have to come in here at night and turn on your alarm clock myself.”

My eyes were squeezed so tightly shut to avoid the light that I thought the skin would rip on my forehead. I groaned, took a breath, and sat up to face the day. She stood there looking at me with her hands on her hips again. This time, she really did look upset.

“Once is an accident. Twice is a mistake,” she said. “Especially if it’s in a row.”

“I’m sorry. I got too involved in . . .”

“Yes?”

“Homework, and I forgot the clock.”

She tucked the corners of her lips deep into her face and shook her head. Why couldn’t I lie as well as Kiera, or was it just that I couldn’t lie well to someone like Mrs. Duval?