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“Actually, I don’t remember him ever being that direct and confrontational. I was as surprised as you were, believe me. He should have been that way more with Kiera’s boyfriends, the ones she brought home when I was here. He never seemed to pay much attention to anyone I brought home.”

“I was about to say I wasn’t here to ask for your hand in marriage or something, but I didn’t want to be that impolite, even though he would have deserved it. You don’t know why he jumped down my throat like that? Was it something else that put him into that mood?”

I didn’t want to get into the possible tension between Mr. March and his wife. I shrugged. “I’m really sorry, Ryder.”

He nodded. “I’m not blaming you.”

We started toward the tennis courts.

“Maybe he’s just being overprotective,” I suggested, and began to tell him about my first experiences with Kiera and her friends. I was sure that Gary had given him some of the highlights, but he seemed surprised to hear the nitty-gritty details concerning me and her boyfriends. I went into detail about the Virgins Anonymous club they had pretended to belong to and the initiation ceremony.

The expression on his face softened in sympathy. “You had to make love someplace where you might be discovered or seen?”

“The more chance of that, the bigger the respect the others gave you, supposedly. As I said, it was all a setup to hurt me.”

“So on top of their daughter when she was high on something hitting you and your mother and killing your mother, they also accused you of being the bad one, the one who told these perfect girls all about the nasty stuff and suggested they do these things?”

“Yes.”

“And they believed it?”

“Mr. March was especially gullible like that until Kiera overdosed on G and her house of cards came tumbling down.”

“They owe you a helluva lot. No wonder they bought you that car.”

“Nothing they can give me can make up for my mother,” I said. “And remember, legally, I’m still an orphan, and they are just foster parents. They don’t have to do anything more than provide food and shelter.”

“They don’t want to adopt you, or you don’t want them to?”

“I suppose it’s both. Jordan wants it.”

“But Mr. Know-it-all doesn’t?”

“He’s resisting.”

“Lucky for you. Right?”

“I don’t know, Ryder. It’s not easy dealing with all of this. Sometimes I feel like running away, and sometimes I think I’m very lucky “

“I’m the same way.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but obviously for different reasons. Okay. You showed me enough of yours,” he said.

We kept walking until we reached the lake. I watched as he looked at it all. Most of the kids my age whom I brought here weren’t all that interested in sitting at the lake or rowing. They wanted to see the theater and watch some videos or just gossip.

“This is beautiful,” he said. “If I lived here, I’d be here every day. Good place to get away from it all.”

“Because?”

He was silent.

“So where’s the quid pro quo?”

He smiled. “Excuse me?”

“You just said I showed you mine,” I said.