Monday morning was crisp but sunny, the type of day that made the cider mill outside of Parrish welcome class field trips and donut dunking competitions.

     Lee was in no mood for either. The weekend at the Shorn house was tense, and not for the usual reasons. He thought that news of him being allowed to tryout for the hockey team would be welcome; instead his mother had nodded, forced a smile, and resumed her faraway look as she made supper.

     He tried to chalk it up to her harried schedule and own personal problems, but he had the uncanny feeling it had something to do with Elle. His mom’s sour moods usually did.

     He slowed his truck on the two-lane street as the town appeared by the welcome sign marking the city limits. Just off the shoulder was Brianne, walking in her stylish black boots not meant for walking, her dark wool coat pulled tight around her in the cool air. She had two more blocks before the sidewalk began and he wondered if her boot heels would last the trek. He let down the passenger side window, which hesitated before complying.

     “Hey,” he said when the truck reached her.

     She looked over at him through the open window. “Hi, Lee.”

     “Get in.”

     She shot a quick glance behind them and then opened the door and got in.

     “Something wrong with your car?” he asked as she got settled.

     “My mom had to use it today. Hers is in the shop.” She fingered the window control on her door until the window finally lifted up and closed. “Still sluggish, I see. I kind of thought that was just an excuse to lean over me when we were going out.”

     He grinned as he pulled the truck back onto the street. “No, it still sticks. At least now you don’t have to actually yank on it to get it to go up.”

     “Hmm, I guess that’s an improvement.”

     He watched her look ahead at a school bus that pulled in front of them from a side street. “Could have taken the bus, you know. Didn’t have to walk.” His gaze fell to her boots, some fancy Italian design with pointy toes and heels, buckles and lacing for sheer fashion. “Looks like you didn’t intend to.”

     She gave her boots a stunted look. “Ryan was supposed to give me a ride. I guess he forgot.”

     “So it’s you and Ryan now, huh?” A brief memory of her hands sloping up his back made Lee inquire. “When did that happen?”

     “Nothing’s really happened yet, Lee,” she said, giving him a smile of blood-red lips.

     Their three months of dating the previous school year had ended amicably, but occasionally Lee let it come to mind. He wasn’t sure why they’d broken it off, but they had. It seemed they had suddenly just ended, a kind of unsaid departure from each other when they went back to friend status. And after that, their casual acquaintance at school had resumed like they’d never dated, never kissed, never went through the mechanical moves of wanting each other. He still wasn’t sure why.

     “How about you?” she asked, guessing at his mindwork.

     “No, not much happening on my side.”

     She laughed lightly, relaxing as her legs warmed. “Are you seeing anyone?”

     “No. Mom’s got me fixing everything at the cafe. Place is falling apart in the kitchen.” He slowed the truck as a bus ahead put on its red flashing lights. On the sidewalk, a small huddle of freshman waited.

     “I didn’t know you were that handy.”

     “I’m not, but she’s hasn’t noticed.” He cleared his throat as the bus loaded and slowly eased back into traffic speed. “Easy to overlook something you don’t want to see.”

     She visibly bristled, nodding slowly.

     He wanted to ask more, get her honest response, but the street to the schools was coming up and any topic he approached could never get started now. “So is this thing with Ryan just a reaction to swamping around last week or something else?”

     This time Brianna flinched. She looked to him slowly. “You, too... Hell has a river?”

     He hadn’t expected her to say it like that. He nodded. “Looks like it.”

     She glanced at the school marquee that faced them as the truck turned onto the side street and the junior high school came into view. “Have you ever heard of mass hallucination?”

     “That’s just a catch-all term for what the government or new guys can’t explain.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he stopped for a group of students who were leisurely crossing before them. “Hallucinations don’t drown people.”

     “Or break their bones.”

     He sighed slowly, impatient with the students shoving each other as they took their time walking past the truck. “Winters.”

     Brianne clutched her book bag tighter, the red and black plaid matching her hair that was once again black with scarlet streaks. “They can’t be dead. Not really, Lee.”

     “Looks like they are.” He mashed the accelerator and they continued on to the high school that was located beyond the junior high. “I don’t know what the hell happened, Brianne, but it was real.”

     Her lips pursed as they continued to the high school. Her eyes went to the marquee that squatted near the street leading to the school’s back parking lot. The sign listed off the day’s lunch menu, school announcements, and Tuesday’s football game. “TEAM QUTS at 3PM,” she read as they passed it. She turned to see the back side of the sign, but it was the cafeteria’s lunch menus for the entire week. “What are quts?”

     He glanced in the rearview mirror. “I think they mean cuts, like for tryouts. Looks like they used up all the Cs in chicken cacciatore for today’s lunch. Idiots.”

     “Team cuts for what?” She turned back around on the seat, seeing his attention go from her black leggings to her short black skirt.

     Lee looked back to the traffic before the truck. “Not sure. Maybe a winter sport.”

     She nodded, watching the thick stream of students lining the sidewalk make a collective turn to the high school’s main entrance. “Maybe hockey?”

     “Not yet.”

     “Are you playing this year?”

     He grinned. “Hell, yeah.”

     “You know Jensen and Mantyss can’t stay mad at you.” She smiled fully now as they reached the back parking lot and he found a spot in the second row of cars. “The team needs brute force.”

     “Oh, and I thought it was my finesse at stick handling around the crease.” He turned the key in the ignition and let the engine die. “That’s not it?”

     She grabbed the door handle. “That’s not it, Lee. I’ve seen you play.”

     They both looked to Ryan’s car pulling into the parking lot from the second entrance. Brianne’s fingernails tapped the door as she watched him park.

     She glanced back to Lee. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for the ride, Lee.”

     “No problem. See you.” As an afterthought, he added: “Stay safe, Brianne.”

     One corner of her red lips quirked in a smile. “You, too.”