I knew that she didn’t work and her car was pretty much an old banger.‘Look I really want you to come,’ I looked again straight at Donna, ‘and...I do mean both of you, so my treat.’I then had another thought, maybe old traction engines wasn’t quite up Donna’s street. ‘Unless of course you think you’d be bored out of your mind.’Donna again smiled, this time a little happiness crept in. ‘I’d love it. My father used to take me when I was a little girl.’It was blatantly obvious that she held her. . like ... you,” fighting not saying the ‘L’ word.Being an after school helper for Miss Stewart continued, of course, absolutely! I never missed a day! She was now the reason I came to school at all, considering I could probably pass all the finals needed to graduate right now. She always smiled at me as I poured the latest paper wads into the trash and the pencils, pens, notebooks, and trinkets into the Lost & Found shoebox. I always smiled back, of course. Isn’t that what you do when you. Before I forget, is it OK to invite the girls who went to St. Martin with us for New Year’s?”“Sure. You’re welcome to invite anyone you want, within reason. That goes for all the parties - Fourth of July, Halloween, New Year’s, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. You’re part of the family!”“Thanks! I’ll probably have some of the girls over during Christmas break, too. Liz, especially, wants to see you.”“She’s a sweet girl, but she really does need to find a guy closer to her age who can commit to. “I’ve thought about all the things I ignored and I shouldn’t feel the need to be afraid,” Chance says. “I worried about what our parents would say and then I realized that we have gone beyond that. Why should I be afraid of what they would say if we had a kid? Shouldn’t I be more afraid of what they would say about knowing what we have done already?”“That’s what I tried to tell you,” Rory says, her voice cracking. With the palm of her hand, she wipes tears from her cheeks. It is clear from the.