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home.”
    Suddenly, I feel a buzz in my pocket. It's a text from my mom: Where R U???
    Oh, shoot! I had forgotten to let her know I wasn't coming straight home. My dad is working late this week. He is a mechanical engineer at a steel plant. He occasionally works nights for a variety of reasons, but for the most part, he has a regular 9 to 5 job. My mom must have just gotten home from the second shift at the hospital. Even though I'm in college, I still try to let them know where I am and what I'm doing.
    I quickly text back: SORRY! Took a friend home. B home soon, OK?
    I turn toward Chase and say, “I guess I should get home. I'm sorry I kept you out after your bedtime,” I joke.
    “No problem. I can sleep in tomorrow. I'm on vacation, remember? I wasn't really that tired. I just didn't feel like tagging along with my sister and her husband for their dinner date.” He pauses before continuing, “I had a really good time with you, Kate. Thanks for showing me around.” He looks right at me with those beautiful coppery eyes and I start to melt.
    “ You're welcome.”
    We sit for a few more minutes in silence. I don't know what has happened in the last few hours, but I don't really want to say good-bye.
    “Well, thanks for the ride home,” Chase breaks the silence. He opens the door, hops out, gives me a full smile, which is even better than his half smile, and slams the door. He quickly makes his way up his front walk and the wooden steps to his cabin. He handles the crutches like a pro.
    I wonder what happened to him.
    When I walk into my own kitchen, I find my mom finishing up the dishes that my sister and brother have not done, again . That's not a big surprise. She looks up at me and laughs, “What's with the silly grin on your face?”
    “ W-what?” I stutter. “Oh, nothing. I just had a good time with a friend tonight.” 
    “ Oh? Which friend?” She doesn't realize that I'm half way up the stairs because she has turned back toward the sink. 
    “ Chase!” I yell as I shut my bedroom door.
    I only hear a faint question in return as I flop onto my bed, the silly grin still frozen in place.
    “Who's Chase??? ”

Chapter 2
     
    I wake up to most irritating alarm ever: the sound of stupid, mechanical chickens, getting louder and louder as my phone begins to buzz along with the clucking. Ugh, my little brother got to my phone again. He's always changing the settings and it's really starting to exasperate me.
    I find my phone and turn off the annoying alarm. As I sit up, I remember my fantastic time with Chase last night. I realize that I don't have his number, but then I remember that I do know where he lives.
    Wow. Stalk much? I think to myself with a chuckle.
    When I stumble into the kitchen and grab a coffee mug, my mom asks if I have a class this morning.
    “Mom, it's Thanksgiving weekend.” I remind her. “I'm working the trolley tour today and tomorrow.”
    “ Oh, right!” She gasps. “I'm a little off with the extra shifts I've been working at the hospital.”
    My mom got her nursing degree when I was in high school, and she's been working the junk shifts at the hospital ever since. She's the low woman on the totem pole, I guess. But she doesn't complain at all; it seems like she loves her job.
    “Wow, Mom,” I joke. “I hope you don't get confused like that when you're taking care of your patients!” 
    She gives me a mock offended look, and then says, “No, I save my best thinking for being a nurse. I let my brain relax a little when I'm not on the clock. But it was a hectic shift yesterday, so I'm a little more tired than usual.” She comes over and plants a kiss on my forehead and then sits down across the table from me, her fresh mug of coffee steaming in her hands. 
    “So, who is Chase?”
    I look at her with a mischievous smile, like a little girl trying not to giggle while keeping a secret from her mommy. I watch her blue eyes widen with impatience while she waits for me to spill