Chapter 9: Thirty-One Dates

Caleb's POV

At two in the morning I sat on the curb outside Hailey's dorm with my phone in my hand.

I had walked her up three flights of stairs and tucked her in.

She had gripped my sleeve until I promised to stay in town until Sunday.

I had promised, because that is what I always do.

I was twelve the first time I promised her anything.

Her mother lay in a hospital bed with a tube in her arm.

Hailey held one of her hands, and I stood at the foot because nobody told me to leave.

Her mother turned her head and looked straight at me.

"Look after my girl," she said.

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

Her mother died nine days later, and I took that promise home with me and wore it like a coat.

For six years it was a good coat.

I carried Hailey's books and drove her to therapy.

I answered her calls in the middle of lunch.

Then, last September, I enrolled in Intro to Psychology at the community college, because Abigail said she'd heard it was an easy A.

Abigail dropped it in the first week. I stayed.

In the third week, my professor wrote a phrase on the board: "Intermittent reinforcement."

She explained that if a person sometimes gives you what you need and sometimes doesn't, you will never stop going back to check.

I wrote it in my notes.

Then I looked up at the ceiling, because I was thinking about Hailey's phone calls.

That night I opened a blank note on my phone and started a list.

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