The kid looked up in surprise, but he kept walking. “Hi.”
“Say, you are going to take her out again, aren’t you?”
“What?” Young Ted hesitated at the driver’s door.
“Barb. She likes you more than you think.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said sourly. “Fat chance.”
“She does. Really.”
“How do you know?”
“Uh—” Ted fumbled for an answer, aching to say more, to give him advice, hope, anything. He couldn’t think of anything to say.
Young Ted yanked open the car door, got inside, and slammed it. He fired up the engine and roared away into the darkness.
Ted stood motionless, watching the red taillights shrink in the distance like every other chance he had wanted and let slip away. Then he felt Barb come up alongside him.
“Story of my life,” said Ted quietly. “I wanted to say so much more. I never kno
