Free Will the Real Prince Charming Please Stand Up by Ella Martin Page B

oak tree littered the driveway and the front lawn. The house itself was lovely, a Spanish mission-style home with ivory stucco walls and a red tile roof. But it looked rather lonely, like it had been abandoned.
    The homeowners’ association probably wasn’t pleased.
    Dante tossed something to Justin, and I watched as he and a giggling Andrea disappeared into the house.
    I looked around. “Where are we?”
    Without a word, Dante took my hand and led me around the back of the property. A large patio boasted an outdoor kitchen, a wide porch swing, and a breathtaking view of the lake. He brushed some dust off the swing cushion before he sat down and invited me to join him.
    “Are we allowed to be here?” I asked as I sat beside him. It didn’t look like anyone lived at the house, but I was still afraid of trespassing.
    “This was my grandmother’s house,” he said quietly. He looked out over the lake and reached for my hand. A flock of herons gathered along the rocky shoreline, probably searching for food.
    “Is she home?”
    He shook his head and squeezed my hand. “No, she died a few months ago, at the end of the summer.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. My grandparents lived in different states, so I didn’t see them often, but I still felt bad for Dante. “You guys must have been close,” I observed aloud.
    He nodded. “She was pretty amazing.”
    “I’d liked to have met her,” I said, not sure if I meant it. It seemed like the right thing to say.
    Dante smiled at me and released my hand to put his arm around my shoulder. I tucked my feet up onto the swing and leaned into him. I sighed as I inhaled his citrusy and peppery scent.
    “This was my favorite place to sit when I was a kid,” he said. “I’d hang out on this bench and stare out at the water. Grandma would read me stories here when I was really little.”
    “I take it you were here a lot?”
    He nodded again. “My parents left me with her whenever they’d go on business trips and stuff.” I could feel him tense up before he cleared his throat. “I spent a lot of time here.”
    “No wonder you were so close.”
    He shrugged. “Probably. My folks weren’t around much. There were a lot of important things going on. More important than me.”
    “Oh,” I said. I tried to imagine Dante as a little boy clutching his grandmother’s hand, tears spilling out of large hazel eyes as he watched his parents drive away. My mom was a constant in my life; that his parents weren’t always accessible was so foreign to me.
    “So you know that car I drove to your house last week?”
    I smiled. “The one that freaked out my mom because she somehow knew you weren’t sixteen yet?”
    He leaned back to study my face. “How did she know that?”
    I shook my head. “My mom knows everyone’s parents at Westgate. I would’ve been more surprised if she didn’t know.”
    Dante raised his eyebrows, impressed. “That’s kind of cool, though. I mean, that she cares.”
    “Sure, if by ‘cool’ you really mean ‘embarrassing.’” I shuddered. “Sorry. Yes, I remember your car.”
    He looked out at the lake again. “My grandmother bought that for me.”
    “Really?”
    “She mostly added to my trust fund, but she wanted to give me something I could use right away and not have to wait until I was twenty-five.”
    “Wow! That’s amazing!” Then, a little more quietly, I added, “You must miss her a whole lot.”
    He nodded in response, but it seemed like he was in another world. I snuggled against him, not wanting to disturb him.
    I smiled into his shirt, feeling a closeness growing between us. Dante adored his grandmother. He couldn’t possibly be as horrible as Talia said he was.

Chapter Ten
    “So, I’m thinking we need to do something different for Halloween this year and not go all-out crazy,” Talia said a few days later as we stood in the cafeteria line. Since Homecoming was over, it was time to plan our costumes for the Katzes’ annual