The Way Back to You Read Online Free

what I want, to be part of my cousin’s kinky memories. I drop the phone back into my pocket. “Or, we can forget I was here.”
    “That works, too.” He sinks back against the bench’s stiff cushioning. “But seriously. Now that you’ve found me, what were you needing?”
    “Nothing. I mean, I wasn’t looking for you. Or for anyone. I’m just . . . here. For the quiet, like I said.”
    Matty studies me for a long moment, wearing his Kyle-you’re-freaking-me-out face. Pep-rally-skipping aside, I do what I can to avoid causing him to make this face, so it’s especiallyfrustrating that, of all the places in the world either of us could be right now, we both ended up in Random Church Number Four.
    “I should leave.” I stand and step around his legs to get to the aisle.
    “And I should find Danielle.”
    Matty goes back up front for the rest of his clothes while I head for the carved doors.
    When I step into the lobby, Danielle is waiting at the entrance. “I figured out how you got in.” She jangles a set of keys and aims a shy smile at me. “Is everything . . . okay with you now?”
    I put on a smile for her. Like Matty, she seems to think I came here for him. “I’m fine. And I’m sorry for startling you. Just so you know, I had no idea you guys were in there. In movies, it seems like people go into churches whenever they feel like it.”
    “It isn’t like that here. My dad keeps set office hours.”
    “Which don’t happen to be Thursday afternoons?”
    She giggles. “Definitely not.”
    I push the door to leave, and cold air hits my face like I’ve opened a freezer.
    Danielle follows me out. “Oh, no. The Dirty-Pawed Avenger strikes again!”
    At first, I can’t figure out what she’s pointing at, but then I spot a brown, smudgy trail across the hood of my vehicle, leading to a black cat that almost blends into the paint job. “Whose cat is that?” I ask.
    “She’s a stray. Always on the hunt for a warm engine. Whenshe first turned up here, she was such a tiny thing. Every Sunday she goes from car to car. It’s kind of funny.”
    The temperature outside has been in the twenties and thirties for weeks; no wonder the poor cat is curled up so tightly.
    Matty barrels out to join Danielle and me, and the vibe gets weird as they smirk at each other in embarrassed, secretive ways. I guess it’s all good for Matty, though. He’s been telling me for months he likes Cloudy “ only as a friend,” but I didn’t believe it until now.
    “Well, it seems I have no choice except to become the villain who sends this stray cat back to the mean streets of Bend, Oregon.” I give Danielle and Matty a quick nod and start down the stairs. “See you guys at school.”
    “Kyle, wait!” Matty calls out. “You want to do something tonight?”
    I turn. “Nah. Maybe tomorrow.”
    “Well, obviously tomorrow.”
    I lift the corners of my mouth into the approximation of a pleasant expression to hide my irritation. “Right.”
    Official baseball tryouts aren’t happening until after we get back from midwinter break, but Matty decided everyone who played varsity last year (aside from the guys who graduated, obviously) should hang out Friday night for some preseason bonding or whatever. I told him this morning I’d go (after he guilt-tripped me for leaving him to make the announcement yesterday), but the truth is, the closer it gets to the start of the season, the less I want anything to do with the team.
    Without waiting for Matty to say more, I skip down the stairs. Before I even reach the bottom, my false smile dies anddepression slams into me all over again. I came here for answers, for a sign, for something . But there were no statues, no nuns, no priests, and no helpful strangers. All I got out of this was Matty on my case again and muddy little paw prints all over my vehicle.
    “Sorry, Dirty-Pawed Avenger.” I’m at my driver’s-side door now. “It’s time to find another heater.”
    It turns out