“Holy shit,” one of his compatriots muttered and that reminded me I wasn’t done.

“Just one final thing,” I began. “There are men who can carry off foul language. But they are men. When you use it, you sound absurd, like you’re desperately trying to be something you’re not. Furthermore, badmouthing a young woman when all and sundry can hear is just bad manners. Extremely bad manners. It says nothing about the young woman you’re referring to and everything about your own character. And just to say, none of that everything is good.”

On that, I turned my back to him and looked to Taylor.

“You may wish to move forward, young Taylor,” I stated. “The line has advanced.”

He tore his incredulous eyes from me and shuffled forward the twelve centimeters the line had moved.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” I heard mumbled from behind me and I felt the boys’ presence leave as the line behind them closed in and Taylor again caught my eye.

“That…was…epic,” he breathed.

Although I found “epic” an overdramatized word, I was still pleased he thought so. But now that the deed was done, I was beginning to get anxious.

For Taylor might think so but I had grave concerns Amber would not.

“Do you have your phone?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Hurry and text Amber. Tell her to come here straight away. We need to warn her that event just occurred.”

“You got it,” he muttered and dug his phone out of his back pocket.

I continued, “After you get in touch with her, you may wish to get in touch with your parents and ask them if you can attend the Bounce concert with me. Please assure them I’ll provide transport and accommodation and act as your chaperone.”

His thumbs stopped flying over the screen of his phone and he looked up at me like I was an angel fallen to earth.

He went back to his phone as I tried to breathe normally, becoming more and more worried that my intervention in Amber’s romantic life would not be well received. I continued worrying even as the line shuffled forward.

Amber finally joined us as Taylor stood beside me and I took the two hot cocoas in one hand that were in a brown cardboard holder.

Amber also had a young woman with her and I momentarily forgot my fears as I took her in.

She was very tall, at least two inches taller than Amber and I, putting her to my expert eye at five ten. She was also very slender. Her hair was a shining black sheath. Her clothing, like Taylor’s, was not suited to Magdalene High but instead suited to waltzing along the sidewalk in Manhattan on her way to meet friends for a salad even if she was in a pair of jeans, boots and an extremely well-cut leather jacket.

Her features were mixed race, Caucasian and more than likely Korean with high, rounded cheekbones, elegantly formed dark brown eyes and absolutely flawless porcelain skin.

She was stunning.

“Hey, Josie,” Amber greeted. “What’s up?”

At Amber’s voice, my fears returned and I tore my eyes away from the girl at her side and looked to her.

“We need to find some privacy, lovely girl. I need a word,” I told her.

Her face went guarded but Taylor came to my rescue.

“Totally, Amber. You gotta hear what just happened.”

Amber looked to her friend, her expression even more wary and we moved away from the concession stand to the open grassy area between it and the bleachers. We found a large patch of grass where no one was standing close and we huddled together.

“What’s going on?” Amber asked immediately.

I opened my mouth to answer but her friend spoke before me.

“By the way, I’m Taylor or, uh…the other Taylor. Amber and Taylor’s bestest bestie,” she introduced herself.

“Lovely to meet you, Taylor. I’m Josephine.”

“I know.” She smiled, her features rearranging subtly into another extraordinary view. “Amber’s makeup tonight is sick. Everyone is checking her out. It’s awesome.”

I was pleased she thought so and I smiled but I said no more as I had more pressing things on my mind.

Before I could share these, boy Taylor stated, “Girl, Noah got behind us in line at the concession stand and I don’t think he saw me because he and his posse trash talked you extreme.”

Amber’s face lost all its color as she stared at her friend.

“Don’t worry though. Josie totally laid him out,” boy Taylor went on to assure her.

Her pale face turned my way and it was clear from the look on it she was not assured.

I got closer, feeling my heart beating harder. “I’m so sorry, my lovely girl,” I said gently. “He was saying some awful things and I simply couldn’t help myself.”

“What’d he say?” she whispered.

Boy Taylor (and girl Taylor) huddled closer and boy Taylor shared quietly, “He called you a tease and said if you like your cherry so much, you can keep it.”

Pink tinged her cheeks at that even as she winced.

“What a dick,” girl Taylor decreed at this point and I looked to her to see her looking at Amber. “I so totally told you, Amber. He’s completely up his own ass.”

“He is, girlfriend,” boy Taylor agreed. “He thinks he’s all that when you’re all that and tonight with your face like it is you’re even more all that. And anyway no guy should trash talk a girl for anyone to hear or…freaking…ever. But he did and he’s so not worth putting up with this. Even if he was, he still wouldn’t be.”

“I believe this is true,” I told her, still going gently and she looked to me. “And I’m afraid I shared this with him and, perhaps, fibbed a bit,” I finished on an admission.

“You fibbed?” she asked, her voice weak as she accepted these rather vicious-to-a-teenaged-girl blows.

“Yes.”

“About what?”

I took a deep breath and on the exhale explained, “Well, I told him I was taking you and the Taylors to Bounce, which I didn’t know that was the concert you wanted to see in Boston. Since I know Lavon, I’ll be happy to do that if we can talk your father into letting you go.”

Her mouth dropped open and I looked to the girl Taylor.

“You may wish to share this with your parents. Lavon will gladly give me backstage passes should I ask, something I’ll be doing first thing tomorrow. Please assure your parents all travel arrangements and accommodation will be covered by me and I’ll be with you at all times.”

Her striking eyes were big and she asked, “You know Lavon Burkett?”

“Of course,” I murmured, but felt it imperative we return to the matter at hand.

To do so, I looked back to Amber.

“I must share that I also fibbed about the fact that you’re talking with Julian online. Julian is a model that Henry often works with. Of course, I can introduce you to Julian and make that fib true too, but I’m uncertain how your father will react to that so let’s get the concert issue dealt with first and then we’ll move on to Julian.”

Amber was now blinking up at me, clearly unable to process all that was coming her way, but before I could even attempt to reassure her, boy Taylor exclaimed, “Oh my gawd!”

“What?” girl Taylor asked.

We all looked to him to see he had his phone screen turned our way. On it was a picture of Julian emerging from the surf, fully wet, his well-defined body alluringly bronzed, wearing rather skimpy black bathing trunks, water dripping from a dark lock dangling from his forehead, an arresting yet mischievous smile on his face.

“Please tell me he’s really gay,” boy Taylor breathed.

“Alas, I can’t tell you that young Taylor, for he very much is not,” I replied.

“I’m in love,” girl Taylor whispered.

“You can introduce me to him?” Amber asked breathily.

My eyes moved to her and I saw my mistake so I moved instantly to control the situation.

“Let’s stay focused,” I urged. “First, your friends need to get permission to go to the concert and I need to discuss that with your father to make certain you can go. Second, you need to handle yourself tonight very carefully. I’ve no idea how Noah will react to my set down but he might take that out on you.”

I got closer and spoke quieter.

“You, my lovely girl, must act like you don’t care. You can take him or leave him. If he ignores you, bury any reaction you may have to it. You can talk to your friends about it or even…” I hesitated before offering, “me, if you would trust me enough to share your feelings. If he doesn’t ignore you, give him your time but not much of it. His words and behavior tonight proved he’s not worth it.”

Amber proved she had a one-track mind—that being the boy track—when to this she repeated with a jerk of her head in the direction of boy Taylor’s phone, “You can introduce me to him?”

“Amber, did you hear what I said?” I asked.

I watched her swallow, her eyes get bright and her words were trembling when she asked back, “He called me a tease?”

At the look on her face and the sound of her words, I felt my heart get heavy.

My poor girl.

I leaned into her and lifted a hand to her jaw.

Stroking her soft cheek with my thumb, I whispered, “Yes, my lovely girl. He was most ungentlemanly.”

“He acted like he liked me,” she whispered back.

“He likely does,” I told her. “He also has to show a certain face to his friends and feels he has to play his role as big man in a way that he can keep that role but has the mistaken and rather juvenile impression that doing that means gathering conquests and behaving very badly.”