Marriage by Mistake

breathed, looking forward. "This."
    They came out into the meadow, a place of grass and wildflowers left to grow at will. Dean's hands itched to take Kelly and draw her into his arms. He wanted them close again. But she didn't want closeness. She'd told him so. Panic clawed its way up his throat.
    Kelly walked away from him through the long, bending grass. He could see her breathing in deeply. He gazed around himself in desperation, searching frantically for something, anything, to say.
    "Uh, so how is Robby?" he blurted.
    Dumb. Dumb as a post. But it was the best Dean could come up with under the circumstances. Pretending he wasn't nearly suffocating from fear, he shrugged. "I haven't seen him for the past several days. I assume you've continued befriending him. How has he been lately?"
    "The truth?" Kelly turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think he's bored."
    "Bored? Oh." Dean wondered, without much hope, if this was the problem. Did Kelly blame him for Robby's boredom?
    In the darkness, she frowned. "Troy is out of sorts, as well. He's actually been home for dinner four nights in a row. Very strange. But as for Robby, well—I never thought I'd say this, but I think he needs to be in school."
    On top of everything else, Dean felt a surge of guilt. "I tried," he told Kelly. "No one would take him so late in the semester. Not to mention his running-away problem and poor grades. And now the school year is basically over."
    "Ah, that's right." Kelly sighed. "Then even someplace local wouldn't work."
    "I'm afraid not."
    Kelly uncrossed her arms. "What about a tutor?"
    "A tutor."
    "He could make up for this lost semester, maybe even raise his grades." Kelly waved an arm. "And he'd get some confidence, being at home and getting individual attention and all."
    "A tutor," Dean repeated. So simple. So exceptionally simple, and the idea had never occurred to him.
    "Of course, he still needs some contact with other children his age," Kelly went on. Her lips pursed. "Maybe a few days a week in a summer day camp as well."
    "Day camp." But Dean was still thinking about that tutor. Robby could be got ready for school in the fall. Dean had despaired, but it could be done.
    "Yes," Kelly said. "Do you think you could find somebody for the tutoring bit?"
    Dean smiled widely. "I know people who know people."
    "Well, good then." Kelly was smiling, too.
    They were standing in the moonlight, yards apart from each other, and both grinning like idiots. Whatever it was she'd wanted, he'd managed to deliver it, by guesswork, by sheer, stupid luck.
    She wasn't unhappy with him any more.
    The sense of relief that wound through Dean was intense. It was so intense it took a minute before he got it. His smile vanished. His relief turned to horror.
    He'd cared. He'd cared about making her happy with him. Desperately.
    "What?" Kelly's smile disappeared now, too. "What's the matter?"
    Dean stood frozen. He couldn't believe himself. He was a traitor to his own cause. He needed her un happy with him. He needed to make this thing end. Instead he'd just done everything in his power to make it continue.
    Why ? For God's sake, why ?
    "What's the matter?" Kelly repeated.
    "Nothing." Woodenly, Dean turned toward the house. "It's getting late. We ought to start back."
    But Kelly wasn't moving. They'd been happy one second ago, really connecting. And now Dean was acting like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
    "No." She remained right where she was planted. "What just happened?"
    Dean stopped. His back stiffened. "You're unhappy with me again."
    "What? No. I wasn't unhappy with you to begin with—" Kelly stopped. She realized that wasn't exactly true. "All right," she conceded slowly. "Maybe I was a little upset, but not with you. I was upset with—well, our activities of late."
    "Our activities?"
    Kelly cleared her throat. "We only—you know."
    Slowly, Dean turned. He was frowning. "But don't you like—?"
    "Well, yeah, sure." Kelly felt her face warm. "But that's not all I'd like to do with you."
    "No?"
    He looked so confused, Kelly had to smile. "No," she assured him. "I'd like to do all kinds of things with you."
    He cocked his head. "You would."
    "Sure."
    "But—other things aren't intense enough. They won't get us through—"
    "Through? Through what?"
    Dean shook his head. "Never mind." He pressed his lips together. "So what, exactly, do you think you want to do with me?"
    "Oh...anything. This walk, for