MY BOYFRIEND IS A MARINE, AND THREE DAYS BEFORE MY SENIOR PROM HE CALLED TO SAY HE COULDN’T COME HOME TO TAKE ME. I DECIDED NOT TO GO AT ALL — UNTIL HIS 13-YEAR-OLD LITTLE BROTHER SHOWED UP AT MY DOOR IN A SUIT TWO SIZES TOO BIG, HOLDING GROCERY-STORE FLOWERS, AND SAID, “I’M HERE TO TAKE HIS PLACE TONIGHT.” WHAT NONE OF US KNEW WAS THAT LOGAN HAD PLANNED THE WHOLE EVENING DOWN TO THE MINUTE.
Some heroes serve their country.
Some heroes are thirteen years old, drowning in a borrowed suit, terrified, keeping a promise they made to their big brother.
And some heroes walk through a set of gymnasium doors at exactly the right moment, in dress blues, when nobody in the room is expecting them.
This is the story of all three.
Chapter 1: The Promise
My name is Hailey, and I’ve loved Logan Carter since the tenth grade.
