It’s warm and delicious and more of a real kiss than anything we’ve let ourselves have until now. “You were great tonight,” I whisper.
“No, I wasn’t,” he says. “But here’s why I’m happy. I knew I’d have that panic thing, and then I got through it! I wasn’t awesome, but that part was awesome! I did it!”
“And you met my friend.”
“I like him. He’s nice.”
“He likes you, too. Maybe you could—I don’t know—eat lunch with us sometime?”
“You mean leave the table full of assholes? Yeah, I don’t think I’d mind that too much.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“I really wouldn’t.”
He kisses me again. Strangely, considering how much sweating he was doing earlier, he doesn’t smell bad. In fact, he smells clean. When I tell him this, he says, “Belinda gave me some powder. She said I should use it before I dance with you.”
“And you did?”
“I was desperate. This was our big night and I looked like I’d just run a marathon wearing a suit.”
I laugh. “So it was a good idea. She’s full of good relationship advice, it turns out.”
When we’re back in the car, I ask Lucas if he remembers where the gas pedal is, and the brake pedal and all that. He gives me a funny look. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’ve been driving for a while now.”
“Are you telling me you didn’t need rides this whole time?”
Now he’s blushing. “Not really.”
He turns on the radio and pulls out slowly. After a few minutes, I realize he drives even more cautiously than I do. “Is thirty-five about the speed you always go?”
He squeezes my hand. “Didn’t your list of qualities in a perfect boyfriend say, ‘Sweats a lot when he gets nervous’ and ‘Drives like an old lady’? I thought I read those two things.”
I laugh pretty hard. “I wrote them lightly in pencil because I didn’t dare hope I could find them.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Once we get on the highway do you think you’ll drive a little bit faster?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Probably not. Is that a problem?”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK WOULD NOT exist if I hadn’t befriended an extraordinary group of women fourteen years ago, all mothers of young children with special needs, to start an organization called Whole Children. In the beginning our mission was to create a few after-school classes where our children could work on the skills they were so deficient in—gross motor, fine motor, and speech—in the company of other kids. In truth, I don’t think we expected it to last much beyond those early years and our own desperate need for a little company. Then, slowly but surely, we watched our children surprise us on a regular basis—with the skills they were learning, the odds they were defying, and the friendships they were making. This book was written as Whole Children celebrated its amazing tenth anniversary with the over seven hundred children, young adults, and families we’ve served. I thank everyone who has joined us on this journey—as a teacher, a participant, or a cheerleader from the sidelines willing to donate your time and/or money. I have learned more about resilience, joy, happiness, and community sitting in that lobby than I have anywhere else, and you are all part of it.
This book would also not exist if I hadn’t been allowed to watch the exceptional work of teachers Brian Melanson and Meghan Carroll, who pioneered a class called “Boundaries and Relationships” at the newly developed Milestones program—designed for the young adults our Whole Children constituents were becoming—to help them navigate their way toward more meaningful friendships. It would definitely not exist without the countless young adults I’ve befriended at Whole Children/Milestones, but especially the incomparable Molly Ciszewski, with her bright smiling face, her big romantic heart, and her wonderful mother, Lee.
I thank all my early readers who have given me more help than you will ever know: Mike Floquet, Carrie McGee, Valle Dwight, Melinda Reid, Katie McGovern, Bill McGovern, Monty McGovern, and Charlie Floquet.
Margaret Riley King has been a perfect agent match for this second half of my career with young adult and children’s books. I am so grateful to have you on this journey with me. It’s hard for me to imagine a better editor than Tara Weikum, who asks all the right questions and then trusts my instincts when I raise a few questions of my own. And Christopher Hernandez deserves a special nod because, apparently, I may be able to write books, but I certainly can’t write titles. He thought of not only this title but—with his characteristic quiet modesty—also the title for my next book as well. A huge thanks to the rest of the Harper team, who are all so smart about books, in addition to being so good at what they do—Christina Colangelo, Gina Rizzo, Ann Shen, Sarah Creech, and Alison Donalty.
This story is partly about the extraordinary power of theater and being on stage for teens and young adults with disabilities. I want to thank John Bechtold at Amherst Regional High School, who in no way reflects the drama teacher in this book, for the opportunity he’s given my son and others like him to fully participate in their school musicals.
And last but not least, no one was luckier than I with the family I married into. I want to thank all the Floquets and Pentzes, especially Joanne, for filling my summers with so much happiness and the most peaceful place on earth to write. And Mike, Ethan, Charlie, and Henry, who give me more joy than they will ever know.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ellen Augarten
CAMMIE MCGOVERN is the author of Say What You Will as well as the adult novels Neighborhood Watch, Eye Contact, and The Art of Seeing. Cammie is also one of the founders of Whole Children, a resource center that runs after-school classes and programs for children with special needs. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children. You can visit Cammie online at www.cammiemcgovern.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
BOOKS BY CAMMIE MCGOVERN
For Teens:
Say What You Will
A Step Toward Falling
For Adults:
The Art of Seeing
Eye Contact
Neighborhood Watch
CREDITS
Cover art © 2015 by Ann Shen
Cover art direction by Alison Donalty
COPYRIGHT
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
A STEP TOWARD FALLING. Copyright © 2015 by Cammie McGovern. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015946375
ISBN 978-0-06-227113-6 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © September 2015 ISBN 9780062271150
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FIRST EDITION
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Cammie McGovern, A Step Toward Falling
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