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“Hey.”

I let out a small scream, startled abruptly from my memories and musings, dropping one of my bags, and watching as groceries rolled out onto the ground. When I looked up, it was Kyland. “This is funny to you, isn’t it?” I asked.

He held his hands up in a surrender gesture. “Sorry, sorry. I swear, this really is a coincidence. I was walking back from Evansly. I saw you come out of Rusty’s.” He bent down, picked up my bag of groceries, and then gestured for me to give him the other one. I almost resisted, but then I decided he should at the very least carry my bags after giving me a mini heart attack for the third time in a week.

“Hmm, likely story,” I muttered.

He grinned when I handed the bag over and some sort of strange tickling feeling moved through my rib cage. I gave a dramatic eye roll in response.

“Still holding strong, huh?”

“It’s been quite the effort, let me tell you,” I said.

He laughed and my stupid heart flipped. Evidently I was kind of bad at this swearing-off-men thing—a few smiles and I had a full-blown crush. Truthfully, he hadn’t even worked that hard to get me to this point. How completely annoying.

“How’s the ever-charming Rusty?” he asked after a minute, moving his head backward to indicate the store.

“Rusty wasn’t there. Dusty was.”

“Oh, well how’s Dusty? In-bred as usual?”

I laughed but sucked it back in. “That’s mean.” I paused. “Dusty, she’s all right.”

“I know. I’m just kidding. I mean…mostly.” We walked in silence for a few minutes.

I looked to my left when I heard a car engine approach and watched as a black Mercedes drove slowly by. I could hear the way my mama would have called his name. Eddie! I averted my eyes quickly, turning my head away and toward Kyland who furrowed his brow, obviously having noted my response to the luxury car. “Do you know Edward Kearney?” he asked.

I kept looking at him until I heard the car drive past us and then shook my head. “No. Not really,” I said, blushing slightly as I watched the back of his car move away—the car that cost more than the yearly salary of three miners. Kyland didn’t need to know my family’s dirty laundry. I wondered what Edward Kearney, the vice president of drilling operations at the Tyton coal mine and the administrator of the yearly Tyton Coal Scholarship, not to mention my mom’s once-upon-a-time affair, was doing driving through this town, though. There was nothing here that would interest him. I should know.

“They found all kinds of safety infractions at the old mine,” Kyland said, his eyes still on the back of the disappearing car. “After the collapse, Tyton Coal paid a fine. A fine,” he repeated bitterly.

“I know,” I said. “I heard that.” I couldn’t blame him for being bitter about that. He’d lost so much. We walked without speaking for a while, the birdsong in the trees ringing out around us, filling our silence. After a few minutes, the mood seemed to lift, Kyland’s shoulders relaxing.

As we were about to approach the trail that led to the cliff where Kyland had followed me a few days before, he said, “The sun’s about to set. Should we catch the show, princess?” He winked and my hormones went a little wonky.

Damn. And yet, despite the fact that I didn’t necessarily want to experience all these hormonal reactions to a boy, it was also exciting and different and gave the moment a certain sparkle that I couldn’t even explain. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “Well…I was going home to soak in our multi-jet hot tub, maybe eat some bonbons, but…oh, sure.”

Kyland smiled and steered me onto the damp trail. “By the way,” he said, “if this is your way of luring me into the woods so that you can take advantage of me, I want you to know, I’m not that kind of boy.”

I snorted. “Oh, you’re exactly that kind of boy.”

He looked behind him, pretending to be offended.

I laughed. “And you’re the one luring me by the way. This was your idea.”

His glance was quick this time, his cocky smile just a shade darker. “You can trust me.”

I laughed. I’d already told him I thought he was trustworthy, so I couldn’t really deny it. Even so, I shot one word over at him, “Doubtful.” As we walked, I wondered, though—he’d never seemed wanting of female company, so what was he doing with me? Why did he keep showing up where I was?

We came out on the other side and settled ourselves on the same rock we’d sat on before, Kyland placing my grocery bags next to him.

We sat for a minute, looking out at the sunset that rose red and orange above the line of fog as if the whole top of the sky had lit on fire. Our thighs touched, his warm against mine. The smell of the rain was still in the air and raindrops glistened in the trees around us.