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"Something to drink?"

"Something to keep us warm. You've done that before, haven't you?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, not even positive what he meant. Was he going to bring a thermos of hot chocolate, coffee, tea, or did he mean whiskey?

"I thought so. You have a more sophisticated look about you. I'd like to hear what it was like growing up in West Virginia. My college friends tell me that girls from the coal mining towns know the score. The girls here like to think they're so sophisticated. They talk a good game, but when it comes right down to playing it, they're not home. You know what I mean?"

"No," I said,

"Sure you do."

"I'd better get back."

"Aye, aye, Captain," he replied sitting up quickly and saluting. I laughed as he hurriedly took the controls and turned the boat around. "You want me to put you back where you were or closer to the house?"

"Better put me back where I was," I said. "My aunt would turn inside out if she saw me riding in a motorboat, and my uncle would put a ball and chain on my ankle."

"The Logans are strange, and not because of what happened to Laura. They were strange long before that."

I wanted to see just how much he knew and how much the people here gossiped. "You mean about my mother and father?" I asked.

"No." He shook his head. "I don't know much about them, except what I was told in school. I'm sorry about your father. That must have been a terrible accident, too."

"It was."

"You've got a lot of good reason to be sad, Melody, but you're too beautiful to remain

melancholy long." He brought the boat as close to the shore as he had brought it before. My heart skipped beats when he smiled at me again. Then he hopped out. "Sit on the side," he ordered. "Don't worry. I won't drop you."

I clutched my sneakers and socks and did as he said. He scooped under my legs again, this time holding me tighter around the waist. Our faces were inches apart. I thought I would drown in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips.

"No fair," I said. "I'm trapped like a cat up a tree."

He laughed. "That's right. And if you don't kiss me back, I'll drop you in the ocean." He pretended to let go and I screamed. "Well?"

"All right, but just once," I said. This time, our kiss was long and his tongue moved between my lips, grazing mine. It sent a chill down my spine, but it wasn't unpleasant.

"I've got to get back," I said, practically whispering. My heart pounded so hard, I thought I wouldn't be able to get out the words.

"No problem," He gracefully moved through the water and set me down on dry land. "Until tomorrow night." His face turned serious. "I'll see you in school tomorrow, but I'd rather we kept this our little secret. If we don't we'll have company. I know these kids here. They can be pains in the rear end. Besides, I like secrets, don't you?"

"No," I said quickly and so firmly, he raised his eyebrows.

"Not even secrets of the heart?"

I didn't want to tell him that I had never really had any, so I just shrugged. He laughed. "Bet you just got a sea chest full of love secrets," he teased.

"You'd lose." I started backing away. "I have to go. Thanks for the ride."

He stood there, watching me walk quickly over the sand. Then he turned and waded through the water to his boat. I stopped to watch him accelerate and spin through the waves. I felt as if I had stepped in and out of a movie. He had been right about the boat ride. The dreariness that had washed over me had dried up with my tears. I had a new bounce in my step as I hurried over the beach toward my uncle and aunt's house, wondering if I would have the nerve to meet Adam Jackson tomorrow night.

"Where were you, honey?" Aunt Sara asked as soon as I entered the house. She was in the doorway of the living room. She looked at my sneakers and socks in my hand. I had simply forgotten to put them on or roll down my dungarees.

"I just took a walk on the beach," I said quickly.

"You shouldn't go anywhere without telling your aunt or me," I heard my uncle Jacob cry from behind her in the living room. "Your aunt shouldn't have to go looking for you, hear?"

"Yes," I said. "Sorry," I told Aunt Sara and ran up the stairs before she could ask or say anything else. Cary heard me pound the steps and came out of his room.