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I jumped back from Kash as if he’d electrocuted me and I whirled around to face the little parking lot beside the building. There, idling in the one spot on the whole property which had a view of my alcove, was Lizzie. My heart sank like a stone as she slid the car into park and stepped out. I looked at Kash helplessly, but all I saw on his face was a long-borne hurt. He looked away from me.

Fury powered Lizzie’s every move. She stalked across the grass, hair and mini-cape flying behind her like a fiery phoenix of vengeance. I stood frozen, feeling my whole world begin to crumble.

“You!” Lizzie pointed past me at Kash. There was venom in her voice and venom in her gaze as she tried to pierce him with her eyes.

“Me,” Kash said neutrally, unbothered. Like it was every day that women barked his name like he’d stolen their first born.

If anything, the casualness of his tone irked Lizzie on even more. She blew past me, not stopping until she was standing toe-to-toe with Kash, glaring into his eyes. “You got a death wish or something?”

Kash grinned. “Not lately.”

“Then just what the hell are you thinking, doing that where anybody can see you? And Daisy.” She whirled around and gave me big cartoon character eyes. “Howcouldyou?”

“I—what?” I hadn’t expected any of this and had no idea what to say to that.

She sighed. “Really? You didn’t even tell me, which I totally understand, let’s be honest, gossip of the century right now and I totally would have won the pool—”

“Wait, pool? Who’s betting on us?”

She ignored me. “—but to not tell me and then make out in public—at work, of all places—it’s like you’re trying to get caught. I’m hurt, honestly. Can you imagine what it would do to my reputation to be the last to know that my own best friend was hooking up with Danton’s most wanted? I would be ruined!” She put a dramatic hand to her forehead, but her eyes told me that she was dead serious about every bit of that.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It was stupid. But please, please don’t tell anybody.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I won’t. I can’t guarantee that nobody else will. It’s not a coincidence I’m here, you know. Mary called me to find out about Kash here, said he was accosting her library staff and wanted to know if it was worth calling the cops about. I covered for you two—I don’t know how Mary doesn’t know about you, Kash. Too much time in ancient books and not enough time online, is my guess—anyway, I told her that Kash was an old friend of yours and is utterly incorrigible, both of which are facts. But if she gets it into her head to start telling people about Daisy’s incorrigible friend, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Panic was setting in. As far as I knew, Mary wasn’t much of a gossip. She wasn’t much of a talker, either. But then again, how well did I really know her outside of work? I tried to think of something, anything I knew about her personal life, but kept coming up empty. I didn’t even know if she was married or had kids or anything. For all I knew she could run a Wednesday book club with her church friends and do nothing but gossip the whole time. In a town this size it was only a matter of time before word got back to Dad, and—

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked Kash, who had interrupted my internal spiral with a face like a kicked puppy.

His jaw hardened and he looked away from me, shaking his head. “Just can’t see why it’s that big a deal, that’s all. No, I know, you’re scared of your dad. For some reason. I mean, you’re grown. But whatever. It couldn’t possibly be that you don’t want your reputation ruined, right?” He turned hard eyes to meet mine, every line of his face taut and defensive.

I opened my mouth to tell him once and for all that I didn’t give a shit about my reputation, but I hesitated. When I thought that he and I would be moving out of here with a quickness, I really didn’t care about my reputation. Now that we were stuck here for ten years, though, that accusation might hold more weight.

It only took a few seconds for me to decide that it wouldn’t matter what anybody else thought as long as I was with him, but those few seconds were enough for him to turn his back to me and walk away.

“Kash, wait!”

“Shout a little louder,” he said bitterly. “I think your reputation’s still intact.”

I wanted to chase after him, but Lizzie put a hand on my arm.

“Hold on,” she said. “Let me do this. You’re too close to it. He won’t hear you.” She squeezed my arm once then took off across the asphalt. “Hey, asshat!”

“Oh, that’ll go over well,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands.

When I dared to look up, I was surprised to see them talking nicely. I wrapped my arms around myself and squeezed, trying to read his expression from where I stood. It was pointless. His face was a mask of friendly politeness. It felt like they talked for a really long time. Thinking back on it though, I’m pretty sure it was only a couple of minutes. After a while Lizzie walked back toward me and Kash climbed into his truck—but not before blowing me a kiss.

Relief rolled down my spine and I blew one back at him, feeling giddy as a teenager. Lizzie smirked at me as she sauntered over.

“Well? How much do you love me?”

“So much,” I gushed. “What happened? What did you say? What didhesay?”

She looped her arm through mine and guided me to her car. “Oh, you know—just told him he was being dumb. Told him to imagine that the biggest, baddest, meanest guy he went to prison with was now in charge of his room and board and that his entire life hinged on him keeping that guy happy. It seemed to click.”

“Ugh, thank you! I’ve been trying to explain it to him for months, he just never seemed to get—”

Lizzie’s jaw dropped and she stared at me. “Months? Months! How have you kept this a secret for months?!” She shook her head at me and stormed into her car, still shaking her head. Lizzie being Lizzie, I thought it would take her point one seconds to get over it. But, to my surprise, she started the car and backed out of the space, staring at me the whole time.