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In the end, it was Mason who replied on my behalf. "Forget Cami," he told her. "What the hell areyoudoing?"

I almost smiled. It was vintage Mason – rude, abrasive, and obnoxiously direct. But sometimes, I decided, those traits weren'tallbad. In fact, at this particular moment, I could totally see their appeal.

And besides, his question was entirely valid.

Whatwasshe doing across the river?

Sure, I had a theory, but it was too horrifying to consider – until Livia confirmed it herself by calling out, "Oh, you don't know? I'm their new nanny."

Chapter 37

Cami

As soon as the patio door closed safely behind us, I whirled to Mason and said, "She doesn't even like kids."

"Good thing," he said.

I stared up at him. "Why?"

With a low scoff, he replied, "Have youseenthe kids across the street?"

Yes. I had.This was assuming, of course, that he meant what Ithoughthe meant. Just to be sure, I said, "You do mean across the river, right?"

He nodded. "River, street…you get the idea."

It reminded me of a similar conversation I'd had with Willow. "I'm just curious," I said. "Who started that?"

"Started what?"

"Calling it a street instead of a river."

With a rueful smile, Mason said, "You can't guess?"

"So itwasWillow?"

"Well it wasn't me," he said. "When we moved in, she was still in pre-school. She started calling it a street the day she saw her first boat 'driving' past our back yard. I guess the name stuck."

It made total sense, and yet I was a little surprised to hear Mason going along with it. It was sweet and just a little silly.

I liked it.As I gazed up at him, I said, "Soyousay it that way becauseshesays it that way?"

"Yeah. Why?"

In spite of my lingering annoyance with Livia, I couldn’t help but smile. "I guess I figured you for a more literal type of person."

The truth was, I'd figured lots of things when it came to Mason. Some of them had turned out to be true. And yet, the longer I lived here, the more I realized that he also had a softer side. It was the side he showed to his sister.

And to me.

Well, sometimes, anyway.

With a casual shrug, Mason said, "Eh, it helps if we use the same lingo."

"Oh, really?" I teased. "Does this mean you're going to be usingmylingo, too?"

He looked intrigued. "Like what?"

"Well…" I gave it some thought. "Like lunk-blaster."