Page 50

“Sophie, would you not be so dramatic, please?” Lucas said, laughing under his breath. I gave him “a what the fudge?” look.
“Sweet face, cool it. Don’t be so scary,” another voice said, and I found myself staring up into the face of a very large, but very friendly guy. Linebacker type. Big grin. Vaguely familiar. Dr. and Mrs. Campbell just stood there, grinning. What was going on?
“So. Chloe,” the redhead said, looking me over carefully. I wasn’t going to start circling again; I stood my ground. “Are you interested in Lucas here? Like, romantically? And of course you are, because look at him.”
“Oh, will you—” Lucas started.
Red held up her hand. “Answer the question.”
“Are you serious?” I asked, beginning to wonder if there was a hidden camera somewhere.
“All I’m saying is, the last time my cousin fell in love, that bitch broke his heart. So forgive me if I’m a little overprotective,” the redhead said, trying to stare me down.
“Cousin?” I asked as Lucas came to stand next to me, his presence warm and reassuring.
“Chloe, this is my very dramatic, very protective, very forward cousin Sophia, and her much more laid-back boyfriend, Neil. They’re in town for the Fourth.”
“Usually I have to work on the Fourth,” the now-identified redhead Sophia chimed in, looking smug. “I’m a cellist.”
“Okay,” I said.
“With the San Francisco Symphony?” she said, looking like I should give a fudge.
“Okay,” I repeated, leaning against Lucas a bit.
“I play with the orchestra. You know, fireworks go off overhead, symphony plays, patriotic and all that?” she said, making sure I, and anyone around, knew that she was special.
“And when I said okay, that wasn’t ‘okay, I don’t understand,’ but ‘okay, I heard you and that’s great and are you done talking yet?’ ” I straightened to my full height, returning her stare. “And what I’m doing with your cousin—or rather, not doing—is frankly none of your business.”
The boyfriend snorted.
“Okay, she’s cool. She can stay,” Sophia said, leaning over to kiss Lucas on the cheek.
“Gee, thanks, Sophia,” Lucas muttered, catching her into a close hug and then passing her off to his parents as he shook Neil’s hand. “Neil, this is Chloe.”
“I gathered.” Neil offered me his giant paw of a hand. “And don’t pay any attention to her. His ex really got Soph riled up—it was all I could do to stop her from trying to kick some ass. But in truth?” He leaned in, conspiratorial style. I couldn’t help it; I leaned in too. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“I would so,” she huffed. “As long as it didn’t hurt my hands.”
I nodded. “For the record, Lucas and I really are just friends.”
She looked at both of us for a second, hands on hips. “Mmhmm,” she hummed while shaking her head, clearly not believing it for a second.
“Come on, feisty, I need funnel cakes.” Neil literally picked up Sophia with one arm and began to carry her vertically down the midway towards the fried-everything stand.
Lucas’ parents left as well, leaving me standing wide-eyed next to Lucas. “Tell me again how there would be no weird family dynamic tonight? I’d love to hear that one more time,” I teased.
He looked embarrassed. “I had no idea she’d come on like that,” he said, holding up his hands in defense. “She’s always been a bit headstrong.”
“Headstrong? Your cousin just had me for dinner, and then had funnel cakes for dessert, and you call her headstrong?”
“You did great.” He smiled, and I took the opportunity to jab him in the ribs.
“Hey! They’ve got fried Twinkies!” Neil called out, Sophia now perched lightly on his back.
“Twinkie?” Lucas asked, offering me his arm.
“I prefer chickie baby,” I replied, linking my arm through his and letting him lead me toward his family. And with the smell of ocean air and sand in the air, with a touch of hot asphalt and fried dough, it was a picture-perfect Fourth of July day.
The golden day turned into a starlit night. We’d spent the day wandering the carnival, snacking and drinking cheap beer, playing carnival games, and mostly losing. But I was now the proud owner of a cotton-candy-pink teddy bear almost half my size, courtesy of Lucas. I don’t know how much he ended up spending to win it for me. Determined, he spent at least twenty minutes throwing rigged baseballs at rigged milk cans until he finally came away a winner. Victorious, he presented me with a bear, and promptly begged me to please rub his now-sore shoulder.
I told him he should rub his own shoulder, which earned me a high-five from Neil, a wounded look from Lucas, and an appraising eyebrow raise from Sophia, who seemed to be slowly warming to me. Whether I was warming to her, I wasn’t quite sure. But Neil was great. They were down from San Francisco to see her folks. She’d grown up in Monterey, was only a year younger than Lucas, and it was apparent that the cousins became as close as siblings, just like in my family.
I also met about a million other new people. The Campbells knew almost everyone in town, and every few minutes we stopped and chatted with another group of friends. Lucas always introduced me and told people all the wonderful things Our Gang was already doing, and planned on doing for the community overall with our eventual outreach program. I’d made several good contacts, people who I thought were genuinely interested in what we were doing and really wanted to get involved. This town? Close knit, and kind.