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“She’s a sweetheart, usually. She’s the baby of the group, so it’s typically us throwing shade her way ‘cos she invited some dude to our party and thinks it’s cool to mack on him.

Ya know, like,” I wrinkle my nose, “with her tongue. There’s no one in Plainview stupid enough or brave enough to volunteer, so she usually finds them in the next town over or whatever.

She’s pissy this week, that’s all. But she’ll cool off soon and go back to her normal annoying self. ”

“Pissy… at me?” She drags her lips between her teeth, flashing two deep dimples in her cheeks. “It’s not so difficult to see she has a crush on you. I figure she wants to hurt me for breaking your heart.”

“A crush? Romantically?” I laugh. “No. That would be like saying you had a crush on Chris back in high school. You were close, and there was love. There was friendship, even outside of me. But it wasn’t romantic like that.”

A weak, rogue breeze flitters around the tree and moves through her hair, so she combs her fingers through the locks and tucks them back. Which reminds her of the sunglasses atop her head. Pleased, she tears them down and slides them onto her face, robbing me of her eyes.

Robbing me of that window into what she’s truly thinking.

“Kinda looks like she has a crush from where I’m standing.” She accepts the tube and hugs it to her chest, shielding her body and using the broad circle to keep me away. “And she was pretty cozy with you at the gym. Lots of hugging and all that.”

“If I were a less bitter man, I’d wonder if you were jealous.”

She steps around me in silence, hoity-toity and faux-unaffected, to avoid my words. So I turn and watch as she detours to the left.

I’m not saying she approaches the water a full twenty feet from where Eliza lurks. But… she approaches the water a full twenty feet from where Eliza lurks.

She’s a big old alligator, just waiting to snap.

“Grab on to this, honey.” Alana places the tube in the water and allows it to drift on the pathetic current. “But don’t float very far. I need to see you at all times. Okay?”

Fuck staying away. While Franky waits for the tube and Alana’s eyes are completely focused on him, I close the space she took and stop just half a foot behind her. “Are you?”

She startles with a gasp, spinning with a ferocious glare .

“Jealous,” I clarify.

“I can be observant, and even fearful for my life, without being jealous.” Committed to her act of aloofness, she moves around me again and meanders back to the shade.

So I follow.

I’m not stepping foot in the lake today unless she steps foot in the lake. And when she does, I’ll fucking follow.

All is fair in love and war.

And right now, Alana Page, we’re at war.

“You get the store sorted yet?” I wander closer, so when she sits on her towel, I do, too. Why the fuck not? “I heard you asked Mrs. Middler to rename it.”

“You heard ?” She doesn’t lie down, though fuck, I reckon she wants to. She always used to when we were kids, sunning herself under this very tree. Rubbing lotion on her skin and untying the strings of her bikini to avoid weird tan lines. “I don’t miss how much everyone talks in this town.”

“I guess Mrs. Middler mentioned it to her grandson, who mentioned it to Elaine down at the news agency, who mentioned it to Pete, who mentioned it to?—”

“I got it.” She waves me off. “The store’s coming along.

Franky’s been busy creating a stocking system on the computer, so with every entry into the spreadsheet, I can shelve the book.

Lots of dust.” She lowers her gaze and selects a leaf from the ground, pulling it into pieces and tossing each bit back to the dirt when she’s done.

“Lots of sweat and long days. But we’ve made good progress. ”

“Ready for a grand reopening soon?”

“It was technically never closed.” She scoffs. “But in all the time I’ve spent there, the only people who’ve crossed the threshold are us, my mom, and those pesky Watkins boys.”

Pesky Watkins boys. Stop smiling! Goddammit, Thomas. Stop liking this! “Not everything has changed, then. Franky good with computers?”

“Yeah.” On this, at least, her eyes alight, visible even through her sunglasses when she looks my way. “He’s very, very intelligent. And I don’t even mean it like how any mother thinks her child is special. Franklin is…” She sighs. “He’s going to change the world.”

“Yeah?”

“He’ll kick and scream the whole way,” she adds with a smile. “He hates change and loathes attention. So when they hand him his Nobel prize, he’ll probably huff about it, angry that he had to stay out late and wear pants when he could be home instead.”

Chuckling, I cast my gaze toward the lake, where Franky climbs onto Chris’ shoulders, and Chris walks beyond the drop-off, where the water hits his chin and the current moves just a little faster.

Seeing them together is… strange.

I wasn’t sure she’d ever come back. Now she has, and her kid is drawn to my brother like a moth to a flame. Most surprising of all is that my brother tolerates it when he tolerates so few humans on this earth.

“Can I ask some questions?” I risk her fury, and worse, the chance she’ll get up and stomp away. But I drag my gaze back and stop on the side of her face. “I won’t ask why you left. Different questions.”

Silence is like a drum in the air. Nerves, like a waterfall, pounding over the top of my head. She returns my stare, hiding most of her secrets behind her shades. But I see the racing pulse in her neck. The nervous swipe of her tongue over her lips.

“Please?”

“Okay.” She sits back, using her hands to prop herself up, and stretches her legs forward. “But I promise nothing.”