Page 123 of The Souls of Lost Lake

“I’ve every right!” Ava slapped him lightly on his shoulder. “You saved me, Noah. You did what no one ever did before. You saw me, for me. You cared. You fought for me. It’s time someone does that for you. An’ it won’t be all that hard, ’cause Emmaline is pretty plumb set on getting things worked out.”

Hope fluttered across Noah’s face. “She is?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Men can be so dumb.” She spun to march away, but Noah reached out and stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Where are you going?”

“Dunno.” And she didn’t. She’d only had thoughts to set Noah to rights, but after she’d made her proclamation that he needed to go back home, back east, a huge part of her went into a panic.She’d no right to him. He’d no right to her. They were as different as a wagon was to an automobile. Redneck to a city boy. Heathen to a believer. Well, she believed, she just wasn’t a super-educated churchgoer. She’d told that to Jesus, though, and she swore He smiled at her from the painting. Seemed like someone had to believe to belong, and if you did, it didn’t matter where you went, you just ... belonged.

“Come with me,” Noah stated boldly.

Ava’s heart flipped. Maybe. She wasn’t sure if a heart could flip.

Noah stepped closer. Dang those eyes!

“Let’s take all your things—what little you have—like that doll, and we’ll take it back to your old place and put it back where we found it. Like a burial. We’ll bury your family as they should have been, at least in spirit. And then we’ll just go.”

“Go where?” He was toyin’ with her hair, and his fingers brushed her neck, and she knew she could be as ugly as a bug’s ear, but the way he was looking at her, she might as well just melt all over into a beautiful puddle of princess mush.

“Home.” Noah didn’t smile. He barely breathed. He just ... smoldered.

“I’ll have to think about it,” Ava replied. He couldn’t just tell her what she was goin’ to do. She’d spent too much time on her own—

He kissed her. Gentle-like. The kind of kiss where she could taste just a little bit of him, and it was sweet with a bit of spice just waiting to happen.

When he pulled away, Ava cleared her throat. “All right then, I guess I’ve thought about it.”

“Ready to go home?” Noah held out his hand.

It only took Ava a second to take hold of it.Home, a word she could make fresh memories on. Leave Tempter’s Creek behind. Over time, no one here would ever remember her, or the Coonses, or Noah Pritchard the preacher. Over time, it would just be a lake, lost in the woods, hiding the souls of those who’d made Ava Coons who she was. Just Ava Coons. And she was all right with bein’ Ava Coons.