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A tear trickled down my cheek. “I’m okay. Thank you for setting all this up, even if I had to teach your girlfriend, I mean friend, how to pee.”
He didn’t laugh. He only tucked some hair behind my ear. “I’m thankful for your mom, Em.”
I turned toward him and caught a blast of his sparkling amber eyes. “You are?”
“She brought us together.”
I nodded. “Yeah, she did. Even if it was embarrassing.”
He flashed me a toothy smile. “That first conversation was something else. I’ll never forget it.” He poked my chin. “I see you’ve decided to grow that chin hair out after all.”
I batted his hand away, wishing I had some tweezers and privacy. “Hey, you promised to never mention that.” And I’d promised to show him how to walk on water, but that was supposed to be on our first date, which never happened. He’d never mentioned it since.
“Did I?” He nudged me.
“Yes, along with some other things.”
“I know, Em.” His tone turned surprisingly sober. He gazed into my eyes for several seconds without speaking, making it feel as warm as the noonday sun. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about some . . . things.”
“What things?” I whispered.
He took a deep breath. “Things didn’t exactly . . . what I mean to say is . . . I’ve been waiting.”
“Waiting? Waiting for what?”
“Time and—”
“Sawyer! Brother, where are you?” Ashton’s booming voice echoed down below.
Sawyer tensed and tried to ignore his brother. “Em . . .” He let out a big breath.
“Sawyer!” Ashton yelled even louder.
“Damnit, I’m always getting interrupted.” Sawyer rubbed his neck.
“Are you okay?” He rarely swore.
“Yeah. We’ll talk later.”
I nodded, confused.
Without another word, he got up and marched off down the trail. He made good time back to camp. I watched from my perch as he talked to Ashton right in his face. He was kicking the dirt around him. Before I knew it, Ashton had taken off in his SUV. What was all that about? And what was Sawyer going to say to me?
I had this strange feeling of déjà vu, like once again my name had stolen something from me.Chapter ThirteenOne should never feel sick when they are going home, but that’s exactly how I felt when I approached the door of my old home. I couldn’t even call it my parents’ anymore. Long gone was the cutesy wreath Mom had made with the big C on it and the tacky pink bow to complete the ensemble. Did I ever miss it. Now the only thing left standing were the large double pine doors that Josephine had decided to paint red. It looked as if someone had drenched them in pig’s blood. Who knew, maybe she used the extra blood afterward for her rituals with her coven. Okay. Okay. I couldn’t think like that. I’d promised Sawyer I would try and get to know his mother better while I helped her plan the Farewell to Summer dance. Even though I was still miffed about her stealing my theme, the Lady of Carrington Ranch.
Sawyer. I had to keep repeating his name in my head. I was doing this for him. Though he had been acting strange and a bit irritable since we’d gone camping. He said he wanted to talk to me alone, but this week had been crazy busy, so there had been no time for it. At work I had KPI reports due, not to mention safety training, which was a huge deal considering I worked around molten steel and fire. Then I’d been called into work one day after my shift was over due to a furnace on the strand going out.
On Sawyer’s end, he was the doctor on call this month which meant he’d had some late evenings too. Not to mention I had to be here tonight with the wicked stepmommy. I offered to beg this off so we could talk, but Sawyer begged me to do it. It was only fair since I’d convinced him to have dinner with his dad and Bridget tomorrow night. Maybe we could talk after that. I was more than curious about what was so important to him that he didn’t want to do it over the phone and he wanted us to be completely alone with lots of available time. If tomorrow night didn’t work, it would have to wait until the next week when I returned from my AIST conference in Alabama. I was flying out Saturday as soon as my soccer game was over.
The American Iron and Steel Technology Conference and Exposition was kind of nerdy, but I loved it. Even cooler this year was that it was taking place at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I hadn’t been there since my parents sent me out to Space Camp when I was twelve. Pretending to do space missions was the best week of my young life. Besides it being cool, I needed the professional development hours.
