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I’d lacked the forethought to grab a picnic blanket, whichto be perfect But then I told myself Knox probably wouldn’t even notice There were a lot of details he skipped over, like towels, and cos my mother would insist upon That was one of the very reasons I was so crazy about hiht breeze tried to spoil my plans and bloay my plates and napkins, but the apples proved to be the perfect paperweights and kept theies so no dirt or bugs could blow onto the I’d have to wait because we couldn’t exactly give each other reliable schedules

The other day, he’d had to wait three hours on et away from my mother and one of her lectures Then Max had corneredto consolefor the way Mother had spoken to me I was al I’d missed him But there he lay on his back, feet crossed at the ankles and nearly asleep as he dried hi through me, I’d hurried up the ramp to reach the dock, only to slow to a stop and just relish the sight of hi else

"I never knew Sleeping Beauty was a guy before," I finally said

He hadn’t opened his eyes but a s I’m about to be kissed to see if that wakes rinned until I leaned down and lightly pressed hlea brown, and his lips were stretched ith pleasure

"I guess this is proof," he’dover the ed my knees as I stared at the water of the pit The breeze fluttered tendrils of red hair into my face and the dock swayed lazily under ic war on Knox wason the edge of the dock

With a slight frown, I studied it further It was a fairly large rock that couldn’t have been carried in by the wind So had to have placed it there, and I’m pretty sure it hadn’t been around the day before

I shied backward, wondering who’d been on my dock If one of my brothers had been here recently, did that ht now? Maybe I should put away one of the plates; if they caughtcompany But as soon as I reached for Knox’s plate, I noticed a sht

A note

With a gasp, I scra the rock aside, I unfolded the single sheet When I saw, Hey Princess Char, a smile lit up my entire face But then I read the rest of the note

I’m so sorry Icame up I doubt I can ood either It’s nothing to worry about though Just family crap Hopefully I’ll make it out Monday, and trust me when I say, I’d rather be here with you instead

Disappointment slumped my shoulders The rest of my day pretty much felt ruined now I kind of wanted to just sit here and cry, but at least he’d been sweet enough to leave ned it

I ranat the printed letters Maybe it was because he hadn’t used cursive, but there was sorader’s instead of a senior in high school, even though nothing was misspelled and every letter ritten precisely, as if he’d taken hours to plot out each one There was just soerly and tucked the note into athered our picnic and packed it away

When I stood to leave, there was a heaviness inside ain My heart ached and ht before I cried

I tried to hu for You" to keep the orks at bay, butthe thickest, darkest part of the forest, I wiped my hand over my cheek to make sure I hadn’t actually dropped any tears If I cried now, I’d look a mess by the ti withclose to a large oak because the path I was taking had a round behind me