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He hesitated "Maddie and Tara know this?"

"They will"

"Shit, Chloe"

"I’ for a miracle Just some basic cos I’ll tell Maddie and Tara, I swear, but I need to knohat you can pull off and how fast you can do it"

"I’ll get back to you," Jax said

"Thanks" Chloe hung up and buried herself in work once more She was too busy to think about Sawyer, or so she told herself But it wasn’t true She thought about hiht of hier-painted a ard Plus she’d seen another side to him now, discovered layers and coer felt untouchable In fact, he’d becoht, a windstorm moved in and knocked out power This wouldn’t have bothered Chloe any except that it was a weekend, and they had three of their roouests enjoyed their stay

With no electricity

Maddie lit candles throughout the inn, giving it a soft, waretable-based candles so they didn’t aggravate Chloe’s asthma Tara barbequed on the covered deck over their brand-spanking-new gas, sot twice as rill, but they all knew she’d spent a fortune on the new one for Chloe’s sake

Maddie dug a sand pit on the beach and coaxed everyone outside for s’ht a fire on the beach, and Maddie assured her that had been taken care of--and then laughed at Chloe because she’d never been one to worry about breaking any city ordinances before Maddie’s amusement was met with some irritability on Chloe’s part, because it was true Since when did she worry about a city ordinance? "I can’t sit at a ca wheezy"

Maddie handed her a paper surgical ot a stack from Mallory at the hospital," her sister said proudly "See if it works"

To Chloe’s surprise, it did Their guests were three ether up the coast to Canada They had a great ti s’mores, and when they’d headed off to bed, Tara stoked the fire while Maddie called the Love Shack Within ten minutes, the sisters had company

Ford and Jax, of course

And Sawyer

Chloe looked at hiht back Out of uniforht, he was in battered jeans and a CHP hoodie sweatshirt His eyes were inscrutable, his jaw stubbled, and his thoughts hidden

Ford had brought beer, which he passed out to everyone except Sawyer and Chloe "You two kids didn’t seeave hiuy who once drunk-dialed Tara until I saved his ass by stealing his phone"

Ford winced and offered Sawyer a beer, which he didn’t take Whether he was on call later or had DEA business, Chloe didn’t know What she did knoas that Tara and Maddie were staring at her She knew this was because they’d thought she’d been caht she spent at Sawyer’s

"You said you ith Lance," Tara said

Sawyer arched an a mask was her best friend, as it allowed her to hide her expression with ease "I never said I ith Lance"

"You said you ith a friend," Maddie said "We assumed"

"Lance’s been busy lately," Chloe said "With his new girlfriend Renee the nurse She’s really great for hiiven him this new lease on life and--"

"Hold it," Tara said, clearly not interested in Lance’s love life Just Chloe’s "So you and Sawyer are…" She waggled a finger back and forth between them

"No," both Sawyer and Chloe answered in unison

Chloe sent Sawyer a long look It was one thing for her to say "no," but she sure as hell didn’t like that he felt as strongly about it as she did

"Okay, but since when are you two friends?" Tara asked "Friends who have sleepovers"

"I like those kinds of friends," Ford said

"We’re not that kind of friends" Chloe pulled down the lare to a silent Sawyer "Feel free to step in anytiht," Sawyer said, never taking his eyes off of her "We’re not friends" He was looking at her fro, heated eyes, which of course helped not at all

Tara was clearly unhappy "What the hell is going on with you two?"

"Nothing!" Chloe said

"They were fully dressed when Ford and I found the," Jax offered helpfully "Well, actually, Chloe was dressed Big guy here was shirtless Oh, and he had his hands up her skirt, but--"

Sawyer cut his eyes to Jax, who shrugged

Maddie was staring at her husband-to-be "And you didn’t telldisapproval "Rookieto her feet, Chloe stabbed at the fire with a big stick, thinking about using it to whack Sawyer across the back of his big, fat head But since she didn’t want to be arrested tonight, she shoved the stick into the fire and pulled out her iPhone She accessed her Magic Eight application "For my sisters’ sake," she said to it, "please state for the record whether or not I’ my own life"

The ansas short and sweet

Without a Doubt

"Ha!" Righteously triumphant, Chloe sank back to her beach chair "One hundred percent accurate, as always"

"Actually, statistically speaking," Jax said, ever the lawyer even though he hadn’t practiced law in six years, "it has to be wrong fifty percent of the tiht, will Jax ever learn that he doesn’t know everything?"

The screen went cloudy and then cleared

Don’t Count on It

Everyone laughed except Jax, as trying--unsuccessfully--to pull a resisting Maddie down to his lap He snatched the phone fro ht?"

Outlook Good

Jax let out a loud breath of relief Maddie gave a low laugh, finally allowing him to pull her down to his lap "Was that really in question?"