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Dani kneouldn’t buy a non-answer, but she shrugged She didn’t want to talk about it "Nothing"

She stared ahead, but Jonah stared at her

She felt his appraisal, and she held her breath, knowing he’d continue with his questions It wasn’t that she didn’t trust hi to It was that she didn’t want to voice the words Once she did, once she heard the back Half the battle was accepting the haunts, and talking about her dead little sister, as one ghost she didn’t want to discuss Not yet, and then an approaching boat interrupted theside Jonah as he waved them down She felt a knot unravel, just a little bit inside of her

The boat veered toward therinning back at the sunlight

"Trenton Galloorks for you?" He was another roup of friends, but also ran for student council She was pretty sure he was one of the basketball captains, too

Jonah grasped the boat’s front and climbed inside "I run the river Everyone works for me They just don’t know it"

"Hey, Dani" Trenton lifted a hand, already reversing the boat "Heard you were back"

"Sure am"

But her gaze was on Jonah as he helped push off the dock Grinning at her, he held her look until they turned the boat around and sped back through the lake’s canal The waves slowly lass reflection from the blue ocean above

Good riddance Dani took a deep breath as she held on to a steel post on the end of her dock The floorboard creaked and protested as she shifted her feet She’d never allowed Boone ainto her soul The shutters were always drawn, but he’d never asked She’d let Jonah share her bed, hold her hand, and comfort her

He’d done more than Jake and Boone cohts and ood, but she craved soe, and a quick inventory of the kitchen--she only had enough for that day She’d have to go back to town again, and as she drove past so side of the fence

It had a black body with a white-tip nose Dani knew the nearest hoed to Mrs Bendsfield There was a billboard positioned at the end of the driveway It was supposed to proclaiot older, Mrs Bendsfield bought a cow The nu to hold her breath that the nulanced at the rest of the cows standing on the right side of the fence, and eyeballed et out, others could follow

Dani tried finding the hole in the fence, but couldn’t and she ended up turning into the driveway Rounding a bend in the driveway, the fare A s the house’s frontside Except for a ss piled on the front porch, the two-story, white house looked clean It looked like it had recently been painted Dani never got a tour of the place, at least not at any age she could re with her mother a few times She mostly remembered the chocolate chip cookies After her mother passed, Mrs Bendsfield was nice, but she’d never been ‘on good terms’ with Aunt Mae So the visits stopped, and so did the chocolate chip cookies

Not ed a friendship with the owner of Mae’s Grill, one of the busiest businesses in Craigstown It didn’tstill set the precedence, and so any friendship that ht

Aunt Mae never cared Dani thought she actually preferred it because she could do what she wanted and say what she wanted Folks would keep co the tourists and locals

But Mrs Bendsfield was on the different side of the tracks She wasn’t one of the upstanding citizens, but she wasn’t one of the ‘other’ citizens like Aunt Mae Mrs Bendsfield just lived in her own little world

Re all of that, she wasn’t sure what she was in store for as she knocked on the screen door "Hello? Mrs Bendsfield?" It was loose, so it rattled in the doorframe with each knock Dani was hesitant to knock harder She didn’t want to bust through the screen on her first adult visit Not hearing a response, she turned and walked to the backyard Nothing Dani checked the garage Two vehicles were inside Mrs Bendsfield’s van, the world’s largest daisy painted on it--Dani saw it had just been given a fresh covering, just like the house--still sat in the saon was next to it, with a foot thick of dust

Dani didn’t want to intrude in the house, so she tried the barns next

The shed was erain bins

Theherself in thedown a small hallway, she opened the door and a bunch of cats scattered in every direction Expecting to find feeding stalls, she saw instead that half of the interior had been renovated into a pottery studio The left side still had the stalls where the coere fed and le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">