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Her lips part “All right,” she whispers “I’ll think about it”

“Good” I smile

“I’ I’ll come up with an answer, let alone an easy answer,” she warns “Certainly not so, but…”

But that’s a step in the right direction, I think as I help her into the car and trot around to the driver’s side, ignoring the redhead peering out the March’s front ith a frown on her face

I’ll have to win Aria over eventually—the March sisters are closer than most and I don’t want to be a source of friction between them—but for now I’m focused on Lark

If she can’t get past what I did, it doesn’t matter if the town of Bliss River declares me a hero and holds a parade in my honor, I’ll still be out of luck

Chapter 9

Lark

It’s a beautiful day—hot enough for the breeze to feel delicious, cool enough that the sun war isdays like this are numbered Soon, it will be so hot and humid that my neck will be perpetually damp and my hair frizzed into a blond fluff ball until cooler weather comes back around in the fall

I lie in the plastic recliner Mason has rigged into one side of his old boat, the sun wars, a bottle of lemonade cold in my hand, and the crisp mineral smell of the water a sweet prickle at my nose

If anyone else were sitting across fro off into a catnap with a smile on my face, thankful for a little taste of paradise

Instead,with awareness as Mason’s eyes move bethere his red and white float bobs in the water, and my bikini clad self I hunted for one ofI found was a two-piece fro at home

I threw it on and dashed, not wanting to leave Mason alone with Aria for too long for fear of bloodshed But noish I’d taken the ti somewhere in my old room