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The thought of that bothered me “Did they like Sebastian?” I wished thewith any memories of him

“They weren’t thrilled about hiuess they clearly sahat I didn’t So they'd better like you”

“No pressure” My mother and brother were already in love with her; I wondered if her parents would be that pleased with us

The second we stepped outside, all I could see were tall, deep green trees, around the bottorass and wildflowers In the distance, a ainst the cloudy white and blue sky None of the buildings anywhere stood any higher than the trees The whole place looked like it was taken out of Nature Magazine, or at the very least belonged as someone’s screensaver It was beautiful

“Gwen!”

We both turned to our right

Taigi broke free of his leash, running with everything he had into the olderall over his face

Her father stood around the saht as ray hair cut short, his face clean-shaven, and around his neck hung a beaded necklace with an arrowhead

Beside him, a woman shorter than all of us with short black hair that stopped at her shoulders and s her cheeks “Welcoo of her ar to be a mother and Guinevere had at least five inches on her, obviously getting her height from her father

“And this one i’s fur His dark eyes stared—no, glared into ain

“Mom, Dad, this is Dr Eli Davenport, my boyfriend Eli, these are my parents,” she introduced us

Before I could speak, her father spoke up again

“You moved on pretty quickly, don’t you think?” He looked to Guinevere

“Would you prefer I cried and ate ice creaed him

“Don’t mind them” Her mother took my hand “Welcome to Cypress, Eli I hope the trip wasn’t bad Gwen here has an awful fear of heights”