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Tannis was already working on the fire when I got up there I let my backpack slide to the dirt by the pit

“Hey, loverboy,” she called “How about a beer?”

“Don’t

Tannis snorted, poking at the logs with a stick that she tossed on top before walking over She was easily an inch taller than me, and broad I had to remind myself to stay put when she stopped solidly within my personal space, hands on her hips

“Easy,another from the backpack for myself

“Shove it, Riley,” she answered pleasantly, taking a long swig Her blond hair fell heavily down her back, and I noticed a se of dirt under her chin

I told her and she shrugged “Adds character” But she wiped it away, her fingernails still rimmed with oil or lube or whatever they used to tune the cars in her front yard It drove her OCD neighbor nuts, which I think was half the reason she and her brothers did it there instead of in their barn or at the track

I took a drink, then bent for a fistful of twigs and listened to the sizzle and crack of the green ones as they landed on the fire

“You guys need help?” Nat came up from behind She waved off the beer I offered

“Sure,” Tannis said “You and Riley want to collect some more wood?”

Natalie nodded, and I walked with her to the thickets on the opposite side of the clearing, both of us glancing toward Trip and Sarah, ere in soft conversation by the cave Their foreheads touched and Trip’s arm was around her waist

“Gag,” I said dryly

“I think it’s really sweet,” Natalie said softly “They’re so happy together”

“I think youhot and sour in my throat

“Oh, Riley” She gave me a little shove “Someday that’ll be you”

I glanced past Natalie at Trip and Sarah, noalking hand in hand toward Tannis If only she kne much I wished that were true

Twenty minutes later we had a pile of branches, seven eh the tree line The five of us sat on stones around our fire, me between Nat and Tannis, Sarah and Trip at the other end of the semicircle I’d stacked the hollow cans in a pyra in and out of the conversation—Trip coreeing with one, then the other Mostly I thought about how the air smelled crisp and smoky, like the bonfires my dad used to make at ho above the flah in pictures I can see he wasn’t much taller than my mom Memories are funny like that

Being here felt like those bonfires—waruessed it back when Trip first suggested bringing the girls “C’mon, man,” he’d said “Think about it—drinks, dark, ladies” He’d raised an eyebrow suggestively “Anything could happen”

I’d agreed, because that’s what you do when your best friend needs a wingman, but I’d known exactly ould happen with those ladies Nothing Not for one to school with Nat and Tannis since kindergarten They weren’t intowas unequivocally otten to like co here with them Gotten to like them I was sorry to see it end and wondered if any of them sensed it too—the bite of ice in the air, the hard-packed feel of the ground now This would probably be our last night