One minute, Natalie was walking in front of them, and the next, she was being hauled off over the shoulder of one of the other Three Musketeers.
“Damn, Nat, don’t tell ’em our plans!” Asher or Nash said—Mac wasn’t sure which as the two boys took off running, Natalie laughing and flopping over a shoulder as they went.
“Natalie Haven, you better get your butt back to the football field by 10:45! It’s your damn fault we have to be home early anyway!” Mac yelled after them, but it was no use because they were already out of sight.
“Those three are nothin’ but trouble with a capital T.” Willow pursed her lips, looking in the direction the trio had fled.
“No doubt. Momma and Daddy’ll get a call tonight about some nonsense they got up to, and guess who’ll get blamed for it?”
As irritating as her younger sister was, Mac couldn’t find fault in Nat wanting to do something other than the run-of-the-mill activities Havenbrook offered. She just hoped Nat would figure out how to start hiding it from Momma and Daddy like Mac had managed to do. The trouble, though, wasn’t that Nat had a hard time concealing her activities—it was that she didn’t careif she was caught.
“Nothing we can do about the inevitable, so we might as well enjoy ourselves in the meantime.” Will hooked her arm through Mac’s and dragged her toward the illuminated football field already swarming with people.
Havenbrook Movie Night was always a hit, whether they held it in the Square or, when a bigger turnout was expected, on Havenbrook High’s football field. The last show before school started was always heavily attended.
As Mac and Will strolled toward the festivities, the crowd continually expanded until they couldn’t go two steps without someone calling out a hello to “the Haven girls.” Rory lived and breathed for this kind of attention, but she was the only one of the four who did. Mac would just as soon be a nobody in the town instead of a descendant of its founder.
“Will! Mac!” someone called from the left. “Over here!”
It didn’t take long to find where the voice had come from. A group of their friends were sprawled out on a field of blankets off to the side of the inflatable movie screen. Will lifted her hand in a wave and guided Mac in that direction.
“You go on,” Mac said, extricating her arm from Will’s hold. “I’ll be over in a bit. I wanna grab something from The Sweet Spot first.”
Will gave her a knowing look, but she didn’t comment on it other than to say, “Grab me a peach cobbler if she’s still got some, will ya?”
With a nod, Mac turned and weaved her way through the crowds, her focus on the far corner and the homemade stand that represented The Sweet Spot. The bright red booth that she’d helped paint years ago stood out among the standard Movie Night concessions. The line stretched at least a dozen people deep, but that was to be expected.
Fortunately, she had a cut-the-line card, and she intended to use it.
She scanned the area, her attention getting snagged by the townspeople who wanted to chat, when her eyes finally locked on the person she’d been looking for.
Hudson Miller stood a head taller than most, his wild, unkempt hair sticking out in all directions and his eyes so dark they looked black from here. But she knew from years of up close and personal talks, they were actually a rich brown flecked with gold.
He was working in the stand, right alongside his momma, talking about the best pies of the season as if he knew them as well as he knew his own name. And he did. Most people wouldn’t expect the former captain of the Havenbrook basketball team to know his way around a piecrust, but he was a mess of contradictions. Wilderness warrior, little-sister protector, pie baker, dare goader, fiercest competition in town…not to mention the hottest guy Mac had ever laid eyes on.
And, by some cruel twist of fate, her best friend…the one person she could never have.
Hudson Miller was in denial. He’d somehow managed to exist in that blissful state ofeverything’s gonna be okayfor the past three months, even though he knew everything was absolutely not going to be okay. But he couldn’t pretend any longer. Not when the clock was ticking down, faster and faster each day as time barreled toward that bright red X on his calendar.
He had no idea how he was going to tell anyone the secret he’d been harboring for almost a year. And now, with summer almost ending and classes starting next week, he didn’t have much time left to figure it out.
Even less when he glanced up and spotted Mackenna heading in his direction with that purposeful, no-nonsense gait she had. The one that said she knew exactly what she wanted and she was going to get it, no matter what or who stood in her way. The one that scared away a lot of the girls in school and most of the guys—though the latter was just fine with Hudson. That’d been one good thing about being away at college the past year—he hadn’t had to watch her date other guys.
He let the sight of her hold his attention when it should’ve been on Mrs. Parsons, who was giving him details of the dance recital her granddaughter had just performed in. But the truth was, whenever Kenna was around, not a whole lot else even registered. How did she always manage to look so gorgeous without even trying? She wore her standard summer uniform: denim cutoffs, a tank top, Converse, and no makeup—she’d told him once she didn’t want to worry about sweating it off. And still, she took his damn breath away.
He soaked in every second he had to look at her as she strode toward him, her ponytail swishing behind her. Because God knew he couldn’t stare at her like that when she was aware of it.
Without hesitation, she slid around the back of The Sweet Spot’s stand, a smile on her lips, and settled in beside him like she owned the place. Like beside him was exactly where she belonged.
She bumped her hip into his—or she tried to anyway. He had more than half a foot on her, so she ended up connecting with his thigh. “I see you’re flirtin’ with Mrs. Parsons again. Gonna give that poor old woman a heart attack one of these days when you flash her those dimples.”
“I can’t help that she likes me more than you. A lot of people like me more than you, ’specially with you cuttin’ the line.” He tugged on the end of her ponytail. “You tryin’ to cheat all these fine people out of their hard-earned goodies?”
That drew a few chuckles from the crowd, but not from Kenna—or his momma.
“Hudson Miller, you leave my girl alone,” his momma snapped and then turned toward Kenna, arms held out for a hug. “How you doin’ today, honey? You come to help us get caught up?”
Kenna returned the embrace. “As long as I show up out there with a peach cobbler for Will, I can stay for a while. You haven’t sold out, have you?”
