She smirks at me. “I want to know what you were doing with a certain guy after curfew last night.”
My eyebrows touch my hairline. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I jerk my gaze to my unfurled sleeping bag, then begin rolling it up like a marshmallow so it will fit in the cocoon-sized bag it came in. It’s a struggle that takes my entire body weight.
“That is the guiltiest thing you could have said. Spill it, woman!”
“Shh, keep your voice down!” I look over my shoulder through a shadow-transparent tent as if I’ll see the outline of the very people I don’t want listening in on this conversation.
I punch the sleeping bag with each roll, gripping it tighter and tighter. Just as I’m about to reach the end, I pounce on top of it as it all unravels. I grunt and toss it aside, slapping my hands on my knees.
“That good, huh?” Cozy jokes.
“Miles told me he loves me.”
“What?! Wow, I did not see that coming.”
“I know. It’s been three years since that kiss.”
“Just because the guy hasn’t touched you in forever doesn’t discount the way he looks at you. I don’t know how Reed is oblivious to it, but I sure see it. How do you feel?”
“There’s something else,” I admit.
“There’s more?! Why the hell did you not wake me up last night?!”
“I wanted you to get your money’s worth.” I wink at her. “And because Reed asked me to be his girlfriend at the caves the other day, and I didn’t know what to do, so I said yes.” I cringe.
“How is it that you only come here three months out of the year, and you have notone, buttwohot guys hanging around waiting for your return?”
“Ugh, it’s the worst,” I groan.
“Yeah, poor you. Such a pity,” she mocks, rolling her sleeping bag with ease and tucking it in a succinct roll back in the carrying bag like it never left.
I take a deep breath and attempt round two of martial arts on my own sleeping bag.
“Let me help you with that,” she offers.
I toss the damn thing in her lap. “Be my guest.”
“What are you going to do?” She curls the sleeping bag in four swift strokes and shimmies it into the bag.
I gape at her. “You’re wildly gifted at that.”
She shrugs. “Hey, don’t change the subject.”
I sigh. “I’m going to do what I said I would do… see where things go with Reed and forget that Miles said anything.”
At least, that’s what I should do.
The problem is, I can’t forget. Not even a little bit.
Cozy’s last four days distract me enough that it’s at least not on the forefront of my every thought. Reed, Miles, and I teach her how to fish, show her the best view for sunsets (at the top of the oak tree), get raspberry milkshakes from LaBeau’s, and have aWho can stay on the pineapple floatie the longestcontest.
Cozy and her contests.
It’s the hardest goodbye I’ve ever had with her when it’s time for her to leave.
“I can’t believe I couldn’t convince you to come with me,” she whines. “I’m going to miss you.” She circles her arms around my neck and clings tighter with every shake of frustration she takes out on my shoulders.
