“You don’t have my number.”
“I’ll use Capture My Heart.”
She nodded. “I forgot I had it on my phone.”
One side of Ben’s mouth lifted in a rough-and-tumble grin. “So you haven’t been on any more blind dates?”
“Are you kidding? I had to make her go on the first one.” Landon hiked his backpack up higher on his shoulder. “She never goes out.”
Way to make me look like a loser.“I go out.” Nothing made a guy more interested than knowing you were available every night of the week—not!
“Not with guys.” Landon looked at her like she was crazy.
“Okay, this is a conversation for never.” She looped her arm around Landon’s shoulder and steered him towards her car. On the way, they snagged the handles for their suitcases and rolled them across the blacktop. They waved as the limo pulled away.
“Can they even see us?” asked Landon.
“Pft. Who knows.” Avery shut the trunk and slid into the driver’s seat. “Are you really cool hanging out with them?” Landon had a large group of guy friends, but he never talked to or about girls.
“The guys will totally choke when they hear I’m chillin’ with a sixth-gradegirl.”
The way he said it made it sound like a conquest. Avery’s hackles rose.
Landon noticed. “It’s a prank, Mom.”
“What?”
“I’m pranking you.”
She relaxed her grip on the wheel. “So …?”
“Yeah, I’m cool with it. Savannah’s not bad. And I like Ben. He throws a good spiral and didn’t get upset when Devin farted really loud.”
“Wow. He’s a regular prince.” Ben had earned a lot of points over the weekend. “We’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” she said quietly. Being on the field trip was like being in a dream world. Someone else vacuumed, made the beds, and aired out the room so she couldn’t smell Landon’s socks. But they were back to reality, and things like schedules and school got in the way. She wasn’t sure who Ben was when real life played a part. She just knew she was looking forward to finding out.
Chapter Sixteen
Avery
“Is this for real?”
Avery swallowed heavily as she eased to a stop at the security hut, unable to answer Landon’s question.Hutmay not be the right word. The heavy iron gates with The Cove crest in the center barred the entrance.To keep out the riffraff—like me.She fervently wished she’d taken the extra five minutes to go through a car wash before following her phone’s navigation to the address Ben had texted her the night before.
She gave her ID to the uniformed guard, who was taller than the pine trees in the Hundred Acre Wood. “You’re going to go up the hill. On the left will be a castle. Mr. Wilaby’s drive is to the right, but you can’t see the house from the road.” The man handed back her ID without a smile. He had the kind of face that had been carved out of stone but the carver didn’t worry too much about smoothing things out.
“Thanks.” She swallowed, hoping she didn’t go the wrong way and run into this guy’s angry face.
Landon stared out the window, his mouth hanging open as the car climbed the hill. The castle came into view, hard to miss as the turrets towered over them. Placed on the highest area of The Cove, it looked like something out of a fairy tale. “These guys are Richie Rich.”
Avery cringed as she made the turn into the private drive lined with huge maple trees. “They’re just people, dude.”People who live in exclusive neighborhoods and have a stinking carousel in their front yard!She tapped on the brakes, and they sat there and stared at the brightly colored horses and … was that adragon? Behind them, a security car passed the driveway, moving slow enough that she could easily make out the crest on the door. Had they been back there the whole time as she gaped? She’d been so busy staring at the castle, and now the carousel, that she hadn’t noticed.
The carousel was circled by a five-foot cobblestone walkway. Around that was ten to fifteen feet of grass and then flower beds alive with color. Maple trees were planted at even intervals, their branches touching far above the red flag at the top of the center pole, giving the area a sense of being apart from the rest of the world. She could imagine that when the music played and the lights were on, magic came to life.
The house was made up of right angles and boxes of varying sizes—like something a child would build after a big delivery from Amazon. Except that it was finished in stone, copper, and brick and looked nothing like cardboard. The main house, probably the living area for the family, was directly behind the carousel. The front doors were large enough to drive a car through.
There was a tunnel made up of arches and glass that connected the family house to a smaller, though no less impressive second mansion on the left. Avery snapped her lips together to make sure her mouth wasn’t hanging open. She could just hear her mother quote Mary Poppins—“We are not a codfish”—as she stared in open wonder. To the right of the main house was another complete house—the smallest of the three. While they weren’t similar enough to be copies of the same floor plan, they were certainly close enough to be considered sisters.
She could fit her condo in the front entryway of the main house. “I’d hate living here.”
