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The two of them spent the next hour running around with Bear, throwing a tennis ball across the vineyard and watching the husky sprint for it with gusto. She pretended not to notice the way Leo kept sneaking glances over at her, his eyes scanning her loose dark waves and the fresh freckles that dotted across her cheeks and nose after a week in the sun. Or the way he swallowed when she licked her lips, tasting the caramel finish from her whiskey.

She pretended, of course. But she noticed every single one of his moves. And this time around, she didn’t hate the butterflies that took flight.

Alana woke the next morning to a persistent pounding at the front door. She cracked her eyes open, listening to the booming sound from the wood and the rattling of the doorknobs. She waited for someone else to answer and stop the incessant noise. No one did.

Her bedroom door flung open. Freya was already dressed for the day, dark denim jeans and a short-sleeve button-down, her feet still bare. She leaned against the doorframe and took an obnoxious bite of a green apple, the juice dribbling down her chin.

Alana glared. “Are you not going to get the door?”

Freya smirked. “Nope. It’s not for me.” She took another bite of her apple, her eyes shining bright.

She growled. “So you didn’t bother to answer it and figure out who it is for?”

“Didn’t need to. I glanced out the kitchen window.”

“And you didn’t answer it?”

Sophie shuffled into view, strands of hair in her face, looking rather rumpled in her pajamas. She yawned. “What’s going on?”

Freya examined her apple, found a good spot for a bite, then sunk her teeth in. “There’s someone at the door,” she said with her mouth full.

“Who?”

Somehow the knocking grew louder.

Alana sat up. “Will one of you dingbats get that?”

Freya shrugged. “Not for me.”

Alana glared at her.

Sophie yawned. “I’m still in my pajamas.”

She grumbled and threw her covers off, slinging herself out of bed. She pulled on a hoodie. “You are both useless.”

Freya grinned. “Useless? Shall I relay the list of all the things I’ve achieved this morning while the two of you were sleeping?”

Sophie frowned at her. “Hey, that’s mean.”

Alana shoved past them and clomped down the stairs.

She swung open the front door. “All right, for heaven’s sake, stop the damn noise—” She froze midsentence at the sight before her.

There was so much about her best friend that hadn’t changed. The long, fiery red hair with curls that stuck up in every direction. The freckles splashed across every inch of her skin. The dark green eyes that turned to slits every time she laughed.

But she wasn’t laughing now. Tess’s expression was stormy as she glared at Alana. She held up her phone, showing Alana a video on Instagram. It was a video of her and Leo and their interaction out in the fields.

She bit her tongue. Fuck. She’d been so engrossed in helping Sophie with her project and saving the farm that she forgot who followed the Marien social accounts.

“What the hell, Lana?!” Tess spat.

12

Tess McCallister moved across the street when Alana was eight years old. No matter how many years had passed, Alana would always remember it clear as day. She’d watched as a big orange moving truck pulled up the hill into the driveway, the furniture and boxes that moved into the house, and the two little girls with bright red hair who ran around the movers with glee. Alana stood at the edge of their property and watched with eager anticipation. Freya had stayed by her side, holding Freddy, her stuffed rabbit, close to her face. It was the way she sought comfort when she was nervous.

Eventually they were forced to go inside and sit at the table for dinner, but that night, Alana kept sneaking into the hallway to sit at the bay window overlooking the street, watching the house on the hill come to life. She huddled up with her blanket and slept on the banquette until she heard knocking on the front door the following morning.

The sisters were dressed in matching bright-blue dresses and pink flowers tucked behind her ears. “I’m Tess, and this is Kaia,” she said, pointing to her younger sister, who stood behind her in an identical outfit. “We’re going to look for fairies in the forest. Want to come?”