LITMIR.BIZ

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she falls asleep on the couch at night—”

      “Girls.” Anna squeezed the word in, her cheeks flooding with color, as her daughters paused to take a breath. “It’s all right. I can call Mrs. Mason and schedule another time.”

      Instead of agreeing with Anna, his mom tipped her head to one side, something Liam had seen her do whenever she was trying to come up with a solution to a problem.

      And then she smiled—at him—and Liam knew exactly what that solution was.

      Don’t say it, Mom.

      But she did. Out loud.

      “What are you doing on Wednesday, Liam?”

      Liam made the mistake of glancing at the twins, and the hope blazing in their eyes pulled him in and held him captive like a tractor beam.

      “It looks—” Liam heard himself say “—like I’ll be going on a canoe trip.”

      * * *

      “Gourmet meal. Cooked over an open fire.” Liam secured the tie-down on Aiden’s canoe and gave it a hard yank. “Seriously?”

      “Hey! Take it easy on the old guy.” Aiden ran a comforting hand over the scarlet flames that flowed underneath the curve of the gunwale. “I thought it was a nice touch. Lily claims it’s all about marketing, and do you know how much swanky restaurants charge for freshly caught trout?”

      Liam didn’t. And Aiden had to be joking.

      “Trout?” He stared at his brother. “I’m going to have my hands full with three inexperienced paddlers, and you expect me to pack a fly rod? And what if I don’t catch anything?”

      “Huh.” Aiden looked a little mystified by this line of questioning. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about that. I always catch fish.”

      His younger brother’s confidence, which Liam found humorous if not downright entertaining on most occasions, sawed against his nerves today. “What am I supposed to do? Call Chet and ask him to airdrop a gourmet dinner for four on Eagle Rock?”

      Nothing against the manager of the grocery store deli, but Chet’s idea of fancy was spackling a layer of ketchup over the tops of the homemade meat loaves before they went into the oven.

      “Lily happened to like the description I wrote up for the auction, by the way. She said it was very creative.”

      That was one word for it.

      “Calm water? Sunshine?” Liam stuffed a dry bag into the bed of the pickup. “You know you can’t promise those kinds of conditions.”

      “It’s called setting the right mood.” Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “And since we’re on the subject, what’s up with yours? It’s not like this will be your first trip down the river.”

      True. But it would be his first trip down the river with Anna.

      “I’ve got two canoes to finish by the end of the week,” Liam muttered.

      Also true—but a deadline wasn’t the reason Liam had been plagued by a series of clips straight from the archives of High School Past ever since he’d gotten home from the shelter’s fund-raiser earlier that afternoon.

      Past, Liam reminded himself, being the key word here.

      Even though Anna, who’d been wearing denim shorts and an apple-green T-shirt when he’d danced with her that afternoon, didn’t look much older than the girl who’d breezed up to Liam’s locker on his first day at Emerson Middle and High School. She’d had a bright smile on her face and a sheaf of colorful flyers advertising the pep rally on Friday night tucked in the crook of her arm.

      Liam had been tempted to go, just so he could see her again, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Anna Foster belonged to an elite inner circle. Or that Mr. Swanson’s fifth-hour study hall would be the closest Liam would ever get to her—and that was only because the seats were arranged alphabetically.

      He’d been right. Liam had seen Anna at school practically every day, but it was easy to remember the number of times they’d actually spoken. Once. And that conversation had pretty much destroyed any chance of there ever being a second.

       Chapter Three

      Anna’s hands tightened on the steering wheel when she turned the corner and spotted Liam and Aiden standing in the driveway.

      Why had she agreed to this?

      Over the past few days, she’d tried to come up with a reason to bow out of their upcoming canoe trip gracefully, but the twins had been talking about it nonstop since the fund-raiser on Saturday afternoon. And in those rare moments of silence when they weren’t talking about the outing, they’d been preparing for it. Studying the map that highlighted their projected route and memorizing the list of safety tips Sunni had emailed to Anna on Monday morning. Filling out the detailed questionnaire used to determine their level of experience.

      On the last page of the information packet, Sunni had added a personal note: “Happy Birthday, Anna! Enjoy the peace and tranquility of a day on the river!”

      Peace and tranquility?

      Not when Anna’s stomach tilted sideways at the thought of spending those hours with Liam.

      Regret coursed through her, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Words Anna had spoken in anger the night of their senior prom had formed a wall between her and Liam that remained intact even after she’d returned to Castle Falls. Strengthened by time and distance and a silence neither one of them had attempted to break.

      But Anna could still see the flash of hurt in Liam’s eyes, a sign her words had hit their mark.

      What makes you think that my relationship with Ross is any of your business? You don’t know the first thing about him...or me. And from what I’ve heard about your family, you don’t know anything about love, either.

      How ironic, that she was the one who’d proved to be blind when it came to that particular emotion.

      A mistake she wasn’t going to make again...

      “Morning, ladies!” Aiden called out cheerfully. He could have passed for a modern-day river pirate in faded jeans and a black T-shirt with the sleeves cut off at the shoulders. A red do-rag matched the flames painted on the side of the canoe jutting from the back of his pickup truck.

      Still, the knot in Anna’s stomach loosened a little. She wasn’t sure if it was because Aiden was the youngest in the family or because a perpetual gleam of mischief danced in his cobalt-blue eyes, but Anna had always found him to be the most approachable of the three brothers.

      Cassie and Chloe obviously didn’t share her opinion. They bailed out of the backseat and sprinted across the lawn toward Liam, their copper braids streaming behind them like the tails on a pair of kites.

      Anna dragged in a breath, afraid the girls were going to bowl the man right over. But at the last possible second, they skidded to a stop directly in front of him, chattering a mile a minute about their upcoming adventure.

      As Anna made her way toward them, she managed to catch every third word or so. Photographs. Sunflowers. Pins and journals.

      The average person would have been hard-pressed to make sense of the lilting duet, but instead of clapping his hands over his ears or running for cover, Liam bent closer and gave the twins his undivided attention. A swatch of silky dark hair slipped over his eye and for a moment, Anna saw a lanky adolescent boy slumped in his desk in the back of the classroom.

      Rumors had started to run rampant even before Liam and his brothers moved in with the Masons. Some of the kids said they’d been living on the street. Others claimed that Liam’s parents had been sent to prison and the boys would have disappeared into the foster-care system if Rich and Sunni hadn’t stepped in

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