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“You like to ask a lot of questions for someone who can’t even attempt to answer one,” he says.
“And you like to speak in riddles and pretend they truly mean something,” I fling back his way, satisfied with my wit.
His snicker hasmesmiling now.
“See?” he says. “Not the type.”
And maybe he’s right.
But he doesn’t have to know that.
“Ezra,” I start, admiring the way his eyebrows draw just a little at the sound of his name. “Would you care to accompany me to the fireworks?”
CHAPTER TWO
MAY I KISS YOU?
ELOISE
“There’sno way that’s true,” Ezra damn near sputters out. “Never?”
The shake of my head confirms the validity of my confession.
I’ve never left Cherry Cove. Not in all my twenty-six years on this earth.
This wasn’t always the plan. I used to listen to my dad talk about the places he’d been as a travel writer before he met my mom. As a child, those stories filled my soul with the temptation to wander the earth, in search of whatever lessons the world wanted to teach me.
And then my parents died. And my dreams died with them.
Since then, I’ve convinced myself that I have everything I need right here—that without me,Bordeau Bookswouldn’t survive. It’s the reason I never hired anyone, the reason I keep the shop open six days a week and work seven.
But all of that’s changing now that my sisters are here.
It was decided that my younger sister, Kitty, the one who bailed on me to run off to the city with Soph—Elizabeth—wouldcome work part-time at the shop. And Elizabeth would work outside of her part-time summer school teaching position hours.
The idea both excites and frightens me, having to loosen my hold on the reigns and accept help in the store I’ve tried my hardest to keep alive.
“Unbelievable,” he says as we walk, taking our time along the old, abandoned dock.
It creaks and the wood has softened over time, but I’ve been here too often to be afraid.
I can see the fair from here, hear the town festivities. I can make out the bodies lined along the water’s edge, ready to see the sky light up.
“I’m guessing you’re well-traveled.” I try to keep the defensiveness from my tone, but it insists on having a seat at the table.
I don’t place my value on my ability to hop on a plane or drive over state lines, but I’m not sure how my present company feels about my lack of exploration.
“I am.”
His sigh makes me think that seeing the world may not be all I’ve decided it is. Perhaps this is what brought my sisters back, under the guise of coming to help our struggling business.
Maybe the roads most traveled are, indeed, lonely.
“Would you like to see more of it?” I ask, watching as the inky water laps over itself. The lake has always been my happy place. Sure, I haven’t seen the ocean in over eleven years. But I learned to swim here, learned to fish, learned how to run away from boys who wanted to pull the tie of my bikini top off.
These memories live here. And this is where I belong.
I can even see my home from here, just beyond Ezra’s left shoulder when I face him.
