Riley next returned to Greenwood nine days later, on a Saturday morning. She’d been slow in replying to Alley and Celia’s repeated invitations, hoping that if she gave herself enough time to process everything, her lingering fears would recede. They hadn’t. It was with trembling hands that she finally replied to Alley. ‘I can come on Saturday.’

‘Awesome! The guys are going deer hunting,’ Alley replied. ‘Half the folks who live here will be gone. Maybe you’ll be comfortable with fewer people around? :-)’

‘Perfect. I’ll be there at 9.’

The two of them planned to sunbathe by the lake. Alley was already laying on a bright pink towel near the top of the levee when Riley arrived at camp. Two others were also laying on beach towels in the field. One was an elder woman. The other was a bright red rabbit.

As Riley ambled up the hill, enjoying the beautiful day, she heard, “I advise you to lay out all day!” Violet was staring at her from the screened porch of the dining hall. “I’ve never seen anyone in more dire need of a tan.”

Riley glowed brighter as she continued up the hill.

She saw Alley roll her eyes. “FYI, Riley, you should not take advice from Violet. On tanning or on anything else. She has the least life experience, if you will, of anyone in this camp. Plus she’s generally a witch.”

Riley chuckled. “I’m pretty sure the inexperience trophy belongs to me now.” She spread her towel out beside Alley’s and removed her top and shorts to reveal her swimsuit. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gabriel — who was fishing with one of the elders on the dock — step back a few paces and crane his neck to get a better look at her.

I thought the guys were going hunting...?

Riley sat down quickly on her towel, blushing.

“Now what makes you say that?” Alley smiled. “Were you very sheltered? Never been kissed?”

“The last time I kissed someone, I was thirteen. And I have never been on a real date.”

Alley stared over her sunglasses. “You’re kidding. Did your brother not let you date? Or are you super religious or something.”

“Neither.” Riley lay down and turned her head toward Alley. “My brother Jack’s best friend is a guy named Will. All four of us — Will, Jack, Reed and me — were inseparable when we were growing up, but there was something very special between Will and me.”

Alley grinned. “Is he the one you kissed?”

“Yes. A few weeks after my father’s funeral. I was upset, he walked in and found me in tears, and he kissed me. Then Jack walked in and saw us kissing, and he completely flipped out. And I get that. I was thirteen at the time, and Will was almost seventeen. His best friend kissing the little sister he was raising? Not good. They didn’t speak to each other for a month. All of us were torn up about being apart, especially right after the funeral, but Jack wouldn’t let Will go anywhere near me.

“Will and Jack finally made up, but Will avoided me from then on. He was still around, and I’d catch him looking at me sometimes, but he wouldn’t interact with me anymore. It really hurt. I feel like I lost him and my father at the same time.”

“Oh, that sucks!”

“Yes.” Riley frowned. “Will started dating other girls then, too. A lot of other girls. And by ‘dating’ what I really mean is...”

Alley made a face. “Yeah.”

“He never had a girlfriend, though. I know he asked my brother at least once if he could go out with me, but Jack said it was out of the question.” Reed had overheard them arguing about it and informed Riley. “What Jack told me was that I could date when I turned sixteen. So I always figured that’s what Will was waiting for too… my sixteenth birthday.”

“What happened when you turned sixteen?”

“Nothing happened.” Riley winced at the pain she heard in her own voice. I sound pathetic. “My birthday came and went, and Will didn’t say a word. He never even wished me a happy birthday.”

“Ouch.”

“No kidding. That was when I stopped assuming we’d be together someday. But I still didn't want to go out with anyone else, even though my friends and my brother Reed all encouraged me to. During my last year of high school, my best guy friend and I pseudo-dated, just hanging out together, keeping other people off our backs. That’s the closest I’ve come to dating.”

“Why do you think it’s been so hard to get over Will?”

Riley looked at the ground. “Part of it is that I have no idea what happened. I mean, was this all because Jack didn’t want us going out? Or did I just imagine how close we were before? Did he outgrow me? Or was something else going on that I didn’t know about? Those questions have never gone away. It’s tough to put a lid on a box when there are still things sticking out of it, you know?”

“Yeah. That would bother me, too,” Alley said.

“The other problem is that Will was around so much. The last few years I saw him less because he worked in the evenings, but he was still at my house every day. Time might have healed everything if I could’ve distanced myself from him. I knew it would hurt when I left Oklahoma, but I was relieved, too. That situation wasn’t good for me.”

“But Jack moved here with you. If he and Will are that close...”

“You’re right. He’ll turn up eventually. It killed him that we moved to Ohio. That my brothers did, anyway,” Riley mumbled.

“Well, maybe you’ll have moved on by the time he gets here.” Alley smiled and turned her face back toward the sun. “Or moved out.”

Riley, too, turned to face the sun, and the voice inside of her whispered,

—Don’t trust her—

Riley shivered. ‘DON’T trust her?’ I’m supposed to trust Gabe and Xander, but not Alley?

“What’s wrong?” Alley asked.

“I… need more sunscreen.” Riley reached for her lotion bottle. Where is that voice even coming from? Ever since I moved here, it’s been muttering at me. How do I know I can trust IT? Alley is the nicest Greenwood I’ve met so far. Why can’t I trust her?

Out of the corner of her eye, Riley saw Gabe put his fishing pole down and start walking toward them.

Alley chuckled. “I’m surprised he stayed away as long as he did,” she whispered. “He’s so into you! He was ecstatic when I told him we’d be tanning by the dock. He suddenly decided that fishing was preferable to hunting.”

Gabe’s expression as he approached and took in Riley’s body in her bikini was all admiration. “Need a hand?”

Alley gave Riley an ‘I told you so’ expression. Riley blushed again, passing Gabe the lotion bottle. He smiled and seated himself behind her.

“Riley, tell me more about Jack and Reed,” Alley said. “And what was it like to be raised by your brother? I can’t imagine. My brother’s an ass.”

Gabe sighed. “Mine too.”

Riley and Alley both laughed at that. “Jack is amazing,” Riley answered while she rubbed extra lotion on the small clay ring that Xander had given her. “He’s one of those guys that can do anything. Our father was a mechanic, and even when Jack was little, he used to hang out in his shop all the time and help him. And when Mom died and my father fell apart, Jack took over his business. At fifteen, he used to come home from school, change clothes, go straight to the shop, and work until midnight. Then he’d sit up late and do his homework.”

“That’s insane!” Alley said.

Riley pulled her hair over her shoulder, out of Gabe’s way, as his hands moved over her back. “I used to lay awake at night and listen for him to come home. Then I’d get up and go make him a cup of hot chocolate.” Riley smiled at the memory. “I just wanted to see him. He probably didn’t even want hot chocolate, but he always thanked me and drank it anyway. I’d curl up next to him on the couch while he did his homework, and I’d wake back up in my bed the next morning.”

“It’s great that you guys are so close.” Gabe’s tone was affectionate.

“Yeah, he does sound amazing,” Alley said. “Was he strict?”

“Strict isn't the right word. He’s a control freak, and he’s a little misogynistic… he’s all ‘women should do this, and men should do that.’”

“We have a few of those here too,” Alley commiserated.

“But he's been a great parent. He’s so selfless and kind. When it comes to me and guys, though, Jack is beyond overprotective.”

“Even though you’re eighteen now?” Gabe asked, rubbing her back.

“If I were twenty-eight he would be.” Riley glanced over her shoulder at Gabe, who was still rubbing her upper back despite the fact that by now, he had to be done applying lotion. “That feels great,” she confessed.

He rubbed harder, massaging her neck.

“As for my brother Reed,” Riley continued, “well... imagine someone who’s the complete opposite of me, and you’ll be very close.”

“I’d hate him,” Gabe said.

The girls both chuckled again. Riley leaned back into his hands for a moment and glanced at him over her shoulder. “Thanks, Gabe.”

“Want a towel?” Alley asked him in a teasing tone of voice. She’d brought a spare.

Gabe thanked her. He moved to the other side of Riley and spread the towel out beside her, then peeled off his shirt and lay down on his stomach. He rested his head on his crossed arms and grinned at Riley. Then he winked at her. Once again, she couldn’t help but smile and blush.

“You like fishing better than hunting?” she asked.

“Today I do,” Gabe murmured. “Usually not, though. Hunting is more active and more challenging, and I like the male bonding time.”

“Do you hunt a lot?”

“All us guys do, as a clan.”

“They hunt, and we raise the crops,” Alley added.

I wonder how Reed the botanist will feel about that, Riley thought, grinning. “How often do you go hunting?”

“I go twice a week,” Gabe said, “but there are guys out hunting almost every day here. We have a lot of people to feed. Most of the food we eat here comes from our land. Hunting is also a chance to keep an eye on the forest and make sure there haven’t been any intruders. Five thousand acres is a lot to patrol.”

Intruders and patrolling… Riley closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. The sun was almost directly above, but a breeze kept her from feeling too hot. “We couldn’t ask for more perfect weather.”

“I agree, this is decadent.” Alley sighed as she stretched, flexing her fingers toward the sun in a scratching motion. “Cats, turtles and snakes — sunbathing is our thing...”

A shadow passed over Riley’s head, and she looked up.

Ned Turtle.

All three of them sat up and turned toward him.

Ned chuckled. “Don’t get up,” he said as he knelt. “Riley, I have been given the honor of being your mentor. My wife Jane and I would like you to join us in our cabin for dinner this evening so we can get to know each other.”

“I’d love to. Thank you, sir,” she said.

“I’ll meet you at the base of the trail when the dinner bell rings.” He nodded at Gabe and Alley before standing up again. “Have a good afternoon, kids.”

As he strolled away, Alley said, “Of all the elders, he’s my favorite.”

“Mine too,” Gabe said. “You’ll have fun tonight, Riley.”

Riley turned her face back to the sun. Awesome. Now I can get some answers.