Jack has been a mentor to me, and I’m grateful for it. He’s had a tough run in life, and Lake Lorelei is lucky we got him to leave Washington D.C. to come run the fire station here. I started at the same time he took the job, so we’ve had a chance to bond. You know, in the way guys do—we fish, go to baseball games, or eat. Pretty simple, really.
“Was just saying it would be great if you got at least one rig done today, no need to try for any more. I can get the other guys to finish what you don’t.” He eyes me. “Where’s your head? Still at the Red Bird?”
Was I that obvious?“No, sir. My head is straight as a pin, and I’m right here, present and accounted for.”
Jack chuckles and pats my shoulder. “Calm down. You’re not the first man to see a pretty girl and go all mushy. Just make sure you get your work done, okay?”
“Yes, sir.” I turn to give him a mock salute but find he’s already gone, like a flash, the same way he came in. I swear, that guy is like a cat. He needs a bell around his neck so we know where he is. Even Jack can see I’m pining for Freya. Freya, whose emerald green eyes can pull me in like I’m theMillenium Falcon and she’s the Death Star, but in a less tragic way. Freya, the girl who always makes me laugh. Freya, who was flirting back with me today, and man, did I like it. My body liked it, and so did my heart.
Seeing her today it became apparent—I love Freya Fredericks and always have.
And now she’s back, finally, and I heard through the Lake Lorelei rumor mill she might even be coming back for good.
The Fourth of July has always been her favorite part of the year. I know this because I knowher.And all of my best memories from this holiday are by her side, usually on the dock at her grandmother’s house, watching the fireworks explode in the sky above.
If I’m going to get Freya to fall for me, this is the week to make it happen. To let her know I’m still right here and I’m not going anywhere.
This is the week I’m going to win her heart.
CHAPTER 4
Freya
“Was today everything you remembered?”
Maisey plops down next to me on the end of the dock, handing me a glass of her famous sweet tea. Sweet tea in the south is the best, although some folks make it with so much sugar you can chew it. Oh, who am I kidding? I love drinking those, too.
“It was everything I remembered and more. Who would have thought that slinging cafe hash with your auntie would be so much fun?”
I trace a figure eight on the top of Lake Lorelei’s surface with the tips of my toes while turning to Maisey and batting my eyelashes. She’s having none of it.
“Hash, girl, that’s a ‘how dare you’ moment around here. Those potatoes are your grandmother’s recipe. For your information, she used to grow her own vegetables in her garden and her potatoes used to…”
“…take first place at the county fair.” I groaned. “I get it. She was a miracle worker.”
“Miracle worker? No, girl, they were just potatoes.”Maisey laughs and swats my arm. “I was going to say she was a winner, not try to lay any kind of great prophecy on ya.”
“Potatoes or prophecy?” I shrug, deciding to quote our favorite game show. “I’ll take potatoes for two hundred dollars, Alex.”
“Do potatoes mean Wyatt?”
“Potatoes are potatoes, Maisey.” Cutting my eyes in her direction, I watch her take a sip from her glass, making sure she doesn’t dare meet my gaze. “It was good to see him. Really good. He’s going to stop by later so we can catch up, maybe go out for a bit.”
“Ahh, so you’re here what, less than two days, and already lining up a date?”
“No, not a date. It’s Wyatt. We don’t date.”
Maisey laughs. No, she actually snorts with laughter that echoes off the lake and reverberates back at us a thousand times over.
“Why is it that you think Wyatt isn’t the dating kind? Is it because he doesn't have a lawnmower that’s sweet enough for you?”
She has me there. I start giggling, I can’t help it. “It was pretty ingenious of me, though, you have to admit it. Not many folks would see a lawnmower and think ‘I should drive that to work’ but I did. And I got there on time.”
“You have a way of making an entrance, that’s for sure. For the record, you were five minutes early.” She scoots closer to me, leveling her gaze across the lake, taking in the view.
When I was a little girl, this view always made my heart explode. I’d sit up late at night in my room watching the lights from the houses surrounding the lake twinkle on the water, illuminating the lapping waves in a mesmerizing and tranquil way that would always lull me to sleep. Some of those nights, Wyatt was by my side. Sometimes we were in the living room fort we built every year until we were too old for that kind ofthing any longer, but we also made sure to spend a few nights each summer in the tent my dad would always put up in the backyard.
Sitting here reminiscing, my lips curl upward. Another memory with Wyatt as my co-star. That boy truly was a part of my life every summer for as long as I can remember.
