Maizie was an absolute jerk.
“I’m so terrible.” Maizie shook her head. “I was worried he was going to leave you like he left Kourtney and Paisyn the last two years.”
“Crazy Paisyn? He had to run away from her. She was obsessed with him.”
That was true. Paisyn was obsessed with every guy.
“Are you mad at me?” Maizie asked.
“Nah. I get it. Relationships tend to freak you out. Even if they aren’t your own.”
Maizie froze. Hadn’t Jayce told her almost the same thing? “What?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll forgive you soon.” Lindsay reassured her.
“Will you get him to talk to me?” Maizie asked.
“I’ll try,” Lindsay said.
“Time to line up at your assigned float.” Rob’s mom, and also their high school vice principal, announced.
Maizie and Lindsay headed in opposite directions to their floats. There were eight in total. Lindsay was on the second one, Maizie on the fifth.
“Hey, Maiz,” Turner’s deep, chilling voice caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up.
“Turner,” she said through tight lips.
“I forgot how gorgeous you looked in that dress at prom.” His eyes trailed her body in a predatory way.
“Leave me alone.”
“Sorry. Bryce traded floats with me. I guess fate has brought us back together.” He brushed his hand along her waist, and she flinched. The sparks she used to have turned into flashing warning lights.
Maizie took a breath and kept walking. She approached the float, unsure of how to climb on.
“Here.” Turner held out his hand.
She looked around for any other solution but found none. Maizie gritted her teeth and took it. His other hand dropped to the small of her back as he steadied her on the trailer. Her blood boiled.
“I’m sorry about the way things ended,” Turner said, standing directly behind her.
“Really? Because I’m not. Now I know how big of a jerk you really are.” Maizie glared at him.
“Ouch. I deserved that.” He sidled up even closer despite Maizie’s rejection. “But I want to make it right.”
She didn’t believe that for one second. “Can’t you stand anywhere else?”
The trailer jerked, and she fell into Turner.
“I think fate is telling me to stand right here,” he said with a smirk.
Maizie pushed away from him and went to stand by the guardrail. This was going to be the longest parade of her life.
* * *
The Independence Dayfloats were impressive, Christian could give this small town that. From Betsy Ross to the Boston Tea Party, this town hadn’t forgotten what sacrifices had provided this nation with its freedom.
But after that, the floats ranged from the kids on tricycles to trucks throwing out cheese curds. He thought it strange how adults flocked around the truck until he tried the cheese curd. Now all parades would forever be ruined because of it.
