I glance up, confused. “What?”
“You seem perplexed.”
I grin. “Perplexed? No, I’m fine. Oh, but I do have news. Remember, I told you that I was buying a lake house with my sister?”
“I remember. That was last summer? I thought the deal fell through.”
“It did, but we found another place. Same lake.”
“That’s great.”
“If everything goes well, it will close next month. I hope it does because I have some vacation accrued, and I’d like to just relax up there.”
“Well, I’d love to check the place out sometime,” he says.
“Of course. Once my sister and I work out a schedule, I’ll invite you guys up.”
I stareout at the lake. Yes, it was worth working with the most annoying real estate agent in the world to get this place. Fortunately, my sister dealt with her so I didn’t have to. And this weekend, I get the cabin all to myself. Operation relax is going to happen.
The water is like glass. I push my kayak off the shore and then hop in. It’s silent this early in the morning except for some birds chirping.
As I row to the middle of the lake, I spot a familiar woman kayaking toward me.
No way. It can’t be her. I’m seeing things.
I can’t pretend I haven’t seen her, as we are the only two out here this early.
“Hunter?” she calls to me.
Few call me by my real name, and damn, I wish I didn’t like the sound of it on her lips. I hold up a hand to wave. If I’m not at least polite, my sister will rip me a new one.
She glides up next to me. “I didn’t realize you were a morning person. You strike me more as a night owl.”
I’m not sure how that’s an insult, but coming from her, I’m sure it is. “Nope. Morning person.” I keep it short—something I’ve learned is best when talking to Savvy Williams.
She smiles her fake smile. “Are you planning to stay long?”
“On the lake or at the cabin?”
A breeze comes up and tries to pull her away. Instead of taking the hint, she uses her oar to row herself back in line with me.
“The cabin.”
I shrug. Something tells me if I tell her my weekend plans, she’ll make it her job to make me miserable.
“I can just ask your sister.”
It’s true. She can. But I didn’t tell my sister I was coming. We share a calendar for it so that we don’t try to use it at the same time. It’s a great cabin but not large enough for me, plus all of my sister’s friends, whom she likes to bring up here. Which I thought might include Savvy, who is not only a friend of my sister’s but the real estate agent who brokered the deal on the cabin for us.
“What brings you to this lake? I thought it was private,” I say.
Savvy grins. “It is. Maria didn’t mention I own the house two doors down from you?”
I ground my teeth. No, of course, she didn’t because she knew I’d walk away if I had known that. That’s how much I don’t want to be around this woman. It’s not that I hate her; it’s just that she rubs me the wrong way.
Ever since we first met, every word out of her mouth seems like some underhanded insult. Maria says I’m overreacting and that Savvy is nice. But I’m not so sure.
“Wow, you really dislike me that much, don’t you?” she says.
