I sit up again. “He did? What?”
Her smile stretches into a grin. “You have exactly two hours and fifteen minutes to meet him at Moon Rock from the time I tell him you’re on your way, or he’s coming back to Creekville to drive you there himself.”
“Wh-what?” It’s so…so…caveman.
“I wouldn’t test him.”
I freeze, not sure what I should do. I know it makes me a bad feminist to run when a man crooks his finger, but…dang. It isworkingfor me.
“If it helps,” she adds, “he also said he thinks you read today wrong and he’s going to set you straight.”
“Like talk it out?” The way any sweet, cinnamon roll of a man would?
“No. Definitely ‘set you straight.’” She plucks at her shirt like she needs cool air.
Iama bad feminist. I pause to see if I can rescue my principles, but nope. “I better get on the road.”
My mom gives a small whoop. “I really like him, Tabitha. So yes, I really think you better.”
Chapter 32
Momshoosmeoutthe door with a hug and a promise to text Sawyer that I’m on the way.
“This is a huge sacrifice, you know.” She holds her cell phone up. “I’m dying to see what would happen if he came out here to get you.”
“Mo-o-o-om.”
“Go, go.” She sends me off with a swat on my bum.
I run every possibility through my mind of what Sawyer wants me out there for. And specifically to Moon Rock.
It could be bad. It could be he wants to dump me face-to-face. But wouldn’t he have told me to meet him at the dock if that were the case? And besides, he said I’d gotten today wrong.
Which means…
Maybe for him it was good? And if it’s good, and he doesn’t want me running off again, and he wants me to meet him at Moon Rock…
My fingers tighten on the steering wheel, and I cruise fifteen miles over the speed limit all the way to camp, catching glimpses of fireworks now and then through the gaps in the trees.
I park by the main office and get out, hearing the sounds of a camp Fourth of July. Ben and Natalie—okay, Ben—have continued the tradition of letting the counselors put on a fireworks display for the campers by shooting them off over the lake.
Tomorrow, the campers will each take a shift going out in the canoes to collect the debris, but the counselors make it a game, and they don’t mind.
The regular camp lights all burn, but the buildings are dark, and I grab the flashlight my mom handed me on my way out of her door, per Sawyer’s directions. I’m glad he remembered because I was so flustered when I left that I wouldn’t have thought of it.
I pause at the Moon Rock trailhead, not sure I’m any less flustered now. Sawyer is up there. Up there waiting for me. And I hope—Ibelievehe’s going to say things I want to hear.
I start on the trail, listening to the sound of slight rustles in the underbrush and the crack of the lake fireworks. I focus on my breathing, keeping it even on the slight incline leading up to Sawyer.
Leading up to the man I love.
Leading up to the only man who can crook his finger and make me come running.
I force myself to stay at a brisk walk. A very brisk walk.
Ten minutes later, I step into the clearing. Sawyer stands in the center, waiting for me.
“Hey,” I say, quietly.
