Speeding, I drive back into Lake Starlight, but am greeted with sirens and flashing lights.

Fuck. As I pull over, I hit the steering wheel with my fist. I wait for Sheriff Miller to walk up to my car. He knows it’s me. We’re way too familiar with one another.

“Liam Kelly!”

Oh shit. It’s not Sheriff Miller. I mean, I’m sure he’s in the car. And I think he needs a lecture when it comes to this woman.

“Dori,” I say. The lights from Sheriff Miller’s squad car shine through her thin blue hair. “Doing some meet-and-greets tonight?”

“I’m not in the mood for your jokes tonight. Unlock your doors.” She rounds the hood of my car and waves back to Sheriff Miller.

I unlock the door, and she slides into my car before putting on her seatbelt. “Am I giving you a ride home?”

“You’re giving me a ride to Savannah’s so you two can kiss and make up.”

After Sheriff Miller honks and drives past, I pull out into traffic. “I was just on my way.”

“You were?”

The surprise in her tone makes me smile. “What? Upset that you can’t talk me into it?”

I know her MO. She’s the one who talks sense into her grandchildren when they’ve made a mistake. She meddles in all their love affairs, and she seems to be on some quest to get all her grandkids married. That includes Savannah and me.

She pouts. “A little.”

“Shouldn’t you be talking to Savannah?”

“You’re my grandson too, and I think you need to hear what I’m going to say more than Savannah. I left her in capable hands though.”

Austin, I presume. “You don’t have to lecture me. I’m on my way to her. I know I misconstrued the entire thing.”

“You really didn’t.”

Say what?

We get stopped at a light. Sheriff Miller turns on his lights and siren to run it. Nice.

“What?” I ask.

“I want you to know, you’re a Bailey. Maybe not by blood, but I’ve always thought of you as my grandchild. Which makes it slightly incest with you and Savannah.”

“Um. No, no it doesn’t.”

“Kind of,” she says matter-of-factly.

“No. Not at all.”

She shrugs. “You loved Tim and Beth like parents. Didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make Savannah my sister.”

She laughs. “I meant that you lost them too.”

I say nothing until I’m five minutes away from Savannah’s. “I can drop you off at Northern Lights.”

She shoos me with her hand. “I like to watch the making up.”

“No offense, Dori, but that sounds creepy.”