Page 47 of The Kiss Keeper
“Then we should go,” she answered, sharing a quick look with Jake as the children headed for the trail leading away from camp and into the thick foliage.
He held the door for her, and they walked in silence, several paces behind the children.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you,” he said with his hands in his pockets.
She stared ahead, needing to collect herself and to remember that he wasn’t her Jake. She raised her chin. “It’s okay. Like I said, things feel more powerful here. It’s part of the—”
“Magic,” he supplied.
She nodded as they followed the dirt path into the heart of the woods, then glanced up at him. The softness in his expression had reverted to the stone-faced man she’d met at the airport.
“What do you do when you’re not pretending to be somebody’s boyfriend?” she asked, hoping to ease the tension.
“I’m in commercial real estate.”
“You build things?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered, his voice void of emotion and his gaze trained on the path.
This Jake didn’t seem keen on sharing.
“Are you from Colorado?” she pressed, grasping for something benign for them to talk about.
“No.”
“Then, where?” she chimed.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Michigan.”
“Is your family still there?”
“No.”
“Well, where are they now?” she tried.
This was going nowhere fast. Maybe hewasa serial killer. They walked a few more paces when he broke the silence.
“How big is the camp?”
“Like acreage?” she asked, grateful for some shred of conversation.
“Yeah.”
“It’s pretty big. The camp stretches from the cove up the coast where it meets the Atlantic. I think my grandparents own almost five hundred acres, and then there’s a nature preserve that surrounds it, so it feels like there are woods and trees and wildlife for miles.”
“Hmm,” he answered as if he were ticking off a box.
“My grandfather won the land in a card game,” she added—a fact that usually intrigued people.
Jake glanced over at her. “Really?”
“It was a long time ago in Boston. He won the land from some guy, and then he and my grandma got married here the very next day.”
Jake glanced around. “They married here?”
“Yeah, right by the water.”
“Do you know what this place is worth?” he asked.
