Page 19 of Sound and Deception

“Too normal?”

“Yep. You remember the Givens’s place?”

I sifted through several mental files of island news for a few moments. “You mean that old place by itself on the north side? I thought the old lady moved to a care facility on the mainland.”

“Yeah, she did. Passed away last year. The relatives didn’t want to put any money into the place, so I got it cheap, well, cheap for around here.”

“That place was falling apart when we were in high school.”

Noah shrugged. “Looked like it, yeah, but the structure in the main house is solid. I have my bedroom/studio on the top floor, so that was first to get fixed up. The rest of the place is rough but slowly coming around.”

“Congrats. You have a rich uncle or something?” I let myself out of the paddock, blocking the opening with my body to keep the alpacas from following. I shut and locked the gate behind me.

“Yeah.”

“Seriously?” I stared at him.

“No, but my real dad left me some cash. Along with some good investments. You should come by and I’ll give you a tour.”

I couldn’t deny my curiosity. “Maybe some time.”

He smiled and reached out a hand to me. “Wanna take a walk in the meantime?”

I glanced back at the house before peeking at my watch. It didn’t really matter what time it was, to be honest, considering we wouldn’t be loading everything up until late afternoon, but the motion bought me a couple extra seconds. Despite all the warm feelings building inside, I wasn’t supposed to stay here. I had a real job and another life, but my inner voice and gut fell silent. “Sure.”

Noah grinned and offered his arm, which I took. I told myself I didn’t want to be rude.

Gravel and dead grass crunched under our feet as we walked toward the tree line. It was an unspoken but agreed direction, and neither one of us questioned it. I’m not even sure how many times we’d traversed fields and woods to reach the tiny clearing that served as Gram’s property border.

An excited shriek from above made us both pause long enough to watch a bald eagle glide over us. He landed in one of the fir trees just ahead and seemed to cock his head to get a better look at us.

We found the trail, a little overgrown, but still recognizable. The temperature dropped several more degrees and I shivered, suddenly aware I only wore a hoodie.

“You okay?” Noah shot me a side look.

“Fine. Race you!” I let go of his arm and rabbited ahead, reveling in the moment of childlike freedom, but hoping I didn’t trip and sprawl on my face.

“Cheater!” Noah snapped out the playful reprimand and bounded after me. His rapid heavy steps stayed on my tail because there was little space to pass me.

A couple hundred yards later, I shot into the clearing, giggling, and whirled around to face him. Like any accurate self-fulfilling prophecy, my foot found a small hole near the heavy log worn smooth by many years of people parking their derrieres, and I lost my balance.

Before I could land on my ass, Noah caught me around the waist to keep me upright. We gazed at one another, both breathing hard, before he broke a smile. “Good to know you’re still kind of a klutz.”

“I think I was pre-destined to be clumsy the moment I popped into the world.” I tried to calm my breathing from our sudden sprint, but found it difficult. His brown eyes remained steady on mine.

“I remember well. Not long after we met, you fell out of a tree and broke your wrist.”

I grimaced. “Yikes. Yeah, I guess I did.”

“And I got to carry your backpack for you.”

“My school buddy.” I hadn’t thought about it in years. “You would get off at my bus stop to walk me to the house.”

“I was happy to do it. I just liked being close to you.” We hadn’t moved. One of his hands remained on my waist and the other reached out and gently wrapped a strand of my hair around his forefinger. Although the darkest shade of brown, it looked black against his perpetually tanned flesh.

His gaze hadn’t wandered from mine, and I couldn’t break the connection on my end, even though I knew I should. He lifted his hands to cradle my face, his touch gentle, skin slightly calloused.

Noah leaned down, a breath from my lips.

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