The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(9)

Raina gasped, horrified, and clapped a hand to her heart, bracelets jingling. “From that death distributor in the hallway?”

Brynn looked amused. “You mean the vending machine?”

“Oh my God. Have I taught you nothing?”

“It fell right into my mouth.”

“That stuff will kill you!”

“Raina, not now,” Olive murmured. “Remember? Pick your battles.”

“You’re right.” Raina cupped Brynn’s face lovingly and then kissed each cheek. “You’re really okay?”

“Yes.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re fibbing, but you will be okay. How can you not be? You’ve got us.”

Brynn gave a soft snort and hugged them again, her expression clear now: half-amused and half-annoyed affection. There was an energy about her. Part Raina, with the warm and quirky spirit, and part Olive, with the cool, dry wit. But what Eli liked most was that it was clear she genuinely loved her moms, and they loved her back.

That’s when he realized Brynn was looking at him. Noticing him as a man, while still not recognizing him.

But he called bullshit on that. Maybe if they’d never become friends back then. Maybe if he hadn’t been the one she’d come to with that long-ago summer deal—she’d wanted her first kiss, the deal being that they never talk about it. Sold. It’d been his first kiss too, although he’d never told her that.

She was pretending not to remember him. Annoying, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Kinsey, and having her run into Brynn could be the very best thing to ever happen to her.

Brynn pulled free of her moms, her gaze still on him. “So, um . . . this is Eli, the very kind stranger who gave me the candy bar.”

Ha. Gotcha. “Not a stranger,” he said.

She actually stood there and tried to sell him on pretending to not understand. “Excuse me?” she asked.

Oh, she was good. But he was better. And there was no way in hell he was going to make this easy on her. “You introduced me by name.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Actually, honey, you did,” Raina said helpfully.

Brynn froze for a beat. Then winced before smoothing out her expression from oh, shit to dammit. “You told me what it was at the vending machine,” she said.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Fine. So I knew who you were.” She looked at her moms. “He’s from summer camp.”

“Oh, so he’s that Eli,” Olive said.

“Mom.”

That Eli. What did that mean, he wondered.

“It’s been a long time,” Brynn told him.

It had been. Fourteen years, in fact. He wasn’t big on coincidences, but if he had been, this one was too big to ignore. After all these years, to see her again, today of all days. It was surely a sign meant for Kinsey. Although he had zero idea how to get Kinsey that sign, except to stall. How long could it take her to get discharged and dressed? A long time, he knew. “So . . . what are you up to these days?” he asked, doing his part.

“Oh.” She shrugged. “A little of this and that. I just got back into town.”

“To stay?”

“I’m hoping.” She eyed her two moms, both of whom looked elated at this news. “I’ll need a teaching job and a place to live, but if that all pans out, then, yeah. To stay.”

“Honey, you don’t need a place to live,” Raina said. “We’ve still got your room.”

“What you’ve got is a shrine to a girl who doesn’t exist anymore. And I thought you were going to make it into an office slash workout room.”

“Well, it’s good we didn’t,” Olive said. “Or your bed would be a yoga mat.”

Eli laughed. He thought her family was . . . well, adorable. But Brynn didn’t seem amused. Instead, her eyes seemed oddly haunted, and it reached something inside him that he didn’t want it to. But it wasn’t that that made him speak. It was the fact that, if he couldn’t give Kinsey a kidney, he could do this. He could bring the two of them back into each other’s orbits, which might just be the thing to spark some life back into Kinsey or, at the very least, serve as a reminder that she wasn’t as alone as she thought. “I’ve got a room for rent,” he said.

Everyone stared at him. Raina, looking like she was sorry she’d been so nice. Olive, appraising him with cool eyes.

And Brynn . . . she bit her lower lip. “Here in Wildstone?”

Clearly he wasn’t getting enough oxygen to his brain, because manipulating Kinsey into this situation meant certain death. But that didn’t stop him. “Just outside of town, actually. Right off Beach Drive.”

“You live on the beach?” she asked.

“Across the street.”

“What do you mean exactly, a room for rent?” Olive wanted to know. “Are you looking for a roommate . . . with benefits?”

“Mom,” Brynn said, but then turned back to Eli. “Okay, yeah. What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” he said. “I’ve got a big, old house that costs a fortune to keep up.” It was the usual spiel when someone wanted to know something personal and he didn’t want to give it. Because the personal was . . . a little too personal. “So I have roommates.”