“Awesome. So we have all night.” I pulled her closer to me, and she leaned her back up against her car.
“Umm. Maybe longer. There’s probably no way I’ll get back inside tonight. The place is Bound a thousand times over.”
“You can stay with me if you want to.” I kissed her neck, working my way up to her ear. My mouth was already burning, but I didn’t care. “Why are we going to this stupid party again when we have a perfectly good car right here?”
She pushed up onto her toes, kissing me until my head was pounding as hard as my heart. Then she pulled back, ducking away. “Aunt Mercy and Aunt Grace would really love that, wouldn’t they? It would almost be worth it to see the looks on their faces when I came down to breakfast in the morning. Maybe I could wear one of your towels.” She started to laugh, and I pictured it all right, only the shrieking in my head was so loud, I gave up.
“Let’s just say, the language could get a whole lot stronger than ‘fanny.’ ”
“I bet they’d call the ‘durned po-lice.’ ” She was right.
“Yeah, but I’m the one they’d have arrested for compromising your virtue.”
“Then I guess we better pick up Link, before you have the chance.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d set foot in Savannah’s house, but I started to feel uncomfortable the minute we walked up to the stairs. There were pictures of her everywhere—wearing sparkly tiaras and all kinds of MISS AREN’T-I-BETTER-THAN-YOU? sashes, posing with her cheer uniform and pom-poms—and a whole row of what I guess were supposed to be modeling head shots, featuring Savannah in bathing suits, with fake eyelashes and too much lipstick. From the looks of it, she’d been wearing lipstick since she got out of diapers.
Turns out, the Snows didn’t really need party decorations. Past the table covered with a hundred basketball cupcakes, past the punch bowl with little plastic basketballs frozen into the ice ring, past the chicken salad sandwiches made into basketballs with little round cookie cutters, Savannah was the biggest decoration of all. She was still wearing her cheer uniform, but she had written Link’s name on one cheek and drawn a giant pink heart on the other. She stood in the middle of the backyard—waiting, smiling, generally lighting up the place as if she was the Christmas tree at a Christmas party. And the minute Savannah saw Link, it was like someone had flipped the switch that turned on all her lights.
“Wesley Lincoln!”
“Hey there, Savannah.”
Savannah was hoping for some serious sparks between them, but she didn’t have a chance. When it came to Link, there was only one girl who could cause that kind of spark, and it was only a matter of minutes until she arrived and really lit up the place.
More like an hour.
That’s when Ridley got there and ratcheted things up a notch or two—or two hundred. “Evening, boys.”
Link’s head whipped around when he saw her, and he broke into a smile about a mile wide, confirming what I knew all along. Ridley was still under his skin, and pretty much everywhere else. I knew what that kind of radar felt like. It was the way I felt about Lena.
Uh-oh. This isn’t good, L.
I know.
“Come on. I think it’s going to get ugly.” I took Lena’s hand and turned to leave, and there was Liv. Lena shot me a look.
Crap.
With everything else going on, I’d forgotten all about giving Liv the invitation.
“Lena.” Liv smiled.
“Liv.” Lena sort of smiled. “I didn’t know if you were coming.”
“Really? I left Ethan a note.” Liv smiled at me pointedly.
“Really.” Lena shot me a look that said I’d be hearing about this later.
Liv shrugged. “Well, you know Ethan.” Don’t you? That’s what Lena heard.
“Yeah, I do.” Lena wasn’t smiling anymore.
I started to panic and noticed the punch table, a good fifteen feet away. That seemed like a safe distance. “I’m going to get something to eat. Anybody want anything?”
“Nope.” Liv smiled at me like everything was fine.
“Not a thing.” Lena smiled at me like she was about to kill me.
I escaped as quickly as I could.
Mrs. Snow was standing by the punch bowl talking to two men I’d never seen before. They were both wearing university caps and collared shirts. “It’s a surprise,” Mrs. Snow told them. “That’s why my daughter wanted to throw this little get-together. She wanted you to be able to talk to Wesley in a casual environment.”
“That sure was kind of your daughter, ma’am.”
“Savannah’s a very thoughtful girl. Always puttin’ others first. And her boyfriend, Wesley, is a real talented basketball player. That’s why my husband asked y’all to come up. And Wesley comes from a good, churchgoing family. His mother’s got a hand in everythin’ that goes on in this town.”