"How's the ever-charming Rusty?" he asked after a minute, moving his head backward to indicate the store.
"Rusty wasn't there. Dusty was."
"Oh, well how's Dusty? In-bred as usual?"
I laughed, but sucked it back in. "That's mean." I paused. "Dusty, she's all right."
He chuckled. "I know. I'm just kidding. I mean . . . mostly." We walked in silence for a few minutes.
I looked to my left when I heard a car engine approach and watched as a black Mercedes drove slowly by. I averted my eyes quickly, turning my head away and toward Kyland. He furrowed his brow. "You know Edward Kearney?" he asked.
I kept looking at him until I heard the car drive past us. I shook my head. "No. Not really," I said, blushing slightly as I watched the back of his car move away—the car that cost more than the yearly salary of three miners. Kyland didn't need to know my family's dirty laundry. I wondered what Edward Kearney was doing driving through this town, though—there was nothing here that would interest him. I should know.
"They found all kinds of safety infractions at the old mine," Kyland said, his eyes still on the back of the car. "After the collapse, Tyton Coal paid a fine. A fine," he repeated bitterly.
"I know," I said. "I heard that." I couldn't blame him for being bitter about that. He'd lost so much. We walked without speaking for a while, the birdsong in the trees ringing out around us, filling our silence. After a few minutes, the mood seemed to lift, Kyland's shoulders relaxing.
As we were about to approach the trail that led to the cliff where Kyland had followed me a few days before, he said, "The sun's about to set. Should we catch the show, Princess?" He winked and my hormones went a little wonky.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "Well . . . I was going home to soak in our multi-jet hot tub, maybe eat some bonbons, but . . . Oh, sure."
Kyland smiled and steered me onto the damp trail. "By the way," he said, "if this is your way of luring me into the woods so that you can take advantage of me, I want you to know, I'm not that kind of boy."
I snorted. "Oh, you're exactly that kind of boy."
He looked behind him, pretending to be offended. I laughed. "And you're the one luring me, by the way. This was your idea."
His glance was quick this time, his cocky smile just a shade darker. "You can trust me."
I laughed. "Doubtful." As we walked, I wondered, though—he'd never seemed wanting of female company, so what was he doing with me? Why did he keep showing up where I was?
We came out on the other side and settled ourselves on the same rock we'd sat on before, Kyland placing my grocery bags next to him on a rock that was mostly dry.
We sat for a minute, looking out at the sunset that rose red and orange above the line of fog as if the whole top of the sky had lit on fire. Our thighs touched, his warm against mine. The smell of the rain was still in the air and raindrops glistened in the trees around us.
We had been joking and laughing a few minutes before, but suddenly, the mood between us had shifted once again. I glanced over at Kyland and his face was tense. What was he thinking when he suddenly started brooding like that?
"So you never told me what that Silas dude found that changed his life," he finally said.
I squinted over at him. He was staring straight ahead as if he didn't care what my answer was.
"Why don't you read the book?" I offered.
"Pfft. Just what I need. To waste my time reading about someone else's sucky life."
"Then why are you asking about it?"
"Just making conversation."
"Oh, right." I said, raising one eyebrow.
We were both silent for a few moments before I asked, "So, what colleges have you applied to?" I knew that like me, he must have if he was hoping to apply the scholarship to one.
"All schools on the east coast," he said, still looking out to the sky. After a second, he turned to me and said, "Mostly schools in or near New York City. All my life, I've just felt like . . ." he paused as if searching for the right wording, "I was meant to do something, you know? Something." His voice had become animated as he was talking and he suddenly looked embarrassed. "What about you?"
I cleared my throat. "I applied to a couple around here and a couple in California."
He looked at me. "California?"
I shrugged. "I've always wanted to see the ocean."
Kyland kept staring at me, finally nodding slightly. "Yeah," he said simply. I stared back at him, my eyes darting down to his lips and suddenly, something ignited in the air—something unseen, but real all the same. I felt it and I knew Kyland felt it, too, by the way he startled very slightly. He adjusted himself where he sat. I felt my cheeks flush and was surprised at how hard it was to breathe properly. There was something intense and almost pained in Kyland's expression. He moved just a little bit closer and up close like this I could see a light sprinkling of freckles on his nose, under his tan—as if his childhood sat just beneath his skin. And the outer rim of his gray eyes was a soft blue, like sunny days were just off in the distance.
"Kyland—"