"Here they come." He stood and reached down to help her up.
She ignored his hand, standing on her own and brushing imaginary grass from her jeans. He searched her face, silently questioning, but she ignored that, too. She gave him a brief smile constructed mostly of plastic, before taking off toward Cam, who sprinted forward, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her up. They shared a smile that twisted Walsh's stomach into a knot.
"Get everything done?" Cam kissed her lightly on the lips. "You feel good?"
"I feel better now that I'm with you." She smiled into the tenderness of his kiss.
"Hey, dude." Cam smiled at Walsh over Kerris's shoulder. "'Bout time you joined the living. I hope you won't be such a drag all summer."
Walsh returned his smile, watching Cam lower Kerris back to the ground. She was where she belonged. He'd only just met the woman yesterday. He refused to believe the signals his heart kept sending him. Things like that didn't happen in real life. Cam was the best friend he'd ever had. The bond they'd built over years of happiness and hurt-that was real.
A silver-blond goddess walked up behind Cam, looking like she'd walked off the set of an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot. Knowing his friend Sofie, she might have.
"Did you have a good nap, Walsh?" Sofie stepped close enough for him to smell her perfume mixing with the scents of the outdoors.
He'd known her since preschool. Her father had been right beside his, building the Bennett empire. Her recent success in modeling had landed her on an unwritten "It Girl" list, and she was starting a new role as celebrity goodwill ambassador for the Walsh Foundation. He knew, though, that he was the real reason she was in Rivermont.
She caught his hand. He sharpened the look he gave her to a fine point, hoping she knew what it meant.
Don't even think about it. It's never going to happen.
"Yeah, it was just what I needed." He freed his hand, deliberately and gently. "You ready to meet the Walsh Foundation board on Monday?"
"I think so." Un-Sofie-like tentativeness filled her bottle green eyes. "I just hope I'm what they're looking for."
"They're looking for someone refined, well-spoken, and who'll bring positive attention to our cause." He reassured her with his smile, forcing himself to keep his eyes trained on her, rather than straying to the couple still talking a few feet away. "And the fact that your dad is my father's right-hand man doesn't hurt. Plus, your good looks don't hurt."
"So you do think I'm pretty?" She slid a chunk of hair behind her ear and flashed a too-wide smile.
He had known since high school that he could have Sofie whenever he wanted her. Problem was, he just didn't see her that way. She was beautiful, with a cover-worthy body, but there wasn't enough beyond the shiny packaging to hold his attention.
"Look at you, fishing for compliments." He brushed a finger down her perfect nose, keeping his tone fraternal. "Does it really matter what I think when the rest of the world is at your feet?"
"It does to me," she said, no smile.
"Sof-" She stopped whatever he'd been about to say with the well-manicured finger she placed across his lips.
"When you're ready to give me a chance, I'll be waiting." She dragged him toward the riverbank, smiling like she knew what was best for him. "For now, let's show these country bumpkins what the captain of the rowing team can do."
"Is it a race?" He glanced past her to where their friends were lining up canoes on the river. He was nothing if not competitive, another legacy from his father. He felt a tiny thrill of anticipation. He hadn't rowed in years, not since high school.
"Yeah, it's a race," Cam said from his canoe, where Kerris had already settled in front of him. "And we're gonna kick your ass, Bennett."
Never one to leave a gauntlet on the ground, Walsh staked his claim in the canoe beside them, helping Sofie get situated. He and Cam had a time-honored tradition of competing. The more trash talking, the better.
"You gonna kick my ass, Mitchell? That'd be a first."
"Would you two just load in and stop with all the talking?" Jo laughed from her canoe. "I'm ready to kick some ass myself."
* * *
In the end, Sofie and Walsh triumphed, and rubbed it in mercilessly.
"Did we forget to mention that we were both captains of our high school rowing teams?" Sofie asked, hoisted on Walsh's shoulder like a trophy.
Kerris laughed like everyone else, not begrudging them their fair and square victory, but a knot of briars rolled around in her stomach at the sight of Sofie and Walsh together. They both looked so perfect. And she had no right to this feeling, whatever they were to each other.
"Disgusting, huh?" Jo settled on the ground beside Kerris.
"What's disgusting?" Kerris looked away from their good-natured gloating, meeting Jo's eyes.
"Them." Jo smiled and pointed her chin toward Sofie and Walsh. "I mean, it's not enough that they both look genetically engineered. They have to have the money, education, and athleticism to back it all up. What line were they standing in to get all that, huh?"
Kerris looked at the couple again. She'd noticed the way Sofie looked at Walsh, as if at any moment the sun would set on him.
"Have they known each other long?"
"Only since birth." Jo skipped a pebble across the river's surface. "If arranged marriages still happened, you'd be looking at one. Not formally, of course, but everyone knows that's where Walsh'll end up."
Kerris watched Sofie and Walsh splash water on each other at the edge of the river.
"Sofie's father is Uncle Martin's right-hand man. They've always been in the same schools. Hung in the same circles. And she's always loved him."
"And how does he feel?" Kerris wished she could retract the nosy question.
"Walsh may date other girls, sleep with other girls even, but everyone knows the deal. He may play the field, but Sofie's home base. That's where he'll settle down."
Kerris felt more than saw the speculative glance Jo flitted between her and the couple.
"A guy like Walsh has the world in the palm of his hand. He needs a woman who knows what to do with it. That's Sofie. They aren't people who can marry just anybody."
Not just anybody, and certainly not a nobody. Remember that, little girl, Kerris told herself. He's out of your league. He's gorgeous. He's been groomed to charm birds from trees. He flies all over the world, rescuing orphans just like you.
There were a million reasons she had responded to Walsh Bennett the way she had. And a million reasons she should avoid him. She would spend the whole summer making sure she didn't forget that.
Chapter Six
Over the next month, Kerris and Meredith put their shoulders to the plow readying Déjà Vu for its end-of-summer grand opening. In the mornings, they cleaned houses for Maid 4 U. They needed a comfortable financial cushion as insurance for the thrift store's potential slow start. Meredith had a nice little nest egg, and Kerris refused to touch the money she had won as Scholar of the Year.
They cleaned houses all morning, squeezed in a hurried lunch, and then resumed cleaning in the afternoons. From there, they would comb the city and surrounding areas for unique finds to stock the shop with the beautiful, unusual, affordable pieces they wanted to build their reputation on. They spent most evenings sanding floors, painting and wallpapering, staining, decorating-whatever it took to transform the space into what they dreamed it could be.
It was a bruising pace, but Kerris knew it was worth it, and in another month, they could have it all done. They didn't deny themselves little breaks here and there. When one of them received an invitation to a party, or a picnic, or even a game of volleyball, they gave themselves permission to take guilt-free advantage of it. These slices of leisure kept Kerris sane. Most of those times were spent with Cam and his friends, who were determined to enjoy the gorgeous weather and one another's company.
They were halcyon days filled with horseshoes, baseball games, outdoor concerts, and the river. That summer Kerris fell in love. In love with the water, sometimes placid and tranquil, other times rushing so violently that the banks alongside seemed barely able to contain it. In love with the lullaby of moving water whispering its promises to her as she drifted off to sleep under a canopy of trees. Cam's cottage was just over the hill, so the river became the centerpiece of that summer, her oasis from the commitments she balanced to make this new chapter of her life unfold.