“Speak of the devil,” I say, watching George come our way. He eyes me and Charlie sitting closely behind the speaker and walks up.
“Starlee, Ms. Nye wants you to help me get some of the extra patio chairs out of the storage building.”
“Ugh, of course she does.” I struggle to stand and he offers me a hand, lifting me easily off the platform. I look down at Charlie. “You good here?”
“Yep, almost done.” He tightens a small screw. “They’ll be able to hear the hippie music all the way to June Lake tomorrow night.”
“Hippie music?” I ask. I hadn’t thought to look at the line-up.
“Oh yeah, get ready for some hour-long jam sessions,” George says.
“That sounds…”
“Like a nightmare?” Charlie says. “Welcome to Lee Vines. I hope you’ve got a long skirt.”
“A what?”
“Ignore him,” George says. “We better get going before your grandmother sees us out here and gives us something worse to do.”
“Worse than moving chairs?”
He doesn’t say what that could be, but I follow him past the cottages to a small building that butts up against the mountain. I haven’t been back here before but George has a key, and when he opens the door I see stacks of bed frames and mini-refrigerators; anything that is used or has been used in the lodge over the past few years.
The pathway is narrow and George points out the chairs in the back. My foot snags on something hard.
“Ahhh!” I shout, tumbling forward. George turns at the last second, catching me before I fall completely.
“You okay?”
“Yep,” I reply, out of breath. I’m still in his strong arms and he carefully sets me back on my feet.
“Usually I’m the clumsy one.”
“Well,” I say, noting that his hands are still on my hips, “maybe you’ve finally met your match.”
I don’t mean it to come out so flirtatious, but George smirks after I say it. “I suspect that’s true, Starlee Jones, in more ways than one.” His eyes dart down to my lips. “We haven’t had a chance to be alone since t
he waterfall to talk about everything.”
“I know. Things have been a little chaotic.”
“But we’re alone now.” He gestures to an old brown couch. I know Leelee expects us back soon, but I’ve been craving a chance to talk to him and this may be as much privacy as we’re going to get. I sit on the couch and he follows, his hip touching mine. I feel a rush when he picks up my hand and links his fingers with mine. “I know you don’t know which one of us you kissed, but I need to tell you that for me it was pretty epic.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Definitely.” He licks his bottom lip and his green eyes snare me in like a trap.
“A few of those kisses felt epic to me, too, but you’re right. I don’t know who was who. Maybe I should test it and see if I feel the same way knowing who it is?”
He nods. “Sounds like a reasonable plan.”
I shift to face him, but George has other plans, grabbing my hips and pulling me into his lap so we’re face to face. “Oh, well, hello.”
“Was that too forward?” He looks slightly panicked.
“No,” I assure him. “You’re a handsy, touchy, moving around kind of guy. I get it.”
“You do?” He sounds incredulous.