Jason emerged from his car, and his reassuring presence was such a welcoming sight that Rain almost launched herself at him. She actually started to run, anticipating a comforting hug, before she caught herself and remembered the vow she had repeatedly made to think of him as only a friend. She stopped herself short and gave an awkward wave instead. “Hey, you! Welcome back!”
Jason had started to open his arms to envelop her, and he frowned at her quick stop. He ran his hands through his long hair instead, studying her face. “Hi ladies. Rain, are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” she announced brightly. “I’m so glad you guys are here.”
Jason narrowed his eyes as she shifted nervously under his gaze. She didn’t look fine. Tension emanated from her small frame in invisible waves.
Allie distracted him momentarily with a warm hug. He retrieved a big bag of corn from his car and she grabbed it from him. “I stopped at a roadside stand,” he said, lifting a duffle bag to his shoulder. “It looked so good.”
“So how’s Cara doing?” Rain asked as they entered the house.
“She’s all right. Back to work, which is what she loves. She’s a strong woman.”
Rain nodded. “She’s lucky to have you.” She paused for a minute, and then added, “I mean, you guys are lucky to have each other.”
Jason considered explaining that he was going to end his relationship with Cara soon. But what would he say? ‘I’m dumping her as soon as she’s over burying her Dad?’ At best, it sounded stupid and sophomoric. At worst, it was cold-hearted and callous. So he just shrugged and asked, “Who’s going to help me shuck this corn?”
Allie jumped up. “I will,” she volunteered. “Rain has already done so much.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jason asked, lifting his eyebrows with interest. “What have you been cooking, Chef Rainy?”
Rain blushed a little. “Don’t worry, I baked your banana bread already. And for dinner tonight, I made some burgers and this tomato and mozzarella dish—it has basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. I hope it’s good.”
“Sounds like a feast to me,” said Jason appreciatively, and Allie nodded in agreement. “Do we even need this corn?”
“Of course we do!” exclaimed Rain, a little over-zealously. “And I’ll help too, I don’t mind. Let’s go outside so we don’t make a mess.”
Jason slid a questioning glance at Allie as they made their way through the porch. She just shook her head in response, lifting her hands in an “I don’t know” gesture.
They unfolded the beach chairs near the house and began pulling at the tough green husks. Allie had just placed a clean ear of corn in the bag when a car turned into the driveway.
“A.J.’s here,” she announced. “I’ll go see if he needs help.” She brushed corn silk off her palms as she stood up.
Rain practically jumped out of her chair. “I’ll go with you.”
The screen door slapped shut behind the girls and Jason frowned. Something was obviously making Rain nervous. He wondered whether it was him or Brandy. Either way, he was going to get to the bottom of it.
****
Jason saw his chance when A.J. and Allie began clearing the dinner plates. “How about a short walk?” he asked, directing his question toward Rain. He pinned her with his gaze, watching for her reaction.
“Oh,” she said, her eyebrows lifting in surprise as though a walk on the beach was the most novel idea in the world. “Why don’t we help clean up, and then we can all go together?” She smiled tightly, but her twisting hands revealed her nervous tell.
A.J. shook his head. “I’ve got this—really. You three go. I insist,” he said firmly, taking the plates from Allie’s grasp.
Rain exhaled, her muscles relaxing imperceptibly. “Are you sure?” she asked, tucking her sun-streaked hair behind her ear. When A.J. nodded in assent, she reached for Allie’s arm and pulled her toward the porch.
They walked side by side down the beach, Allie in the middle. The sun had almost set and the sky to the west was a stunning dark red. While Allie and Rain chatted, Jason remained silent, lost in his thoughts.
Rain was trying to avoid being alone with him—that much was clear. His mind jumped to Brandy first. Was Rain keeping more ghostly secrets? They had agreed to share any disturbing events with each other, but maybe something had happened that had put Rain in serious danger. His jaw clenched as he thought of the promise she had made not to say here by herself. The promise she had ignored.
There was, of course, another possible explanation for Rain’s behavior. Her actions could be the result of whatever was developing between the two of them.
If she was confused, he had no one to blame but himself. He was the one who had told her they should be careful, then turned around and kissed her on the beach. She had been the one trying to stop things from going any further that night of the meteor shower.
Perhaps she simply had no interest in him romantically; her fear of hurting him once again could be causing her current anxiety. If that were the case, he would have to accept her decision, with no childish ultimatums this time. His mouth pressed into a grim line as his mood grew darker.
The fading sun turned the lake to liquid fire as it sank behind the distant trees. Jason’s gaze followed the brilliant crimson path across the water, and his eyes locked on something just beyond the sunlight’s reach. He stopped and squinted against the glare. “Is that our boat out there again?” He pointed to a rowboat bobbing in the center of the lake, cloaked in the dusk.
“Oh, God,” Rain sighed. She had tied it to the dock after her excursion, to make it easier to go out again if she had the desire. She had meant to pull it back up on the sand, but the events of the previous night had overwhelmed her. Now she was in trouble.
Before Jason could open his mouth, Rain’s excuse tumbled out. “I’m sorry, I know I wasn’t supposed to take the boat out myself. But I was so bored, and I wore a life jacket the whole time. And obviously, I’m fine.” She folded her arms across her chest defensively.
Jason’s face grew thunderous as he stared at Rain. Allie took a tentative step between them and held out her hands. “Okay, let’s stay calm. Rain
is
fine, so let’s focus on the boat right now. Is that definitely ours?”
“I think so,” Rain said miserably.
“I’ll go get it,” Jason said, his voice hard. He lifted his arms to pull his T-shirt collar over his head.
“No!” Rain cried, her sentiment echoed by Allie’s identical response.
He removed his shirt anyway. “I have to. It belongs to the rental house.”
“Not at night,” Rain begged. “I know I broke the rules, but I was
in
the boat, with a life jacket on. Please don’t swim out there right now.”
He was ignoring her. Rain grabbed her cell phone from her pocket. She had been doing her best to keep it with her at all times, despite the spotty reception. “Seriously, Jason, if you even try it, I’m calling 911 right now.”
“With that phone? You don’t even get reception out here.” He caught her wrist, holding her captive while he checked her phone’s signal. “See? No bars,” he confirmed.
Rain frowned at her useless phone as he released her. “Please,” she murmured, winding her arms around his waist in a death grip. “Please don’t do it. I’ll buy a new boat if I have to.”
“I’m sure it will be around somewhere in the morning,” said Allie. “We can borrow a neighbor’s boat and go pull it in.”
Jason sighed. “I suppose it would be hard to swim out there with you hanging on to me like this,” he said with a hint of reluctant humor.
Rain nodded in agreement, her hair sliding against his bare chest. “Thanks, Jay. I would die if anything happened to you.” She exhaled in relief as she felt his muscles relax. Unable to stop herself, she gave him a tight squeeze before she dropped her arms and stepped away.
He pinned her with his gaze for a long moment, then turned his attention back toward the boat.
“Come on, let’s get going,” said Allie, pushing both of them in the direction of the house. “We can worry about all this in the morning.”
“Fine,” he said, tugging his shirt over his head. “Clearly we have some trust issues to discuss as well.” He slid one more accusatory glance at Rain as the darkness fell around them.
****
It was 10:15 in the morning, and already stifling hot, when Rain and Allie emerged from Rain’s bedroom. Jason was sitting on the porch reading the newspaper, and there was no sign of A.J. Once the girls were done in the bathroom and had gathered in the kitchen, Jason joined them, carrying the folded paper. “I’ll sum up the news for you,” he offered, setting it down on the island. “It’s going to be really hot today.” He sat down on a stool and stole some of the fruit Rain was cutting up. She pretended to swat his hand away but Jason persisted, undaunted. “How did you ladies sleep?” he asked as he swiped another strawberry.
Allie answered for them as she poured coffee for everyone. “We both had dreams, but they were different. Much different,” she said with a smile, wiggling her eyebrows up and down suggestively at Rain.
Rain shot Allie a fierce warning look. Her dream had been about Jason—a steamy dream in which time had flowed seamlessly between high school and the present. Of course Brandy had been in it, as well as a few other players. And since she wanted to share the details regarding Brandy, she had ended up describing the entire dream to Allie. She certainly regretted that now.
“Oh?” Jason asked. “Do tell.” He shook his head to decline the milk Allie offered for his coffee.
Heat began climbing up Rain’s neck, determined to stain her cheeks crimson. Damn it. She took a calming breath. “Well, we both had dreams that involved Brandy,” she said carefully. “In mine, it was mostly just Brandy and, um, the two of us.” She glanced up at Jason and went quickly back to her fruit salad project.
Jason’s eyebrows went up. “Go on,” he said encouragingly, a self-satisfied grin on his face. Rain looked up again and caught Allie giving him a conspiratorial wink.
She glared at Allie again and tried to hide her discomfort. “Well, the details aren’t all that important. But it was strange how my dream included you, me, and Brandy, and Allie’s included her, A.J., and Brandy.”
“Oh, I think I’d like the details,” commented Jason.
Rain blew out a breath. “Well, it started out in the past, as best I can remember. You know how dreams are. We were at Brandy’s house, and I was talking to that creepy guy Bruce, her mom’s boyfriend or dealer or whatever you want to call him. Brandy was standing behind him, crying.”
“See?” said Allie. “The details
are
important. Even though I know they supposedly cleared that weirdo.”
“Anyway, then you came over,” Rain nodded to Jason as she finished making them all plates of fruit. “You put your arm around me and Brandy stopped crying. But then the guy turned into Rick, and suddenly I was running away. I was running from him, but out here, on the beach. And I could hear Brandy calling me, but I couldn’t find her. It was dark, and I started running into the water because I thought she might be in the lake. Then you were there, pulling me away from the lake and carrying me up onto the beach.”
She wasn’t about to share the next part of the dream with him. She struggled to keep her fiery cheeks from giving it away as she thought about it. He had carried her, and laid her down, and kissed her fiercely and protectively. She had felt so safe under his strong, solid body. They’d made love passionately, and he had held her tightly afterward. And then all of the sudden he’d vanished, leaving her alone in the darkness. She had jumped up frantically and stumbled back down to the water’s edge. The panic and terror had awakened her then.
“It ended with you disappearing at that point, and then I was searching for you,” she summed up innocently.
Allie jumped in before Jason could ask any more questions. She obviously sensed Rain’s annoyance and was trying to lessen the damage. “In my dream, I was sitting on the porch here. Brandy and A.J. were in the house, and Brandy wanted A.J. to come talk to me. And he didn’t want to, or he didn’t want to come out on the porch or something. So Brandy was pleading and pushing him, and he was resisting. The crazy thing was that he had the backpack. Her backpack.”
Jason frowned. “The one they found near the trash can at the train station?”
“Yes!” Allie nodded. “It was like a central element in the dream, like I was supposed to notice it. The next thing I knew, I was at the train station, and someone was putting it next to that trash can. But it wasn’t Brandy. It was a man, I’m sure. Then Rain jumped up from her dream and woke me up, so that’s all I remember.”
They all processed this for a moment, eating the fruit and drinking coffee. Rain was silently praying that Jason would let the rest of her dream go, and also planning her revenge on Allie.
Jason broke the contemplative silence. “Sounds like you girls had an intense night. I didn’t have any dreams, at least that I recall anyway. But I did have an interesting morning. I got the boat.”
“Oh my God!” Rain exclaimed. “I had totally forgotten about it, to be honest. How did it go?”
“I hope you didn’t go alone,” Allie interjected in her best maternal voice.
“No, Dan—that guy from a few houses down—took me in his boat, and we pulled it back up onto the beach. But here’s the bizarre thing. The rowboat was in
exactly
the same spot as last night. It hadn’t moved. It was just sitting there, waiting for me.”
The tiny hairs on the back of Rain’s neck prickled with fear. Allie just stared, wide-eyed, but then she shook her head. “So, there just wasn’t a lot of wind last night. That’s all.”
“Still, it’s very strange.”
“What’s strange?” asked A.J. as he came down the stairs.
“The fact that it’s almost 11:00 in the morning and you’re just getting your lazy ass up,” replied Jason. “Seriously, how can you sleep in this heat?”
A.J. shrugged and grinned roguishly. “I’m impervious to the elements. Letting the heat get to you is a sign of weakness, you know.”
“Yeah, and sleeping in until 11:00 shows real strength,” Jason fired back, his voice laced with friendly sarcasm.
They filled A.J. in on the boat rescue, since he knew it had become untied again last night. But then Rain tried to steer the conversation in a safer direction. She was more than ready to drop the subject of the boat.