“I don’t see sweat.”

“Yeah, look at the back of his neck, right below his hairline. There are little beads of sweat. He must be hot.”

Maggie fans herself. “You’re not a kidding, he’s hot. Oh. My. God. He’s taking off his shirt!”

I lower my head and try not to watch, but he catches my eye with those damn tractor beams of his just as he pulls his shirt over his head.

He tosses it to the ground, gives me a little grin, looks down at his chest, and then looks back at me with one of those freaking smiles. The same smile he was flashing to numerous girls at the Cave the other night.

I think he just can’t help it. It’s just in his godly blood to make girls swoon.

“Would you look at that?” Maggie continues. “It’s like he’s perfect. Hey, help me out here. Look at him carefully and see if you can find anything that isn’t perfect.”

“I’m not going to sit here and stare at him. He already has a big enough head as it is.”

She giggles. “I’ve heard that he is big.”

“Big? Like, down there?”

“Yes, down there. What are you, ten?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Well, he’s been with quite a few girls. They talk, you know. About his package.”

“Which girls? No. Wait. I don’t want to know. I couldn’t care less.” I bite the corner of my lip and try to focus on the garland I’m supposed to be making. But then I look around and realize Aiden and I are the only ones getting any work done. Half the dance team and most of the alumni have stopped what they’re doing and are all drooling in his direction.

I feel a little bad for him.

Being objectified and all.

“This is ridiculous, Maggie. I’m going to tell him to put his shirt back on.”

She gives me an evil eye. “Don’t you dare. You’ll cause a riot.”

“Still, I’m going over there.” I get up and walk toward Aiden. He is hammering nails.

I said that already, didn’t I?

I lean down to talk to him just as he stands up straight, which means his abs are now staring at me.

Hello, sexy, perfect abs.

Hi, amazing deep V-line.

Howdy, . . .”

“You need something?” he says, bending over at the waist and taking my view away.

“What?” I’m feeling just a bit dazed. Must be all the spray glue fumes. “Oh, I was going to say that you’re doing a great job. With the hammer. With the, uh, hammering. Like, you seem to be pretty good at hammering. Uh, I mean pounding. Or, um, nailing.” I shake my head. “You know, whatever it’s called.”

Why does every word I say suddenly sound perverted?

Aiden tosses the hammer into the air. It spins in a circle then drops back into his hand. “I like to hammer things.”

I gulp.

Damn Maggie for turning basic carpentry all sexual.

Aiden pulls a drill gun out of the little tool belt that he’s wearing and holds it up. “I’m good at screwing too.” He laughs. “That didn’t come out quite right. I meant that I’m good with a screw gun. I’m good with lots of power tools.”

My mind immediately goes to his tool. His godly, powerful tool.

I glance down at his crotch before I can think better of it.

He catches me, leans in, and whispers to me, “I’m good at all kinds of screwing.”

I blush.

I’m blushing.

I know I’m blushing.

“That’s just gross,” I say, trying to recover, while peeling my eyes off Aiden’s body.

He sets the hammer down to reach up and wipe the sweat off the back of his neck.

When he does this, it causes the muscles on his entire right side to flex. I hear an audible gasp from a woman near me, whose face looks permanently surprised from way too much Botox.

Aiden ignores her or maybe he’s so used to it he doesn’t even notice. He whispers to me, “Trust me. When we do it, it will so not be gross. It will be amazing. Best you’ll ever have.”

“We are never doing it. And you need to put your shirt back on.”

“Why? I’m hot.”

“Because you’re going to cause one of the old alumni women to have a stroke or something. And that would sort of ruin the Homecoming festivities.”

He takes a step toward me. His naked chest almost touching mine and trapping me between him and the float.

“I think I’ll leave it off, just for you. You can think about us naked. Hammering. Nailing. Pounding. Screwing.” He gives me a totally naughty and completely adorable smirk.

“I will be thinking no such things.”

“Oh, yeah, you will. It will be all you think about for the rest of the day.”

No two are ever the same.

5:35pm

I’m on my way to meet Aiden, the dirty carpenter, in the library, but the sunset is so gorgeous that I have to stop, sit on the bench, and admire it. I close my eyes and pretend that I’m on my deck in Malibu. Mom and Tommy are sitting next to me. We’re having a glass of wine and talking about our day. My little sisters run out in their pajamas to give us good night kisses.

When I open my eyes, Aiden sits down next to me.

At least he put his shirt back on.

“How come you’re sitting out here?”

“I was just looking at the sunset. Thinking about home.”

He looks at the sky. “It is gorgeous. Sunsets are like fingerprints. No two are ever the same.”

“It sounds like you’ve watched a few.”

“Sunsets remind me of home too.” He looks sad for just a second then changes the subject. “So I hear you helped my sister find the perfect dress.”

I study Aiden’s face. Even though he’s trying to act happy about the dress, the way his jaw is set makes me think he isn’t thrilled about it. Maybe he uses his godly telepathy on me, because I suddenly understand why. “You’re not thrilled she asked Camden, are you?”

“I’m just really surprised she would ask him after all he put her through. They used to date, you know? And he broke up with her right when she needed him the most.”

I squint my eyes at him. “I know they dated, but I didn’t know the break up was bad. I got the impression they’re still pretty, uh, close.”

Close being a bit of an understatement.

Seeing as they were naked in my hot tub.

Aiden shakes his head. “They might be now, but not back then. That’s why I ended up coming to school here. I had no desire to live away from my family. But Peyton wasn’t doing well, so I came here to take care of her. Which was a tough decision because I had been helping take care of my mom.”

“Your mom. Why?”

“She had cancer.”

“Oh, wow. I’m sorry.”

“It sucked. Cancer sucks.”

“Is your mom, um, like, is she okay?”

Aiden brightens. “She is. Her having cancer definitely changed our lives, though. We lived in Atlanta when we found out. They didn't give her long to live and the thought of losing her really affected my dad. He realized how short life can be. He told us that love is the most important thing in life. As part of her treatment, Mom made a list of all the things she wanted to do when she beat cancer. One of the things on her list was something my parents always said they wanted to do when they retired. Buy a vineyard in Napa Valley. Dad decided not to wait until Mom beat cancer to do it. Within a month, he had sold his business and our house in Atlanta, and he had bought her a vineyard. They made Peyton and me make lists too. Peyton was having a hard time with it all. She was mad. Mad that Mom had cancer. Mad that Dad made us leave all our friends. On her list she wrote that she wanted to go to boarding school. I don’t think she really meant it, but they thought she did, so they sent her here Freshman year.”

I realize now why Peyton turned to the teacher after she and Cam broke up. Why she was more worried about upsetting her parents than telling the truth. It must have been terrible to have Whitney hold something like that over her head. Much worse than my being a stupid virgin.

I was really, really shallow.

Aiden continues. “I loved California. I could play soccer pretty much year round. I had made some friends. Liked school. But then one night she called me bawling, and I decided she needed me more than Mom. When I got here, Peyton still looked perfect on the outside, but on the inside, she was hurting.”

“Because of the breakup?”

“Because of everything, I think. So when Cam broke her heart, he changed my life too.”

“It was really sweet of you, Aiden.” Now I understand why Aiden seems more mature than most boys his age. He’s lived a lot already. We kind of have that in common. We came here for reasons other than ourselves. “So do you wish you weren’t here?”

“Not at all. Even though I came to take care of her, I ended up loving it. With us being only a year apart, people used to think we were twins. We did everything together. I liked us being back together, if that makes sense. I made Varsity soccer right away and the girls seemed to like me.”

I laugh. “That's cuz you're hot.” Shit. I didn’t mean that. Why did I say that?

“You think I'm hot, huh?” he says with an easy grin.

“I mean, not me, but I’ve heard that a lot of girls think that.”

He raises an eyebrow at me.

I roll my eyes at him and laugh. “Fine. I think you are a nice looking boy.”

He stares at me for a beat then looks back out at the sunset. “One of my favorite things about Napa is watching the sun set. We’d sit outside, have a glass of wine, and talk. Mom said that no matter how bad a day she’d had, the sunset was comforting because it meant she’d made it through another one.”

“Your mom must be amazing.”

“She is. And that’s why I like sunsets. They’re, like, hopeful.”

“My family used to do the same thing. Watch the sunset together. Only we had a house on the beach. How is your mom doing?”

“For now, the cancer is in remission and she and dad are working through their lists. Traveling all over the world.” He gets a pained expression on his face. “She decided though that if it comes back, she won’t fight it. She won’t go through chemo again.”

“That’s got to be hard on you. My dad died when I was eight.”

He reaches out and touches my pinkie with his. “I’m sorry.”

We both sort of sigh, lost in our own thoughts, look out at the sun, and don’t say anything else until it slips below the horizon.

Rough to handle.

10:35pm

Katie and I are getting ready for bed when Garrett calls me.

“I just wanted to let you know that your mom cut her trip short and is safely back in Vancouver.”

“Why did she cut her trip short?”

Garrett sighs. “You told me that you want to know everything, right? Even if it’s rough to handle?”

“Yes.”

“When she woke up this morning, there was an envelope pushed under her hotel room door.”

“And what was in it?”

“A photo of you. From that day on the beach when you let him take your picture. You were blowing a kiss.”

I shudder remembering the kiss he shot me yesterday and know that the photo was not really meant for Mom.

Is was meant for me.

I try to sound unaffected. “He already sent us that picture.”

“Yes, honey, but this one was different.”

“How so?”

“It was stabbed numerous times with a very sharp object. All that was left intact was your face.”

My stomach lurches and all I manage to say is, “Oh.”

Katie says to me, “Hey, I’m gonna hop in the shower.”

I nod to her, wait for the shower to turn on, and then say to Garrett, “Poor Mom.”

“Poor Mom? Poor you, if he finds you. You need to tell me everything that happened on Saturday.”

I give him the run down.

“So it was a completely chance encounter?”

“Yes. You told me Mom was planning a trip, but you didn't tell me where she was going. I had no idea.”

“I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you'd try to see her.”

“I’m sorry about the Brooklyn thing, Garrett. I wouldn’t have gone to see her. You know what was really weird though? He didn't call me Keatyn. He called me Abby. He’s never called me Abby before.”

“He’s getting worse. More out of touch with reality.”

“Did he leave when Mom did? Are you following him?”

“We were. We tracked down his hotel. He might be out of touch with reality, but he’s still not making any mistakes. He didn’t stay at the same hotel as your mom and he had what appeared to be a business dinner tonight. Since neither you or your mom are in the city, I saw no need to continue surveillance. He's scheduled on a flight to LA tomorrow night at seven. We’ll make sure he’s on it.”

“Even though I know I’m safe here, I’ll feel better when he's back in California.”

“You and me both.”

You need to chill.

1:30am

Everyone is still in a party mood and looking forward to this week, so we all meet up at the Cave.

I’m sitting between Jake and Dawson, sharing a joint and getting chewed out by Jake.

“So you invited Peyton but not Whitney on your little shopping trip? How is that any different from what she did to you?”

“For one, I didn’t take her boyfriend with me and lie to him. For two, Peyton invited herself. And for three, my loft only sleeps so many people. So, I couldn’t have invited Whitney because she doesn’t really go anywhere without Rachel and the minions. I mean, do they follow you into the bedroom?”