My traitorous brain was saved from further embarrassment by the look on his face when he spotted me. First a bushy eyebrow quirked, as if he couldn’t believe I was still here. And then he gave me his now-familiar frown.

Ah, well. All that hotness wasted on a grouch.

I dragged my attention off Griff as Ruth Shipley scraped my minced aromatics into a saucepan. “Let’s see,” she said. “A little ketchup, because we’re in a hurry. Some vinegar…”

“You know what would be great in here?” I couldn’t stop myself from suggesting. “Those.” I pointed at the cherries.

“Interesting pick, miss.” She handed me the pan. “Go for it. I need to run upstairs for a minute.”

“Go on. I’ve got this.” I shooed her away and she smiled. At least one of the Shipleys liked me.

Turning my back on Griff, I put the pan on the stove on a low temperature. Then, still feeling his eyes on me, I went to his giant family refrigerator and opened the door. The ketchup was in a huge bottle. It would have to be if they served ten or twelve people for lunch every day. Before adding some to the onions, garlic and butter already in the pan, I sautéed the veggies for a minute to bring out the onions’ natural sweetness.

“What are you doing?” Griff said suddenly from right behind me.

“Barbecue sauce. You’re familiar with it, right?” The heat of his body was somehow hotter than the Wolf stove in front of me. I tried to elbow him out of the way, but that was like trying to nudge a Humvee. So I went the long way around two-hundred-odd pounds of muscle to collect the cherries.

“Strange combo,” he muttered.

“You don’t have to eat it,” I returned. There was a nice sizzle happening in my saucepan now and I grabbed a wooden spoon to stir everything together. “Be a dear and find me some brown sugar, would you?” I asked. “And some vinegar.”

Across the room, his sister May laughed. “He’d need a map and a compass. I’ll grab them. White wine vinegar? Or balsamic.”

“Balsamic, I think.”

The kitchen door opened slowly, and Griff’s newest employee eased tentatively into the room. “That smells really good,” he said softly.

“Thank you!” I chirped, giving Griff a pointed look.

Griff ignored me. He escorted his new employee in the direction of the pantry. “Having the sink over here keeps us out of the way,” he said. “And keeps the cooks from getting cranky.”

“What keeps you from getting cranky?” I called after him. “Whatever it is, have some of it.”

All the Shipleys laughed except for Griff.

THIRTY-THREE

Ice Ice Baby

Chastity

“Please be careful, Chastity. Don’t drink anything that doesn’t come from a sealed bottle—unless Dylan is the one who pours it for you.”

“I’ll be careful, Leah,” I reply. But at the same time I roll my eyes in the mirror where I’m giving myself a last-minute once-over before I leave for my first college party.