Grinding her teeth, she slapped the dollar against her thigh and ironed it flat with her hand before once again attempting to thread the dollar in the machine.

It immediately spit it back out.

Seriously, was it a Monday? Was the universe out to get her?

Eli took her dollar and calmly fed it to the machine.

And of course, the machine accepted it.

Eli started to say something but she held up a finger to stop him, then punched in the corresponding letter and number for the candy bar she wanted.

Nothing happened.

No. Gripping the machine the same way Eli had, she shook it.

Nothing.

So she kicked it.

Her audience of one smirked. “So Missy Judgerson goes to the dark side.”

She shocked herself by laughing. It was her first laugh in . . . well, she couldn’t remember. Life hadn’t exactly been a pocket full of pilfered goodies lately.

“Here.” Her pretend stranger pulled two fistfuls of goods from his pockets. “You look far more desperate than me. Take your pick.”

She took a candy bar. And then snatched a bag of gummy bears as well.

He gave her a look.

“Hey, I’m a pint low, okay?” She stretched out her arm, revealing the band-aid in the crook of her elbow where they’d taken blood.

His smile faded. “You okay?”

Physically, yes. Mentally, the vote was still out. She tore into the candy bar. “I will be.”

His eyes were still the most unusual shade of gray, which should have been cold, but they weren’t. They were warm and curious. And maybe she’d feel warm and curious about him too, if a lifetime ago he hadn’t fooled her into thinking they were friends, when they’d been nothing of the kind because he’d backed her arch nemesis, Kinsey Davis.

Yes, apparently she could hold a grudge for years. Maybe it’d stuck with her because she’d written about them often enough in her long-ago camp journal, the one they’d all had to write in every night. She actually still had hers, shoved somewhere deep in her duffle bag. She used it as a reminder of the her she used to be, Past Brynn, who’d been too gullible, too loyal, too forgiving . . . She’d practically been a golden retriever.

But she’d learned. She was tougher now. Present Brynn was a German shepherd.

Eli’s phone pinged. He grabbed for it, stared at the screen, and looked stricken. “Gotta go.” He took the extra few seconds to empty his pockets, shoving his entire loot into her arms. “In case you need another fix.”