He shrugs. “She’s a planner. She wants to follow the rules.”

I laugh. “There are rules for things like this?”

“She sure seems to think so.” He smiles ruefully. “I’m going to go check in with her. Gas up the car so we can get out of this shithole.”

“Sounds good,” I say.

He walks outside and crosses to the car, then opens the driver’s-side door and helps Harper step out. My neck goes hot at the way his fingers linger on her wrist, but it could be nothing. Is this flirting? I’ve had a couple of boyfriends, but they were awkward stumbled-into-it-as-friends things. I know zero about the world of lingering eye contact and meaningful hand brushes. It could be flirting—it could be friendly. But Brecken moves slower around her. Speaks softer. And she tucks her hair behind her ear before she answers him, looking left and right, like what she’s saying is for Brecken alone.

“Do you think something’s going on between them?”

I jump, surprised I didn’t hear the telltale clunk of Josh approaching. I shrug, giving a half smile. “Oh, I don’t know. They just met, right?”

“Did they?”

I open my mouth to answer, but then I close it. Josh and I share a look that settles deep in my bones. He sees it, too—this nameless connection between them. I don’t know what to call it, but it smells like a secret. One they don’t want us to know.

Chapter Eight

I shake my head with a laugh, determined not to let paranoia take root. “We could just be jumping to conclusions. I doubt they found their soul mates in an airport rental car line.”

“Some people believe in love at first sight.” Josh shrugs.

I roll my eyes. “People believe all kinds of things.”

He gives a small smile. “It’s the most beautiful thing about humanity, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

I try to smile, but it feels all wrong on my face. I can’t read Josh. He’s got that heavy intellectual edge of superiority lacing everything he says. Even the way he watches Harper and Brecken makes me think he’s taking notes on how he’d do things differently. Better.

Harper starts heading toward the station, and her movement breaks the spell for both of us. I clear my throat. “I should stop in the bathroom. Should we help Harper with gas?”

“She said she had it, and it might be hard. I only have a card,” he says.