“You never come here for this. Why now? Why, on the day my father decides to show up without warning for a tour to see if I’m running the place right? My father just saw you naked! I can’t believe this.”

She crawled out from under the desk. What his father thought meant the world to Hunter John. And she’d just embarrassed them both. How did things go so wrong so fast?

Everything had been fine—at least, things were pushed under the rug, where no one thought of them—until Sydney came back. Why couldn’t she have stayed away? “I’m sorry,” she said, going over to her clothes and starting to dress.

“What has gotten into you lately? You are all over me. You never want to go out together. You call me sixteen times a day. Now you show up here like this.”

She pulled her dress over her head and slid her feet into her heels. “I need to know…” She hesitated. That you love me.

“Need to know what?”

“That you’re going to stay with me.”

Hunter John shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been worried. Ever since Sydney came back…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hunter John said. “You have got to be kidding me. This is about Sydney? Go home, Emma.” He went to the door without another look at her. “I have to catch up with my dad and try to explain this to him.”

“Do you know what I heard today from Eliza Beaufort?” Emma said brightly at dinner that night. “Sydney and Claire Waverley went on a double date to Lunsford’s Reservoir. What does Sydney think she’s doing? No one our age goes out there. And Claire! Can you imagine Claire at the reservoir?”

Hunter John didn’t look up from his dessert. It was his favorite chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Emma had ordered it especially for him.

Instead of answering her, Hunter John wiped his mouth and put down his napkin. “Come on, boys,” he said, and pushed back his chair. “Let’s go toss a football.”

Josh and Payton immediately jumped up. They loved when their dad played with them, and Hunter John always made time for his boys.

“I’ll come with you,” Emma said. “Wait for me, okay?”