“I haven’t yet, but I have a plan,” she told me as we made our way through the crowd that had gathered for the ribbon-cutting at the mine. It was hard to believe it was already the Fourth of July, and even more unbelievable that Cam had made enough progress for this soft opening. We still had a few hours to go, but locals and tourists alike had made their way up to the Rose Rowan already.

“What is this plan?” Cam asked, sneaking up behind us.

“Hi, Cam!” Rose’s smile was instant and bright.

“Hi, Rosie.” Cam picked her up in a hug before kissing me quickly.

“Rose apparently has to choose between two boys,” I told him as he took my hand in his.

“What? I thought boys had germs and stuff at your age.”

Rose flat-out rolled her eyes at him. “There they are.” She not-so-subtly pointed to two boys who stood near the punch table.

“Wait, this showdown is happening here?” Where was her mother when I needed her? I rose on my tiptoes to see if Charity stood out in the crowd, but it was too thick to find anyone who wasn’t as tall as Cam.

Speaking of tall, there was Alexander, having his picture taken over by the podium. Now I was the one rolling my eyes.

“It’s not a showdown. It will be easy, see?” She slipped her Rose Rowan backpack from her shoulder and pulled out two glittery unicorn pins. “I’ve been conducting an experiment, and now it’s time to test out my hypoth…” Her forehead puckered.

“Hypothesis,” I offered.

“Yep!” She grinned and put her pack back on.

“Do you want to explain?” I asked, noting that one of the boys was shorter with glasses and the classic underdog haircut, while the other could have modeled for Fourth Grade Weekly or whatever.

“Later,” she promised.

“Need some muscle?” Cam offered, eyeing the boys.

“I can take care of myself, but thank you!” she called over her shoulder as she walked toward the boys.

“I don’t know how I feel about this,” I muttered.

“Ditto,” he agreed, squeezing my hand.

We watched as Rose presented the boys with the pins.

“I wish we could hear what they’re saying.”

“If I’d known, I would have wired up a mic.” His eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward like he could wish himself into supersonic hearing.

The taller boy took the pin and forced a smile, then slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans. The shorter one grinned at Rose and then stuck it to the front of his Star Wars shirt.

Rose smiled at the shorter boy, said something that made him grin even wider, then ran back over to us.

My heart melted into a puddle of goo as I realized what she’d done and what the man I loved had inadvertently done for her.