He wasn’t wrong. The shovel had created several holes with rough, jagged edges that, because of how long the boat had been in storage, were now rotting.

The thing was, he didn’t want to start over. He wanted to finish this boat. He just didn’t know how to explain why—even to himself.

Jake saved him from having to. “Sawyer started building this canoe for Eve ten years ago. When she left town, he put it away. So the boat is a metaphor, I’m pretty sure.”

If Sawyer weren’t so irritated, he would have gaped at Jake. Jake was not the sort of guy who talked about metaphors. Hell, Jake was not the sort of guy who talked, period.

“Ah,” Law said, like he wasn’t at all surprised that Jake was speaking of metaphors. “Let me ask you something. That last summer Eve was here, you two were the poster children for young love. You were in each other’s pockets twenty-four seven. But then all of a sudden you were making out with that other chick in the Mermaid Parade.”

“Jeannie Wilkerson,” Jake said.

“Shhh!” Sawyer hitched his head toward the yard. The three of them were in the garage, but the door was open, and he’d just heard Clara. She was headed to the beach.

They all waited a moment until the sounds of Clara moving through the yard disappeared.

“Right,” Law said. “Jeannie Wilkerson. So what was going on there?”

“A lapse in judgment,” Sawyer said stiffly. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“I think you were thinking,” Law said. “I think you did it on purpose. Because you had never even looked at Jeannie before, and you were crazy for Eve.” Sawyer started to object, but Law talked over him. “Oh, shut it. You were crazy for Eve, and the whole town knew it. So the question was, if you pulled that stunt on purpose, why?”

The truth came slipping out so easily that he suddenly wondered if some part of him had invited them over here to talk about this shit. “Because Evie was talking about not going to university.”

“Aha,” Law said triumphantly. But then, bastard, he didn’t say anything else. Just looked at Sawyer expectantly.

He tried to explain, though he had no idea why. Maybe they’d just worn him down. “Becoming a librarian was all she’d ever wanted to do. She needed to go to school for that. And she was going to be the first person in her family to go. It was a huge deal.”

“Okay. So what I’m not getting is how that translates into you making out with Jeannie Wilkerson. Could Eve not have gone to university nearby? Western is an hour away. She was smart enough to get in there.”