“I’d try not to be so smug if you want something to eat.” I held up the paper bag containing the sandwiches before sitting opposite James. I was shivering so badly I couldn’t feel the sun beating down on me.

“You know, you’ll warm up faster if you take those things off,” he said.

“As. If.”

James smiled. “I’m serious. You must be soaked through from being inside the cave for so long. Take this.” He handed me a blanket from his pack.

I cocked my head to the side, and he took the hint. James turned his back to me while I pulled my blanket and jacket off, then stripped out of my shirt. I quickly wrapped the blanket he’d offered around me, thankful for the warmth it had absorbed from the sun.

James turned back around, and I jumped when he walked toward me. “Just going to spread these out so they’ll dry. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Why are you suddenly being so nice?” I asked.

“I don’t need you to croak out here. Deadweight’s a lot harder to carry,” James said. He chuckled when he saw my shocked expression. “I’m kidding. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m actually a nice guy. Just ask Ever.”

A momentary desire to give him a swift kick was quickly replaced by a sense of familiarity. James, teasing me the way he used to do in Woodvine. Maybe there was a small piece of him still there under the false front he put up.

“I already know you’re a nice guy. I’ve known it for a long time,” I said, quietly.

“I’m sorry, but I really think you’ve gotten this all wrong. I would have remembered meeting you.” He held my gaze with such intensity I knew he was honestly trying to remember.

It was so unfair our love was one-sided. I worried that as much as I loved him, it might not be enough to bring James back to me. I was going to have to be more proactive, instead of waiting around for something to click. I’d have to meet him where he was in his world. A place where he and I were strangers.

“James,” I began tentatively. “Why are you and your dad Fringers?”

“Because I was weak,” James said. His eyes drifted to the opposite side of the meadow. “I didn’t follow through with the task I’d been given.”

“If you’re saying you were weak because you didn’t trick some girl into living here, then I say you’re wrong. You’re exactly the opposite of weak. It takes courage to stand up for what’s right.”

James’s eyes cut into me. “Oh? And who determines what’s right? Because it sure isn’t me. My ignorance doomed my father to living in the wild like an old gray fox.”