“That’s perfect,” Willa whispers. “Avril, I love that you reach out for him there. You make the choice to see where this is going to go. You light the fire.”

I see one corner of Cole’s mouth twitch up at that, and my face flushes.

We run that scene five or six more times to set it before we move on, and each time I find myself looking forward to that moment. That physical connection. Skin to skin. Cole’s hand and mine.

After rehearsal, we gather up on the steps outside the barn. Me, Lex, Jude, Val, and Cole. I look around the group. It seems so weird to think that we’ve known each other less than a week. We’re all joking around. Teasing each other. Talking over the little moments of our shared day. It feels like we’ve been friends forever.

I’m falling so in love with every single one of them. And that scares me a little. It sets off alarm bells inside my head, because I’m not the kind of girl who just falls in love with people.

Or at least I wasn’t before Whisper Cove.

Val and I are pressed close together on one of the hard stone benches. She lays her head on my shoulder and sighs. “Tonight’s the night,” she tells me. “I’m gonna go call Chester. I have to break things off with him. For good.”

“You sure that’s what you want?” I ask her.

“Yeah,” she says. “I just need something more. You know?”

“Like what?” I ask, and she shrugs.

“I can’t even say. I guess I just want to become.”

And I know exactly what she means.

“Wish me luck,” she says, and I give her hand a squeeze before she heads up to the cabin.

Lex and Jude are leaning against a railing, talking low and private. Lex brushes his golden-red hair out of his eyes, and Jude leans in close to kiss him. Just a quick press of lips, but the casualness of it tells me it isn’t a first kiss. Not by a long shot. They giggle when they catch me watching.

Lex comes over to whisper in my ear. “Potential, Av.” Then he gives me a wink and a hug before he and Jude head off into the dark, hand in hand.

When they’re gone, Cole and I are left alone. He slips into the spot where Val was sitting. “I heard you had lunch with my mom again today,” he says.

“Yeah,” I tell him. “It was nice.”

I’m pretending not to notice the pressure of his thigh against mine.

“She’s worried about you,” he tells me. “She says it has to be hard. Being here. She asked me if I thought you were holding up all right.”

“What’d you tell her?”