My friends looked me over as if they’d seen a ghost and it was fair because in a way, they had.

They looked accusingly to Sawyer, only she smiled and pretended not to feel their questioning stares. She went about pulling out chairs for us to have a seat at the table like having the four of us together was a regular occurrence. “I made lasagna,” she said, biting her lower lip, “I’ve never made one before. I followed the instructions on the box. I hope it turned out okay.”

“What in the holy fuck is going on here?” Miller asked, sitting down on the little four-person table on Sawyer’s new deck. “Is this a friendervention?”

Sawyer popped a cube of cheese in her mouth and held out her hand as I approached. Once our hands connected it was as if I knew, despite everything, despite the looks of hurt and betrayal on my friends’ faces, despite the damage I’d caused, it was all going to be all right.

“It’s called a dinner party,” Sawyer started. “Kayla told me about them. It’s my first time ever hosting one. Isn’t it exciting?” She clapped her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet.

If they were thinking of leaving or barking or even grumbling about the circumstances, Sawyer had pretty much made it impossible with her excitement. There was no way they were going to kill that for her. You’d have to be completely soulless to want to have any part in tearing that smile off her gorgeous face.

Miller and Josh both nodded slowly, neither one of them took their eyes off me as if at any moment I was going to be wielding a knife and taking both of them hostage.

“Sit, guys,” Sawyer said, as she turned to me. “Can you help me inside?”

I followed her inside leaving Josh and Miller on the deck with a confused look on their faces that was almost laughable if my gut wasn’t churning. “It’s going to be fine,” Sawyer said, smiling as she bent over and pulled a tray of lasagna from the oven. I couldn’t help staring at the back of her legs and her ass when her dress rose up. She grabbed a pot holder and removed the foil from the top. The most amazing smell rose with the steam.

The blue color she was wearing made her entire face and eyes light up. It didn’t hurt that she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. Dress or not. “Before I forget to tell you, you look absolutely beautiful,” I said, coming up behind her and kissing her on the head. She leaned back and inhaled my scent.

“Thank you. You don’t look too bad either.”

She turned in my arms and handed me two of the four salad bowls on the counter. “It really is going to be okay,” she assured me.

I didn’t know if she was right or wrong but after I’d helped her see storms in a different light she insisted that she help me with my biggest fear.

My friends.

I laughed. “I’m a grown-ass man and I’m scared to fucking death because I have to apologize for being the world’s biggest dick to them for over two years. Why are you so confident that they’ll forgive me?”

“The reason why they’re so mad at you is because they love you so much. I know they’ll forgive you. You haven’t known me long but you let me in. You’ve known them almost your entire life. Let them in, too. They’ll forgive you.”

“When did you get so wise?” I asked, staring deeply into her beautiful golden-brown eyes. Eyes I could get lost in.

Eyes I was already lost in.

“Are you ready?” Sawyer asked, pushing open the door with her knee.

“Not even a little,” I muttered, stepping outside into the moonlight and into the scrutiny of my two former best friends.

We set the salad on the table. “Can you open this for me?” Sawyer asked as if she couldn’t sense the tension all around her.

“I think I need to say something,” I said before I sat down.

“I think that’s wise,” Miller quipped.

“This is Sawyer’s housewarming dinner. I think we should enjoy it and if you’re up for it, afterward I’d like to talk to both of you. If not, we enjoy a great meal and go our separate ways.”

“Did I mention it’s my first time making a lasagna?” Sawyer chimed in.

“It smells great,” Josh said, taking the wine glass Sawyer handed her. Seemingly agreeing to the offer I just made without acknowledging it. Miller opened a cooler by his feet and grabbed a beer. He twisted off the top and was about to take a sip when he paused and set it on the table, sliding it over to me.

“This is for you, shithead,” he muttered, grabbing another beer and cracking it open.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip and setting it back down.

“You should bash it over his fucking skull,” Josh muttered.

“What was that?” Sawyer asked.

Josh switched gears and smiled up at Sawyer. “I said I can’t wait to taste the lasagna. What kind of dressing is on the salad?”

Sawyer and I both sat and she beamed across the table, practically glowing with excitement. “It’s Bebe. She makes it and sells it at the farmer’s market in Brillhart County. She said it’s supposed to be like the dressing from one of those big chain Italian restaurants, but I’ve never been to one so I can’t really compare.”

“It’s better,” I offered, taking a bite. Bebe really did make the best dressing. It was slightly sweet with a tangy bite.

Miller and Josh both nodded and nobody spoke again until the salads were done and I helped Sawyer plate the lasagna and serve it.

“Are you not going to try the wine?” Josh said, pointing to Sawyer’s still full glass even though Josh’s was still full as well.

Sawyer smiled and turned her shoulders inward. “I’ve actually never had wine before. I saw a picture in the general store of a big feast and they had wine and I really liked the way it looked,” she admitted.

Her confession made my heart constrict. I coughed into my fist and pointed to my food like I had a bit of pasta caught in my throat.

“How have you never had wine?” Miller asked. “I mean, Josh told me that your family was all Waco and shit but don’t cult people drink?”

There was a bang under the table. The pasta sauce on my plate jumped.

“Ouch, what the hell?” Miller asked, glaring at Josh.

“It’s okay. My family wasn’t in a cult. They lived in regular society but they are what you’d call…” she searched for the word.

“Extremists?” I offered.

“That’s it,” she said and I could tell she didn’t want to talk any more about her past so I tried to think of something to change the subject but luckily Josh was thinking the same thing.

“I love your new house. How are you liking being a homeowner?” Josh asked.

“Honestly?” Sawyer looked up at the house. “I’d like it better knowing that Sterling wasn’t the one who bought it for me.”

“Sterling bought it for you?” Miller asked, scratching his head. He and Josh exchanged knowing glances. “What makes you think that?”

“He…he said the investor bought it for me. The one whose been helping all the people in town keep their houses. And since he and Finn were the only ones there that day when…” she trailed off as the realization took hold.

Miller winked and Josh chuckled.

“It was you,” Sawyer said, glancing over to me. “How? Is it your job or something?” Her confusion was downright adorable. “You bought me a house?”

All I could do in response was smile. My heart was swelling as her smile grew. Initially I had no plans to tell her, but I couldn’t let her think that shit-bag Sterling had bought it for her and associate it with him every time she looked at it.

“Finn don’t need to work, he’s the largest land owner in three counties. He leases land to the government,” Miller said between bites. He grabbed another roll from the basket and tore it open down the middle.

“What?” Sawyer gaped. “But you live in…” she looked over my shoulder toward the swamp shack.

“That’s not my house,” I said, pulling her down on my lap when she stood up from her chair.

“That’s just his hiding place,” Josh said. “And a lousy one at that. Miller and I have known where you were from day one.”

“We have?” Miller asked, sounding confused.

Josh just shook her head and chuckled. “Okay, I knew where you were,” she amended.

“So, is that your job? Or is it more of a passion of yours?” Sawyer asked innocently. I kissed her jaw and felt her shiver on my lap. I also felt the stares from across the table as Josh and Miller put their own two and two together and learned firsthand how serious I was about Sawyer.

“My passion is you,” I told her, watching her cheeks heat between the freckles. “I have a property management company that handles everything. I get a paycheck. And sometimes I use that paycheck to invest in other properties.”

“You bought me a house?” Sawyer repeated like she couldn’t believe it. “When?”

“The day you saw it in the junkyard. After I dropped you off at Critter’s, I went back and talked to Sterling. Set it all up that afternoon.”

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes dancing with wonderment. She looked up at her new house like she was seeing it again for the first time.

My heart swelled. Something inside me was shifting, and for once, I didn’t hate the way the new emotions were slowly moving guilt and self-hatred more and more to the background. I wanted Sawyer. And more than that?

I wanted to make Sawyer happy.

I also wanted to make her come again. And again, and again.

The vision of her coming apart in my arms during the storm was playing on a loop in my brain. I’d never seen anything so beautiful as when her body finally let go.

“Speaking of Sterling,” Josh started. “He won’t be bothering you ever again. You can be sure of it.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

Josh smiled and tossed her hair over her shoulders, her gold bracelets clanked together and her heavy earrings swayed. “Let’s just say I did the unthinkable. The darkest, dirtiest shit you can do to someone in the south,” she said, ending on a whisper.

“Oh shit,” Miller gasped, covering his mouth and speaking into his hand. “You told his mama, didn’t you?”

“I sure as shit did,” Josh smiled proudly. “She’ll do worse to him than I ever could by locking him up.”

“Thank you,” Sawyer said, reaching out and giving Josh’s hand a squeeze.

“No need to thank me. We’re family now.” Josh looked from Miller to Sawyer and then finally to me. “Right?” she asked with a tip of her chin.

“Right.”

It was a simple exchange. Only two words spoken. But with those two words, Josh was telling me we could move on. All of us.

Together.

“Are you going to try this?” I nodded to Sawyer’s wine glass.

She looked down into her glass and sniffed it. I knew she hadn’t been lying about never having tasted wine before when she picked up her glass with two hands and lifted it to her mouth.

The three of us watched her intently.

It was damned adorable the way she looked at me over the rim of her glass like she was asking me if she was doing it right.

I offered her a reassuring nod.

Sawyer took a large gulp and swallowed. She made a face like she’d bitten into something unexpectedly sour. “This,” she looked down into her glass and grimaced, “is really disgusting.”

We all laughed, including Sawyer, and the sound carried over the table and struck me right in the chest.

“You’ve really never had wine before?” Josh asked, pouring herself another glass.

“Nope,” Sawyer said, taking another small tentative sip. “This would be the first time.”

“Oh really? What else haven’t you done before?” Miller wagged his eyebrows suggestively. Josh and I exchanged knowing side glances, Sawyer frowned, not fully understanding his unique brand of innuendo.

“There are a lot of things I haven’t done. Some days I feel like I haven’t done MOST things.” Sawyer leaned forward in her chair.

The breeze picked up and blew a lock of hair in her face and I was mesmerized by the pure beauty that was Sawyer.

Then, as if she was reading my mind, she tucked the strand behind her ear.

“What is on your list? What would you like to do?” Josh asked, steering the conversation back into the PG zone.

Sawyer bit her bottom lip and her eyes lit up. She looked whimsically at the stars as she thought over her answer. “Mostly it’s little things.”

“Like what?” I found myself asking. I sipped my beer, staring at Sawyer over the bottle.

“Well, I’d like to read any book I want without it being approved. Which is why I wish the library was still open. “

“If it were, I’m pretty sure you and Finn would be the only people going there,” Josh said.

“Finn?” she asked, glancing up at me.

“Didn’t you know? Finn here has read like every book ever,” Miller said, stabbing his fork into a cheese cube.

“At least he knows how to read,” Josh muttered.

“I know how to read,” Miller argued, pointing the cheese at Josh. “Maxim has more than just pictures, you know.”

“What else?” I prompted, curious as to what else she could possibly have on her list. What else I could give her.

How else I could make her smile.

“Well, now that I’ve tasted wine…” Sawyer chuckled, taking another sip and grimacing all over again.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Josh assured her.

She smiled and sucked in air through her teeth. “Everything. Everything is on my list. I want to taste and experience everything life has to offer. It’s too short to waste and I’ve spent twenty-one years wasting it.”

“So, you’re saying that you want to commit crimes and rob banks?” I teased.

“Sure, why not?” she answered back. Holding her wine glass without drinking from it.

“Nah, I don’t think you’ve got it in you,” Miller said, with his beer paused at his lips.

Sawyer’s smile was spreading, she set her wine glass down. “I did steal.”

“Really? Oh, this is going to be good. What did you steal?” Josh asked, pouring herself another glass.

Sawyer smirked, popping out the dimple on her cheek. “I stole money from my father. Technically it was the church’s money. I took it before I left.”

“So, what? You took like twenty-bucks from the collection plate?” Miller scoffed, belching loudly.

Josh kicked him under the table.

“Ouch, baby. Next time you’re going to hurt me make sure you do it when we’re naked.”

“Try nineteen thousand dollars from the weekly church donations,” Sawyer corrected, sitting straight in her chair.

I tightened my grip on the arm of my chair and almost spit out my beer.

The table was silent until Josh chimed in. “No way. You’re lying.”

“It’s true. He asked me to make the deposit. Instead, I took it when I left.”

“What did you do with the money?” Miller asked curiously, hanging on Sawyer’s every word.

“On the way here, to Outskirts, I stopped and donated half to a battered women and children’s center and the other half to a suicide prevention call center.” Sawyer started to giggle midway through her sentence, by the time she was done she was in a full-blown bit of laughter.

“Bad ass!” Miller exclaimed, raising his beer in salute before finishing it and slamming it back down on the table.

“What’s so funny?” I asked Sawyer. Laughing along with her although I didn’t know why except that Sawyer’s laugh was infectious.

“I made the donations in my father’s name.”

Then we were all laughing along with her. The sound of Sawyer’s laughter carried straight to my heart where nothing but joy and pride were causing it to beat erratically.

Noticeably absent, was my old friend guilt.

“Wow, that’s ballsy.” Josh gave Sawyer a fist bump, which she awkwardly returned.

Sawyer’s eye caught mine like she was waiting to hear my response to what she’d done. “I’m impressed,” I said.

She beamed.

And I was. My innocent girl had done something that took a hell of a lot of guts. Come to think of it, everything she did took a hell of a lot of guts.

I reached out and grabbed the arm of her chair, sliding it as close to me as possible. I planted a soft but firm kiss on her plump pink lips and looked her right in her eyes, cupping her cheek in my hand. “That’s my girl.”

A throat cleared. “Your girl, huh?” Miller asked, raising his eyebrows.

I answered without breaking eye contact with Sawyer who was still smiling up at me.

“Yeah. MY girl.”