Catching up to Rue, she turns her head and surprise flickers across her face, replaced by a quick smile. “Well, hello.”

“Hey.” I match the pace of her walk. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

A hint of worry glints behind her soft brown eyes. “Oh?”

“Yeah, can you stop walking for a second?”

She stops, tucking a chunk of hair behind her ear. “Something wrong? Oh, God…”

“What?” I frown, not liking her expression.

“Are you going to ask me to leave now that you’ve gotten me alone. I knew this was going to happen.” Her eyes flit around for something to hold onto.

Quickly I wrap my hands around her shoulders to calm her. I’ve taken pleasure in freaking her out before, but that’s over now. The last thing I want is for her to think we want her to go home.

“No! No! It’s not that. God, no. I wanted to tell you something ever since the pool, that’s all.”

Her eyes cloud over in a different way. “Oh.”

“Let’s sit down.” I motion to the grass and she nods, lowering herself to join me. We’re both cross-legged and I scratch my temple, trying to get the words right in my head before I let them out. “The thing is, Rue, when I saw you in the water, I understood why you did it. Do you remember the car accident that gave me this?” I run the tip of my index finger along the scar in my eyebrow, where the hair will never grow again. “This is a permanent reminder of the day that I tried to do what you did. It wasn’t an accident that I ran into that tree. I had been aiming for the cliff, but then just as my car sped toward it...”

“You changed your mind,” she finishes with a tone of understanding.

“Yeah. And the tree was the only other option. Hurt like hell, though,” I smile.

She smiles too, sadly remembering. “I tried to come up for air, but it was too late.”

I take her hand. “Here’s the thing I wanted to say: It’s never too late to change your life and make it what you want it. When it gets that bad, hang on and try a different door.”

“Or a tree,” she jokes, softly.

“Or a tree,” I smile. “And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for bringing you to that point. I was a shitty human being and I’m ashamed of how I treated you. Please…forgive me?”

Her eyes widen in surprise. “I already forgave you, Jack. Do you forgive me?”

“For what?” She makes a face which makes me chuckle, “Oh right, I forgot with all the plane crash and nearly dying thing.” Losing the smile, I look her in the eyes. “You’re forgiven…sis.” I make a face like I’m going to vomit and she laughs, the cloud leaving her eyes.

Mission accomplished.

“If your nose wasn’t so fucked up from that crash, I’d tweak it.”

“This wasn’t from the crash. This was from your boyfriend. Or do you not remember that, with all that’s happened?”

Her eyes light up with recognition. “Oh my God, I forgot about him punching you. It should have been me.”

Snorting, I rise up. “Oh really?”

She shakes off her dress, standing up, one eyebrow cocked mischievously “Really. Come here!”

“No!” I laugh, taking off. She chases me a few steps and gives up, heading for the food. Walking back to our camp, I see Alec’s got his sights fixated on me. “How you doin’ slugger?”

He grins and shakes his head, but his eyes shift to Rue in the distance.

Sean sighs. “What are you waiting for, Asshole? Go get her.”

Alec looks at him with surprise and I catch an interested glance from Jenna as she lifts her sunglasses up to watch the juicy show unfold. But Alec is very serious, his eyes blinking more than usual. “You sure, Sean? Because I don’t want anything to come between us again.”

I sit in Rue’s chair, fairly certain she won’t be needing it anytime soon. Plus, I want to get close to the hot Mexican number who’s been eyeballing me with a fuck-me stare all day. And if that’s in my imagination, I’m about to make it a reality. I announce, “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you,” and all eyes shoot to me. I grin, “What?”