Page 38 (1/2)

Gabe put on the oven mitts, picked up the casserole dish, and started toward the door “We better get out there”

By the time Hadley made it outside with the tray of peanut-butter-and-honey-filled celery sticks, everyone was already seated at the picnic tables And because the fates were against her, every seat was taken except for one—the eht by Will and across from Matt

She set down the tray on the table and squeezed in next to Will, the brush of her hip against his when she sat down sending a teasing little buzz of attraction across her skin Her brain was a hard no, but the rest of her? Oh God, the rest of her was softening like butter in July And for the first time ever, the Frito pie tasted like shredded paper because every sense in her body was tuned in to thenext to her

And just when she thought it couldn’t get worse, Pa stood up and pulled out a pair of handcuffs

Hadley’s sto she had not to holler out “no”

“I had brought these for Derek and Adalyn,” Pa said

Maybe her sister had given her fiancé a heads-up What Pa had planned was best avoided at all costs

“However, after a discussion with Louise,” he went on, “we think we came up with the perfect alternative for the family tradition”

Unease creeped across her skin, and Hadley’s sto she had not to slide under the picnic table and hide

Her grandpa beamed at her “Will and Hadley, these are for you”

Oh God, kill me now

Dinner had just moved into creepy no-one-can-hear-you-screaht have made a break for it, but he was hemmed in on the bench by Weston on one side and Hadley on the other

“Oh rumbled under her breath “Why is ?”

Will leaned closer to her and lowered his voice “E or homicidal?”