The house felt emptier than usual that night. I was lying on the floor in the living room, staring up at the chandelier above our coffee table, replaying the scene at the gym. Rhodes let me take the note, and though I wanted him to believe me, I knew a part of him was still wary. How could he not be? The note had a clear warning, one that I couldn’t begin to understand, and it was written in his sister’s handwriting.

Rhodes held me after dropping the bomb about his sister, but I still felt a hesitance even with his arms around me. He was trying to figure it all out, and even though he might not have wanted to believe that I could hurt him, his basic instinct told him otherwise. I couldn’t blame him.

My only suspect was Mason, but did he know about Rhodes’ sister? I guess everyone in the town did the year that it happened. Still, I couldn’t see him being that cruel to try to pull over an illusion that she wrote it. With him crossed off the list, I didn’t have any other ideas as to who could have written the note.

Unless it was his sister.

That possibility shook me to my core.

If that were the case, that meant Lana was alive. Furthermore, it meant that she was alive and that she hated me, or at least wanted her brother to stay away from me.

But why?

Groaning, I grabbed a pillow from the couch and covered my face with it before tossing it to the side again. My head was spinning with no chance of finding steady ground anytime soon. Everything I thought I knew about Rhodes was back in limbo, in a place where I couldn’t be sure of anything.

Yanking my phone off the charger, I thumbed through the contacts. I debated calling Willow, but it was Friday night and she was supposed to be at her first college party. Part of me ached to be there with her, part of me was selfish enough to wish she was home with me, instead. Mom and Dale were still up north and wouldn’t be back for a few more days. I could have called them, but they didn’t know about my relationship with Rhodes, so they couldn’t help, either.

Sighing, I dropped my phone back to the floor and continued staring up at the ceiling. A loud knock at the front door woke me from my daydream a few minutes later and I reluctantly climbed to my feet. Padding over to the foyer, I peeked through the peephole, and I didn’t know how to feel when I saw him standing there.

Slowly, I unlocked the door and propped it open with my hip. “Hi.”

Rhodes’ brows pulled inward. “I’m so, so sorry, Bug.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but simply closed it again. I wasn’t expecting an apology.

“I can’t believe I treated you like that today. I can’t stop thinking about it. I have no idea what this note means, but I do know that staying away from you isn’t going to make anything in my life better. You’re the only light I have, Natalie.”

My stomach felt light and heavy at the same time. I expected Rhodes to call me tomorrow and tell me I had a new trainer. I thought he was gone. I thought I’d lost him. But we’d grown in the short time we’d known each other. Him standing on my front porch was living proof of that.

My voice cracked along with my strength. “I don’t know what the note means. I swear I don’t.”

“I know,” he said quickly, reaching out and pulling me into him. I tucked my nose into the crook of his neck, squeezing my eyes tight. “I don’t want to think about it right now.”

I pulled back. “I don’t know how not to think about it.”

Rhodes grabbed my hand in his and led me back into the house. Stretching out on the couch, he dragged me down with him and wrapped his arms around my middle. My back was flush against his chest and he softly kissed the skin on my neck.

“I want to take you somewhere tomorrow.”

I sighed, my chest tight. I was emotionally spent from the day, yet his hands on my waist and his words on my skin were all I needed to feel whole again.

“Anywhere,” I answered, sliding my hand into his. I pressed my index and middle fingers together into the center of his wrist, exhaling through the ache in my chest when I felt his steady heartbeat. “I’ll go anywhere with you.”

Rhodes woke me early the next morning. He insisted on me letting him pack my bag for whatever we were doing, and I guess a normal girl would have objected. I was pretty low maintenance, though, and was more excited about the fact that he was surprising me. I couldn’t remember a time Mason had ever thought to surprise me with anything. I didn’t mean to always compare them, but being that Mason was the only example of a relationship that I had to go off of, it happened frequently.

Rhodes outshined him in every category.

We were on the road by six, Rhodes behind the wheel of the Rover. He had one hand fixed at the top of the steering wheel and the other firmly on my thigh. It was so cliché, Willow would have hated it, but it made me smile for the first time in twenty-four hours.

We didn’t talk much as Rhodes drove. I stared out the window, sipping on the tropical smoothie I’d picked up at the gas station before we left Poxton Beach. I didn’t know where we were going, but I was relieved we were getting out of town, even if it were just for a while.

A little less than three hours later, we pulled into a small gravel parking lot in front of an open-faced, wooden gazebo type building. Rhodes jumped out and shook hands with a large bearded man who asked him a few questions before throwing me a wink and jogging off.

“Come on,” Rhodes said, opening my door. I stepped out and helped him load up the few bags and cooler he’d packed. We made our way to a small shuttle, tucking our items around our feet as the same bearded man climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Alright, y’all. You ready to spend some time on Edisto River?”

I smiled. “We’re canoeing?”

“We are.”

“All day?”

This time, Rhodes smirked. “Something like that.”

I lifted a brow in question, but he just kissed my hand still locked in his.

The drive was short, but our driver, Clint, chatted animatedly about the river the entire time. It was one of the longest free-flowing blackwater rivers in North America and ran all the way down to its end in Edisto Beach, where it met the Atlantic. We were still in the same state, just a few hours from Poxton Beach, but it was as if we were in an entirely different country. It was so quiet, nothing but wildlife and the gentle rustling of the wind through the leaves.

Clint helped us unload the canoe when we arrived at the drop spot, lowering it steadily into the water. Rhodes secured our bags inside the canoe before attaching the small cooler to the back. It floated easily, and I marveled at bad boy Rhodes showing off his boy scout skills.