Free Never Let You Go by Emma Carlson Berne Page B

huge.
    Megan sighed. “Fine.”
    “Thank you!” Anna squealed and kissed Megan on the cheek. “I love you.”
    Megan grimaced. “You should.”
    They were almost to the lawn now. The pleasant hum of voices and the clink of silverware on plates floated toward them on the breeze. Everyone was squeezed together around the long table, spooning out potato salad and green beans. Sarah spotted themand called out, “Come on, girls, I saved some burgers for you.”
    “Coming!” Megan called, just as Anna’s hand grasped hers and pulled her back.
    “Just look at him,” Anna whispered, her breath blowing hot against Megan’s ear.
    Megan watched Jordan lean over to refill Linda’s water glass. His hair shone in the sun like spun gold. He is beautiful , she thought. She wanted him so badly, she felt like screaming. But she didn’t, of course. She just remained silent.
    Anna moved forward as if drawn by an invisible thread. “It’s going to be a great night,” she murmured.

CHAPTER 5
    “Oh my God, I am so red,” Megan moaned later that evening as she stared into the tiny, smeary mirror that hung on the cabin wall. The little room was hot and stuffy after being shut up all day, but they’d propped the door open, and a cool breeze was finally beginning to blow through.
    “Didn’t you put on sunscreen?” Anna asked, sitting cross-legged on the bed and pulling a brush through her heavy black hair.
    “I sort of forgot.” Megan switched on the lamp and dug a jar of aloe out of her toiletry bag. “Good thing Mom stuffed this in my bag at the last minute.” She unscrewed it and gazed at the green goo inside. “It looks toxic.”
    Anna started to plait her hair into a long braid. “How was weeding? Hey, do you want me to braid your hair? It looks so pretty like that.”
    Megan smiled. “Yeah, that’d be nice. Thanks.” She sat on the floor between Anna’s knees and let her friend pull a comb through her tangled hair. It felt very peaceful, very familiar. Megan thought back to all the times she and Anna had sat like this, with a comb and a mirror, over the years. Too many to count.
    “Anyway, weeding was fun. I mean, hot, but it was nice,” Megan resumed. “Isaac and I did most of it, but Sarah came out and helped some, and Linda sat and talked to us. She made me put her hat on when she saw how red I was getting.” Megan peered at her reflection and started smearing aloe on her burnt nose.
    Anna sniffed, dividing Megan’s hair into three sections. “She’s always in other people’s business like that.”
    It took Megan a moment to realize that she was talking about Linda. “It wasn’t like that. She was just trying to be nice. She told us a bunch of stuff about the farm too. Hey, did you know she and Thomas were one of the first farms in the state to go organic? Everyone told them they’d never make it, and they did.”
    “Yeah, I think I knew that.” Anna skillfully wrapped a hair-band around the end of the braid and smoothed a few stray pieces. “Okay, done.”
    Megan got up and stared at herself dolefully in the mirror. Her hair looked nice, and her skin was no longer green from the salve, but it was shiny. Shiny, wet, and red. She put the aloe away and lay down on her bed, adjusting the pillow behind her neck, and watched Anna rummage in her trunk, holding up various tank tops, then discarding them. “Seriously, why don’t you like Linda? She seems really nice to me.”
    Anna shook her head vigorously. “ Seriously , she’s a bitch, okay? Trust me. I’ve known her a lot longer than you.” She pulled an emerald green tank over her head, mussing her long braid, which somehow made it look even better. Anna seemed to be considering something. Then she sighed.
    “Okay, fine. Listen, when I was eleven, I spent the summer up here. It was right after Dad left, and I was really pissed off all the time. That summer, they had this big old dog, Nigel. I think he’d come with some sheep they’d gotten.