Free Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) by Christi Barth Page A

flourish with his hand that proved he watched a lot of movies full of swordplay. “Here’s what I want to ask you: what the hell went wrong the first time between you two? Because you can’t blindly move forward until you fix whatever it was that you fucked up.”
    This was not news to Ward. “Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
    “Is that from the quote calendar Casey gave you?”
    “Last Thursday’s.”
    After an eye roll, Zane continued. “Look, nobody talks about why a chunk of the town looks at you like you smell worse than week-old tuna. Nobody ever mentions that when you’re hanging out with Ella and Casey and Piper, you always sit as far away from Piper as possible. You guys go to opposite sides like you’re positive and negative ions.”
    It surprised him that Zane had even asked the question. “Casey never told you the story?”
    “Not yet. We’ve had our hands full dealing with all of her stuff, with the Sunshine Seekers cult. I’m sure she planned to get around to your backstory eventually.”
    Weird. And as uncomfortable as the full-leg brace he’d worn after the accident. Ward didn’t talk about it. He’d never once needed to, because everyone in Seneca Lake already knew the story, and in the years he’d spent away, nobody knew to ask.
    But Zane wasn’t asking to be nosy. And as Casey’s fiancé, he was certainly around all of them enough to deserve an explanation for the weird vibes that kept recurring. So Ward set the journal on the bench and got up. No way was he looking at the guy while he poked at this open nerve.
    Jamming his hands back in his pockets, he strode past the mailbox to dig his boots into the loose, wet earth right at the edge of the water.
    “Piper and I were high school sweethearts. Crazy in love.” From behind him, he heard Zane suck in a surprised breath.
    “I thought all four of you had always been best friends?”
    “That’s right. Since junior high. We hit it off during a summer school musical the girls did for fun and I got roped into as an extended detention. In high school I got into football and basketball. The girls did cheerleading. But we all still did choir and shows together.”
    “Didn’t the kids, especially when you were younger, make fun of you for having girls as best friends?”
    “Some did.” Ward turned back around to grin. “But they only did it once. Then they discovered that being friends with girls didn’t mean I couldn’t throw a fast, hard punch. Not to mention running faster, throwing a football farther and jumping higher to make a dunk shot.”
    “You’re a badass,” Zane said approvingly.
    “Down to the bone.”
    “So the four of you hang out, and one day...what...Piper got boobs and you noticed?”
    “Trust me, I noticed when all of them got training bras.” Boners were hard enough for a boy to control in junior high. Getting them around and because of your best friends was a whole different kind of torture. “It was awkward and unnerving and uncomfortable for a couple of weeks. Then we all got past it.”
    “Good.” Zane shook his head. “Have to admit, I don’t like the thought of you ogling my fiancée, even if it was years ago.”
    Now this conversation verged on awkward and uncomfortable. “I, uh, properly appreciated Casey’s assets, but it never went further than that. Remember, they were like my sisters. Nobody
wants
to get the hots for their sister.”
    “Then what flipped the switch with you for Piper?”
    That’s exactly what had happened. As fast and easy as flipping a switch. Ward flashed back to that hot August night when everything changed. He could hear the loud drone of crickets, smell the gathering damp in the air of the incoming storm. Most of all, he could see Piper, tears streaking down her cheeks, gleaming in the moonlight behind his family’s barn. She stood, ramrod straight, hands fisted at her sides, chest heaving as she