“Not all of us,” Wyatt said. “I don’t care—at least, not about Tori. But I do care about you, Savvy. And I don’t want you to get hurt.”
The look of concern on his face gave her pause. It was quite similar to the look he’d given her when they’d come home from the airport. “It’s going to be fine, Wyatt.”
Wasn’t it? She’d convinced herself that Levi had a sound plan—to let them both enjoy reunion activities without being besieged by eager matchmakers or a pity party for Levi, but now Wyatt’s questions burrowed under her skin and brought all the doubt right back to the surface.
Hayley dug into Juliet’s bag, then pulled out a package of peanut butter M&M’s. “Are you going to all the class reunion activities together?”
Savannah winced. “Yes. Sort of.”
Hayley pinned her with a long look. “What are you not telling us?”
“I agreed to be Levi’s fake date.”
A muscle in Wyatt’s cheek twitched. “I sure hope you’re joking.”
“Oh, this is going to be fun.” Juliet clapped her hands together. “That’s so romantic.”
“And so not like you,” Hayley added. “He must have been so persuasive.”
“Back to the Tori thing,” Savannah said. “She crushed him. It’s so obvious when he talks about her that he’s not over her. And I don’t think she’s over him.”
“She kept a close watch on the two of you at the engagement party.” Juliet held out her palm for Hayley to share her candy. “Which is so weird because she didn’t have to be there.”
“Tori has known Jasper a long time, and she was about to be his sister-in-law,” Savannah said. “Besides, the Carters invited almost the entire town.”
“Still, it was awkward,” Juliet said. “I’m glad we made a quick exit.”
“I’m glad I didn’t go at all.” Wyatt got back on his bike. “Are you girls ready to head home?”
“Wow, you are in a mood today.” Savannah frowned at him. “Do you need to go for a longer bike ride? Get those endorphins going?”
“I’d love to keep going. I only stopped because you said you were tired.” He buckled his helmet strap under his chin. “Ready when you are.”
Savannah pushed to her feet. “I appreciate your concern about my agreement with Levi. Since I haven’t kept in touch with my classmates, it will be nice to have someone to go to the events with.”
Hayley put the leftover candy back in Juliet’s knapsack. “What about your bestie, Grace?”
“She’s flying in from California later this week. Her boss at the bank only approved a week of vacation, so she couldn’t take time off from work to attend every single event.”
“Hope she makes it for the softball game.” Juliet returned to her bike. “You all need a lot of people to field a team.”
“Ugh. No, thank you.” Savannah returned to her bike. “Softball is so not my thing.”
“Well, it’s still Opportunity’s thing.” Wyatt took a sip from his water bottle, then put it back in the holder on his bike. “The Summer Solstice Softball Tournament is the highlight of the summer around here.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Savannah said. “There’s bike riding, white water rafting and trails to hike. Someone is planning a get-together at a former teacher’s house—plus, there’s the formal dance at the hotel.”
“People still take their softball very seriously,” Juliet said. “Especially when there’s no darkness to contend with and they can play all night if they want.”
Savannah blew out a long breath. “I will not be participating in a midnight softball game under any circumstances.”
“You should go and support your class.” Hayley got back on her bike. “Or offer to help serve hamburgers and hot dogs afterward?”
“Maybe they’ll let me stand in the outfield and daydream, just like I did in high school. What could possibly go wrong?”
As they rode their bikes back down the hill toward home, the sunlight on her back warming her skin, the weight of doubt settled in her chest. She tried not to think too much about what her siblings had said. But they loved her and knew her best, so it wasn’t easy to dismiss their concerns. Was Wyatt right? Had she made a mistake by agreeing to be Levi’s fake girlfriend?
On Thursday morning, Levi stood behind the counter at the store, his phone pressed to his ear. “What do you mean, Wren can’t stay? We have two more days of Vacation Bible School.”
“I understand your frustration,” Mrs. Horvath said calmly. “But Wren’s behavior has become increasingly disruptive, and her small-group leader has no other choice but to ask her to leave.”
“So you think the solution to the teenager not being able to handle the four-year-olds is to blame the kid? Maybe you should just get a new small-group leader.”
“That won’t help with Wren’s situation,” she said.
Anger boiled in his chest. “What do you mean by ‘situation’?”
“We’ve caught her stealing bags of peanut butter crackers from the snack closet. Twice.”
“That doesn’t seem like something that should be punished. She’s a young child who has faced hunger and poverty. Instead of taking her out of the program, why don’t we try to talk to her?”
“We have made our expectations clear, Mr. Carter.” Mrs. Horvath’s tone had turned frigid. “Wren chose to disobey. Stealing isn’t allowed. It could be harmful to the other children if they see her act this way.”
“Mrs. Horvath, I think we could show some mercy here. This is a summer camp, not a full-day school.”
“I’m not looking to argue with you.”
Dark spots floated before his eyes. “So, what’s the policy? Is any misbehaving child being removed from VBS or only Wren?”
