She gave me a mock frown while her eyes still twinkled. I looked past her and at Bee’s house to see if they were there yet. Cora leaned over to block my vision and I scowled some more. “Could you go annoy the hell out of someone else?” I asked, shoving her out of the way, so I could see.
“I could, but this is more fun,” she replied.
I didn’t reply.
“She likes you,” Cora whispered as if someone could hear her.
I jerked my gaze off Bee’s house to look at my sister. “Who?” I asked, needing her to be specific.
“Bee,” she replied then rolled her eyes. “Sailor, you idiot.”
“How do you know?” I asked her, hope soaring in my chest.
“She asks about you, who you’re dating, that kind of thing,” Cora said.
“I text with her all the time. She never asks me those things,” I said, not sure I believed my sister.
“Yes, you stupid boy because she can’t ask you those things or you’ll know she likes you.”
I frowned. That made no sense. “Why doesn’t she want me to know she likes me?” I asked.
Cora sighed and leaned back on her hands. “That’s the way girls are. You have to make the first move, but I’d do it quick because Derek Young was telling some guys at the last baseball game that as soon as Sailor got back into town, he was asking her out.”
Fuck no he was not. Derek Young didn’t even know Sailor. I didn’t care if he was older and had a sports car. He wasn’t asking her out, and even if he did, she wouldn’t go. She liked me. Cora said so.
“He’s an ass,” I said.
“He’s older and sexy,” Cora replied.
Shooting her another glare, I stood up ready to get away from my sister. Bee’s Volvo pulled into the driveway then and I didn’t move. She was here. The summer was beginning and this year it would be different. This year I was going to make Sailor fall in love with me.
“Showtime lover boy,” Cora said then shoved me toward Bee’s house. “Go on and give her a big welcome. I’ll give you some time before I come see her. Make it count.”
I glanced back at my sister then walked down the steps to the sidewalk.
Sailor opened the car door and stepped out. Her dark brown curls were wild and danced around her like a halo. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen and she always had been. She lifted a hand and waved at me as our eyes met. One day that girl was going to be mine, and I would never let her go.