“It took us a while to get used to driving on the other side of the road.”

I laughed, imagining them turning the wrong way down streets. “I bet.”

“So,” Roddy crossed his arms over his chest, “are we goin’ tae this lake or what?”

“He’s a little grouchy,” I said to Jim.

“He’s not a morning person.”

His friend grunted. “Like you are.”

“When a bonny lassie is waiting for me, I am.” Jim winked at me and put a hand on my lower back, guiding me to the car.

I felt a moment of uncertainty. “Uh … you guys aren’t serial killers, right?”

“Bit late to be askin’ that now,” Roddy huffed. “Get in, woman.”

“Wow. He really isn’t a morning person.”

“How’s yer knee?” Jim asked, looking at my legs as I got in the car.

“Fine. I have a little bruise, that’s it.”

“That was just an excuse to check oot her legs,” Roddy said as Jim slid into the backseat behind him.

He was rewarded with a slap across the back of the head.

Roddy perked up a little once we reached the lake. The country park and lake were situated in the northeast of town on the south bend of Donovan Lake. I’d decided to take them there because it was mostly surrounded by trailers—some permanent homes, other vacation homes—and it meant there were a lot of families hanging out there during the summer. It was a safe place for me to get to know two guys I’d only just met.

We took a small rowboat out with fishing rods, and Roddy fished while Jim quizzed me. Or Jim tried to.

“Ye’er barely giving me anything.” He laughed. “Most girls love talking about themselves.”

“There’s not a lot to say, I’m afraid.”

“Okay. Well, I know ye work at that burger place. Is it full-time, part-time, a summer thing?”

“Who knows.” I shrugged, and he laughed, seeming delighted by my vagueness.

I didn’t intentionally mean to be mysterious; I genuinely didn’t know what my future held at this point.

“Have ye lived here all of yer life? Do ye live with yer parents? What do they do? What do ye want to do with yer life?”

The rapid-fire questions made me smile. The sun was beginning to rise higher over the trees, so I slipped on my cheap sunglasses, glad to have another shield over my thoughts. “Yes and yes. My mom works two jobs—she’s a bartender and a waitress. My dad doesn’t work because he has really bad diabetes. And I don’t know. I guess I want to do something that helps people.” Or be a stage actress.

Jim slowly smiled. “See? That wasn’t so hard.”

“What about you? Where in Scotland are you from? Do you live with your parents? What do they do? What do you want to do with your life?”

“We work construction in Edinburgh.” Jim gestured to Roddy, who was staring sleepily out at the water, seeming happy to enjoy the peace and the gentle heat of the morning sun. “I live in a place called Sighthill in Edinburgh, with my mum and sister.” He paused. “My dad passed away a few months ago. Heart attack.”

Sympathy panged in my chest at the little catch his voice. And then Roddy changed my entire perception of him by reaching back to pat his friend’s knee in consolation. Jim patted his friend’s shoulder in thanks.

“I’m so sorry.”

Jim nodded.

Awkwardness fell over the boat as I tried to think of an appropriate new topic. I didn’t want to feel like I was blowing past his pain, but I got the impression he didn’t want to talk about it any further.

“So, why a road trip?”

He threw me a grateful smile. “I got some money from my dad’s pension, Roddy and I turned twenty-one, and we decided to blow it all on a US road trip. We’ve talked about doing it since we were kids.”

“You’re twenty-one?”

“Aye.” He narrowed his eyes. “Please tell me ye’er legal.”

I laughed, blushing. “I’m eighteen.”

“Thank fuck,” he said, smiling. “Ye would have broken my heart if ye’d said no.”

“Yer chat-up lines are gettin’ worse, mate,” Roddy grumbled.

“It’s not a chat-up line.” Jim smacked him playfully across the back of the head again, but Roddy didn’t flinch this time. Jim looked back at me. “It’s not.”

I studied him. “Why are you being so charming? You don’t know me at all.”

“Exactly what I said last night. And this morning.”

Jim rolled his eyes. “Roddy. Shut up.”

Roddy grunted.

“Well?” I persisted.

“I don’t know.” He stared at me in that intense way of his. “There’s something about ye.”

His friend turned to me, shading his eyes from the sun with his hand. “What he’s really sayin’ is that he fancies the fuck out of ye, he’s thinkin’ only with his dick, and if ye dinnae dae somethin’ to make him see ye’er just a lassie like any other lassie, I’m stuck in Eerie-fuckin’-Indiana for the rest of the summer.”

I caught most of what he’d said. And blushed even harder.

“Roddy, if ye dinnae shut up, I’m throwing ye overboard, mate.”

“Well, it’s the truth. Ye dinnae even ken each other.”

“Which is why we’re sitting in a boat gettin’ to know each other.”

“I’m just sayin’… move it along a bit so we can get oot eh’ here.”

“I’ve got a better plan.” Jim started to row the boat back to dock.

“What ye doin’?” Roddy complained. “I was enjoyin’ the lake.”

“Really? I couldnae tell with all the bloody complaining ye were doin’.”

“Oh, c’mon, I was only jokin’.”

But Jim kept rowing us back. He dumped the oars, stood up, and held his hands out to me. I let him pull me up onto the dock. And then he turned around and pushed the boat away with Roddy still inside it.

Roddy scrambled for the oars. “What ye doin’!”

To my surprise, I suddenly found my hand gripped in Jim’s large, stronger one. “I’m going with Nora somewhere I can get to know her in peace. And you can fish. We’ll come back and get ye in a bit.”

“Aw, aye, nice!” Roddy called, drawing attention from several people. “Dump me, yer long-time friend, for a lassie ye just met.”

“Temporarily, Roddy. And only cause ye’er a pain in the arse.”

I snorted as Jim grinned down at me. And then he tugged me along after him. “Are you sure he’ll be okay out there?”

“He’s fine.” Jim laughed. “I’m giving him what he wants. All that pissing and moaning was so we’d bugger off and leave him alone. Trust me.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“So, where to?”

“This way.” I led him off the dock and onto the gravel pathway that wound around the woods edging the lake. To my surprise, we walked in comfortable silence until I found what I was looking for. An empty bench at the edge of the lake, a few minutes from any trailer or other boats. Some privacy. “This way we still get to enjoy the lake.”

Jim grinned and took a seat. “It’s stunnin’ here.”

“Yeah, I like it.” I sat down and because I was wearing shorts, I could feel the warmth the wood had soaked up from the morning sun. In the height of summer, around two, three o’clock, you couldn’t sit on these benches without burning the skin off your thighs. This time in the morning, the heat was as pleasant on my skin as the low sun in the sky was. “I don’t get here often enough.”

“Why not?”

“I work a lot.”

“So …” Jim relaxed, one leg bent, the other straight, his arms along the back of the bench. He squinted at me in the sun as he sat sprawled out and twice my size. “Will ye answer any of my questions now?”

I tilted my head in consideration. “Depends on the question.”