Oh God, take a seat with Griffin Knightly, the boy who always treated me like a little sister? The boy I went to whenever I needed advice about Rogan? The man I let down by not being there for him when he lost his wife? I don’t know if I can.

But before I can make up my mind, he’s pulling me to the bench, where we both take a seat.

Silent for a moment, we stare out at the volunteers busying themselves. “Can you keep a secret?” he finally says, surprising me.

“I mean . . . yeah, you know I can.”

He smiles, probably thinking of all the times I covered for him and Claire. “You’re right, you can. You must be wondering why we’re decorating so early.”

“Yeah, I was wondering that, but I haven’t lived here for a while, so I thought that you might have changed things up.”

“Nope.” He leans in. “We actually have movie location scouts coming into town. Port Snow is on the short list for a Lovemark movie.”

“What?” I feel myself brighten. The town has been vying to be a film location for years. This would be a dream come true for so many locals. “Are you serious?”

Griffin leans back on the bench and folds his hands together. “Yup, and I’m in charge of making the town look magical. It’s been . . . challenging at times.”

“Oh, I’m sure. And you don’t want to tell anyone why, right?”

“Not unless I want it ending up in the newspaper the next morning. I’ve been telling them something big might happen, and that’s it; I don’t want to get people’s hopes up yet, but hell, Harper, this would be so amazing for the town. I’m just hoping we can convince them.”

“Do you know when they’re coming in?”

He shakes his head. “No, I just know I have today and tomorrow to finish up.” He laughs to himself. “Brig is beside himself.”

“You told Brig? That boy can’t keep anything quiet.”

“He overheard us during Sunday night dinner. We tried to exclude him, but a fat lot of help that did. I threatened to take a crowbar to all his Mustangs if he speaks a word of it.”

“How many does he have now?” When Rogan and I were dating, Brig was hell bent on owning an auto shop where he could restore and fix cars and also rent out his collection to tourists who wanted to drive around for a day in an old, beautifully restored Ford Mustang. When I passed his shop this morning, I couldn’t help but smile; it looks like his business is booming.

“I think about ten. He’s always buying and selling, constantly keeping his hands busy. I think he has to keep his mind on something other than finding the love of his life.”

“Still chasing the happily ever after?” Brig always was a romantic.

“Oh yeah. Maybe he should stop chasing and let it fall into his lap instead. But what do I know? I’m only his oldest brother.”

“He’s never listened to you. None of them did.” I chuckle, feeling a little piece of the old me resurface. I glance over at Griffin and let out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Griff.”

“Sorry for what?” His brows pull together.

I twist my hands, unable to look him in the eye. “For not being there for you when Claire passed. I should have been here to help you and your family. I was just too . . . God, I was too heartbroken to see anything besides myself.”

He takes my hand in his, turning toward me. “I’ve always considered you a dear friend and a part of the family, Harper. What happened with you and Rogan . . . it didn’t just break your heart; it broke all of ours. I know only a fraction of that heartache you experienced, so please don’t apologize. I know you would have been there if you could.”

I nod, a small tear rolling down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away and take a deep breath. “Jeez, I wasn’t supposed to cry today.” I nervously laugh. “But then I run into you, and the waterworks come out. You’ve always been real with me. I appreciate that, Griffin.”

“Hey, what are big brothers for?” He winks and pulls me into a hug. Leaning into him, I let more tears fall from my eyes. He squeezes me even tighter.

CHAPTER TEN

ROGAN

Junior Year, High School

“Get the fuck out, man,” I say, checking myself in the mirror one more time. “Harper’s going to be here soon, and I won’t have much time with her before Mom and Dad come back from Pottsmouth.”

“What are you going to do?” Reid says, ever the annoying little brother. “Make out?”

“I’m not telling you anything. Knowing you, you’ll just run to Mom and Dad.”

“Who says I won’t do that anyway?” he challenges, arms crossed over his chest.

Harper and I have been dating for nine months now, and our summer is just starting. I finally get to spend some alone time with her after finals, but Reid is ruining that, especially now that he overheard Mom and Dad talking about being cautious when leaving me alone with Harper.

From my back pocket, I pull a ten-dollar bill and flash it in Reid’s face. “This is yours if you keep your mouth shut.” I pull another five from my pocket. “And this is so you can go get some ice cream with Tracker. Now. Don’t come back for two hours. Got it?”

Reid eyes the money. “How much did you give Griffin to take Brig to Bell Harbor for the day?”

“Nothing. He’s a brother that doesn’t need to be bribed. Now with every minute that ticks by and you don’t take the offer, you lose a dollar.”

“Fine, I’ll just stay here.”

“Fine.” I mimic his attitude. “Then I’ll just take Harper to get ice cream instead.”

Eyeing me, he finally resigns and takes the cash. “You owe me.”

Ha, yeah right. The irritating pest can think that all he wants.

After some pushing and shoving, I get rid of Reid right before Harper walks through the front door. She doesn’t need to ring or knock—not anymore, not once my mom told her she was family.

“Hey, you.” I sweep her up into my arms and plant a kiss on her addictive lips. From the moment we first kissed in her driveway, I knew I would never be able to satisfy my appetite. There’s something about her lips that has me begging for more every day. Plump and soft, absolute perfection.

“Hey.” She giggles when my lips trail down her neck. “What do you think you’re doing, mister?”

“Greeting you properly. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a week.”

She tilts her head to the side as one of her hands snakes through my hair. Shit, I love it when she does that.

“Finals were brutal, but now we have the whole summer.” She presses her hand against my chest to put some distance between us, my lips still trying to work across her smooth skin. “Which is why we should take a second to look at what I found.”

I catch my breath. “What you found?” Excitement and mischief blaze from her eyes. That can only mean one thing: she found something out about the Snow Vale Manor affair.

That’s what we’re calling it at least.

Over the past few months, whenever we’ve had time in between school, sports, and afterschool activities, we’ve pored over the letters, writing out timelines and casually asking our parents what they know about Iggy. We haven’t been able to crack much, but from the look in Harper’s eyes, I think she might have had a breakthrough.

She grabs my hand and pulls me upstairs to my bedroom. She shuts the door behind us and tosses her backpack on my bed before flopping on it herself. Leaning against my door, I watch as her dark-red hair falls over her shoulders as she opens her backpack. She’s wearing a green sundress with a white cardigan, and in this moment, all I can think about is sliding my hand up her skirt and moving that cardigan to the side with my teeth.

“Rogan, are you paying attention?”

“Huh?” I shake my head, giving her my most charming smile. Caught staring. It happens so often she doesn’t even mention it anymore.

“Come here, you goof. Look what I found.” She pulls a book out of her backpack as I sit behind her and pull us both against the headboard, positioning Harper between my legs while I look over her shoulder.

“An old book?”

She playfully elbows me. “Not just any old book, but a yearbook. Iggy’s yearbook.”

“What?” I sit up, a little more interested. “You found his actual yearbook?”

“Well, the one from his senior class. I was in the library studying and was getting tired, so I went for a walk and stumbled upon all the yearbooks dating back to the first one they ever printed. I got to thinking that since Iggy grew up in Port Snow, maybe we could find some clue about his Forever Girl.”

“Harp.” I kiss her cheek. “That’s genius.”

“Thank you.” She beams. “I thought it was quite genius myself. I haven’t looked through it yet because I thought you would want to as well.”

“Hell yeah. Open it up—let’s see if we can find out anything about him.”

Carefully, we scan through the thin yearbook, taking note of Iggy’s senior picture and trying to match it up with any other familiar faces among the candid pictures. It isn’t until we reach the musical theater page that we spot him again.

“Look, that’s Iggy,” Harper says, pointing at the picture.