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mean, it’s not like you have to walk far to see the lake.
    We’re in the middle of it, after all.”
    “We were thinking of going to the mall,” Nathalie said. “Did you want to come with us?”
    “There’s a mall here?” I asked.
    Hallelujah!
    My dad was always saying that Tara and I should get frequent shopper points for all the time we spent at the mall. The Galleria in Dallas was my favorite, by far, but I never turned away a chance to go to a mall. Any mall.
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    “Of course we have a mall,” Nathalie said. “We have four, actually.”
    “How do we get there?” I asked.
    “We walk.”
    The mall we went to was in the shopping dis-trict. It was small, with no department stores, but it did have several interesting shops. More like boutiques. Very specialized.
    Shopping with Nathalie and her friends—who were quickly becoming my friends—was a lot like shopping with Tara. We tried on more clothes than we’d ever buy. As a matter of fact, I ended up being the only one who bought anything—some fur-lined, knee-high boots and a couple of thick woolen sweaters.
    After we’d shopped until we were almost ready to drop, we stopped in a little bakery. We each bought a slice of cake and some hot chocolate.
    Then we sat at a round table near the window.
    “This is so good,” I said, sipping the hot chocolate. “I have a feeling I’m only going to be drinking warm beverages from now on.”
    “You’ll get used to the cold,” Shanna said.
    “And the weather is really nice in the summer,” Corey said. “The island is perfect for nature lovers.”
    “Well, summer can’t get here fast enough, as 55
    far as I’m concerned,” I said. “I mean, I knew it would be cold—”
    “This isn’t really all that cold,” Corey said.
    “It’s freezing!” I said. “With the wind chill, it’s twenty degrees.”
    Corey shrugged. “Well, yeah, but it can get colder.”
    I shivered.
    “Like I said, you’ll get used to it,” Shanna assured me. “We barely notice the cold. So what do you do for fun if there’s no snow around?”
    “Shop, go to concerts, see movies. You know.
    Stuff.”
    Shanna leaned forward. “So tell us about the guys in Texas. They’re hot, right?”
    “Oh, yeah. Especially in the summer when the temperature is, like, a hundred degrees.”
    “That’s not what I meant!” Shanna said.
    I grinned, then told them about the guys I knew back home.
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    5
    The next morning, I threw on baggy sweats before leaving my bedroom. Fortunately, I didn’t run into any surprises on my way to the bathroom. After brushing my teeth, combing my hair, and making myself feel halfway decent—I needed coffee to feel completely decent—I headed downstairs.
    And there was Josh Wynter, on the second floor, lugging a rolled tarp into one of the bedrooms. He stopped in the doorway, studying me.
    I shifted from one slippered foot to the other.
    “Good morning,” I grumbled.
    He glanced around, pointed a thumb at his chest. “You talking to me?”
    I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a morning person, okay?”
    “No offense, but in that case, living in a bed-and-breakfast is probably not the way to go.”
    “I know. I’m trying to talk my mom into 57
    changing it into a bed-and-dinner.” He laughed. He had a great laugh. A deep rumble that made my toes curl inside my fuzzy socks. Weird. Guys never made my toes curl.
    I angled my head thoughtfully. “I could probably even do a bed-and-lunch.”
    Laughing more, he leaned against the door-jamb. His blue eyes were sparkling now. His eyes seemed even bluer because of his dark hair.
    “I don’t even eat breakfast,” I confessed.
    “It’s the most important meal of the day.”
    “So what are you, a nutritionist?”
    “Nah. A TV watcher. It’s amazing the useless bits of information you can pick up watching TV.”
    “Well, if they said it on TV, it’s gotta be true.” His grin broadened. Did the guy ever stop smiling once he got started? And what did it say