little mohawk.
“Almost there,” Killian mutters a couple of times, glancing down at the clock and then over at me. I smile and shrug. I’ve got nowhere better to be.
Killian takes a left into a driveway I didn’t even see, and the Jeep crunches down a gravel road that’s only wide enough for one car, low-hanging tree branches scratching against the roll cage. Finally we pull into a clearing, and my head spins as I reorient myself and realize we’re right next to the lake. Rocky cliffs reach out into the vast expanse of blue, and the wind is blowing in from the west. I shiver.
Killian cuts the engine and leans forward on the steering wheel, looking sheepish. “So, I’m going to be honest,” he says. “I haven’t been here for a while, and that drive is a lot longer than I remembered.”
I shrug and hold up the hot dogs, which by now must be stone cold. “Bon appétit?”
Killian reaches for a limp fry and tosses it into his mouth, then catches sight of his disheveled hair in the rearview mirror and hastily reaches up to flatten it. Our eyes meet, and I try to hold back the laughter that’s building in my stomach, but Killian snorts, and then we’ve lost it. I set down the food and brace myself against the dashboard, a little confused about what exactly is so damn funny but almost unable to breathe because I’m laughing so hard.
“Stop laughing,” Killian finally says between gasps. He starts giggling again and shakes his head. “Stop it.”
“I’m trying!” I try to think of very serious things: global warming, SAT tests, heartbreak. But even conjuring Mark’s image doesn’t completely wipe the smile off my face.
We finally recover. Killian helps me out of the Jeep and leads me over rocky shoreline. There’s absolutely no one around—for all I know, we could be the only people for miles. A seagull cries at it dips down and flies past us, no doubt eyeing the food Killian is carrying. “Can you at least tell me where we’re going?” I ask.
“It’s right around the corner,” he says, pointing with his free hand. “Look.”
A small lighthouse stands at the edge of the rocks, only about twenty feet tall, old and in disrepair. The original navy and white stripes painted on it have faded and peeled, all the windows are broken, and its door hangs from one rusty hinge. It’s tragic and beautiful, and totally worth a dinner of cold hot dog.
Killian takes off his sweatshirt and drops it to the ground, gesturing for me to sit down on it. “I always told myself I’d bring a girl here someday,” he says, flopping down next to me. “But I think maybe I should have put a little more planning in on the front end.”
I flush and grab one of the hot dogs. “This is great,” I say. “Really. How did you find this place?”
Killian reaches over and takes the hot dog from me, his fingers brushing mine. I tense up, watching his face come closer. I should back away, but for some reason I don’t.
“Sorry,” he says, flashing an apologetic gap-toothed smile. “This is the tofu dog. I’m a vegetarian.” He raises it to his mouth and takes a big bite. “You know what George Bernard Shaw said about eating meat, right?” Killian asks, regarding me over his hot dog, which is oozing mustard.
“Oh.” My face flushes, and I tear my eyes away from his. “I do know this one,” I say, unreasonably proud to finally be able to feed Killian’s Shaw obsession and grateful to feel my heart rate returning to normal. “ ‘Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends.’ ”
“Exactly.” He finishes the tofu dog in two more bites. “Although, I have to admit, these don’t fill you up quite the same way meat does.”
I’m way too nervous to eat now. “So, you’ve always wanted to bring a girl here?” Probably the last words I should be saying, but they’re literally the only thing I can think of at the moment.
Killian grins and crosses his long legs, trying to find a comfortable position on the hard ground. “Yep. Sometimes I just get in the Jeep and drive. I don’t have anywhere to go, but it just feels good to go somewhere, you know? And I found the lighthouse, which I think has been totally forgotten. I can’t find anything in books or online about it or anything.” He shrugs. “But I could never convince