“I wasn’t able to find out what your asking price is.” Barnes left the unspoken question hanging in the air.

Laurel’s dad cleared his throat. “It’s been difficult to get a good appraisal on the land. We’ve had two appraisers out and both have managed to lose our file. It’s been very frustrating. We’d prefer that you name your price and we’ll go from there.”

“Understandable.” Barnes stood. “I hope to have my written offer to you within a week.”

He shook hands with her parents, then left.

Laurel held her breath until she heard the car roar to life and back out of the driveway. David’s arm loosened from around her and Laurel made her way down the stairs.

“Finally, Sarah,” her dad said excitedly. “It’s been almost six months since he first approached me. I was beginning to think I’d gotten all worked up over nothing.”

“It would make things so much easier,” Laurel’s mom agreed. “It’s not a done deal, though.”

“I know, but it’s so close.”

“We’ve been close before. There was that one woman last summer who was so excited about the house.”

“Yeah, real excited,” Laurel’s dad argued. “When we called her to check up on things she said, and I quote, ‘What house?’ She’d completely forgotten about it.”

“You’re right,” her mom agreed. “Guess she wasn’t that impressed.”

“You’re not seriously thinking of selling our land to him?” Laurel said vehemently.

Her parents turned to her with questioning eyes. “Laurel?” her mom said.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, come on. He was totally creepy.”

Laurel’s mom sighed. “You don’t refuse a life-changing sale to someone just because they’re not very charismatic.”

“I didn’t like him. He scared me.”

“Scared you?” her dad asked. “What was scary about him?”

“I don’t know,” Laurel said, feeling a little cowed now that Mr. Barnes was gone.

“He…he looked funny.”

Her dad laughed. “Yeah. Probably a football player who took one too many hard hits. But you can’t base your opinion on the way someone looks. Remember that whole book-and-cover thing?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Laurel relented, but she wasn’t convinced. There was something odd about him, something strange in his eyes. And she didn’t like it.

Finally David cleared his throat. “I gotta head home,” he said. “I just stopped by for a minute.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Laurel said quickly, leading the way to the door.

Laurel took just a second to double-check that the driveway was empty before she stepped out onto the porch.

“Did he seem weird to you?” Laurel asked as soon as David closed the front door.

“The Barnes guy?” He waited a long moment, then shrugged. “Not really,” he admitted. “He was kind of weird-looking, but I think it’s mostly that nose. It’s like Owen Wilson’s. Probably got smashed playing football like your dad said.”

Laurel sighed. “Maybe it’s just me. I’m probably just being oversensitive because…” She gestured at her back. “You know.”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” David pushed his hands into his pockets, then withdrew them and crossed them over his chest. After a few seconds he changed his mind and shoved them back in his pockets. “I have to tell you, Laurel, this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard of. I can’t pretend it’s not.”

Laurel nodded. “I know. I’m a total freak.”

“No, you’re not. Well…you know, kinda. But it’s not you,” he added hurriedly.

“You just have this weird thing. And I…I’ll do what I can to help. Okay?”

“Really?” Laurel whispered.

David nodded. “I promise.”

Grateful tears threatened, but Laurel forced them back. “Thanks.”

“I have church with my mom tomorrow and then we’re going out to eat in Eureka with my grandparents, but I’ll be back in the evening and I’ll give you a call.”

“Great. And have fun.”

“I’ll try.” He hesitated for a minute and looked like he was about to turn and leave. But at the last second, he stepped forward and hugged her.

Surprised, Laurel hugged him back.

She watched as David’s bike disappeared into the murky dusk and stood looking after him for a long time after he was out of sight. She had been so frightened when she went to his house that morning. But she knew now that he had been the right person to tell. She smiled, then turned to head back inside.

Monday was Laurel’s first day of school with the huge bloom on her back. She considered faking sick, but who knew how long the flower would stay? Forever, maybe, she thought with a shiver. She couldn’t fake being sick every day. She met David in the front atrium before school and he assured her several times that he couldn’t tell there was anything under her shirt. She took a deep breath and headed off to her first class.

At lunch, Laurel sat and watched David. The clouds broke for just a few moments, releasing a bright beam of sunlight, and Laurel noticed the way the sun shone on him—it glinted off the subtle highlights in his sandy brown hair and caught the tips of his eyelashes. She hadn’t thought much before about how handsome he was, but the last few days, she’d found herself looking at him more and more, and twice already during lunch he’d turned and caught her. He was starting to provoke the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling she’d always read about in books.