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a long time, swinging our feet in the water in unison. Logan eventually tracked down an inner tube and floated out into the lake. She would glance up at me occasionally and nod in Elliott’s direction. She could be really demanding when she wanted to be.
    It was fact-finding time. “So . . . Graham’s your brother?”
    â€œYes. He’s the baby.”
    â€œI’ll say. What is he? Sixteen?”
    â€œHe just turned seventeen, actually.” Elliott opened a small cooler he had with him and handed me a bottle of water.
    I took it with a nod of thanks. “That’s quite an age difference.”
    â€œI know. I’m the oldest of five. I was sixteen when Graham was born. I can’t tell you how traumatizing it is to know that your parents are still doing that when you’re sixteen.”
    That made me laugh. “I can imagine. Actually, I don’t want to imagine.” I lowered my voice conspiratorially. “So listen, I’m not very good at being subtle about these things, but I think Logan would like to know if Graham has a girlfriend.”
    â€œWow, is that the best you’ve got? That wasn’t sneaky at all.” He shook his head in mock disapproval.
    â€œI said I wasn’t good at this. What should I have done?”
    Elliott slowly cranked the wheel on his fishing rod, bringing the glittering lure back to the surface before casting it out again. “You should have done what I did.” I held my hands up, questioning. He explained, saying, as if it were obvious, “I don’t normally go fishing on a Monday in the middle of the day.” I nodded, understanding, as he continued. “Graham sent me out here to find out about her.”
    â€œAw, that’s so cute.” It did seem odd that he would just show up. I hadn’t seen another person on the lake. “But then why were you so surprised to see us out here?”
    He looked sort of puzzled that his surprise had registered with me. “Oh, well, I just didn’t realize that it would be you guys.”
    I looked over the water at Logan to make sure she was out of earshot. Her head was kicked back on the edge of the inner tube. It looked like she might be napping out there. She had the right idea being in the water; it was starting to get hot on the dock.
    I said, “You cannot tell Graham that she was asking about him.”
    â€œDitto. And no, he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
    â€œExcellent, I shall report back to my superior with the information that I so cagily extracted from you without you even being aware of it.”
    â€œYes, you were very sly. I didn’t suspect a thing. So what about Logan?”
    â€œNo boyfriend. She’ll be a junior in the fall, same as Graham.”
    Elliott took a sandwich from the cooler and handed me half in a way that told me declining the offer would be pointless. It turned out he was a nice guy and very easy to talk to. And yes, I suppose he was good-looking, as Logan had mentioned, but I wasn’t really in the habit of noticing that anymore. But I did notice his very slight Southern accent. It was so charming. He had an easy manner and effortless self-confidence. Elliott was simply the kind of guy that you really wanted to like you back.
    I was staring out over the water trying to remember how I had gotten here. I was engaged in a conspiracy with some strange man to set my niece up with some boy we didn’t even know. It was all a futile flirtation for her really. I mean how long would we even be in Tillman? But I would do it for her because she asked. I would do anything for her. I used to be the fun aunt who always had candy in her purse; now I was the fun aunt with a cute boy in her purse. Wait, that made me feel a little bit pimpy. I took a long sip of the water. Was I the pimp in this scenario or was Elliott?
    I could feel Elliott watching me out of the corner of his eye. “What are you