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lined with the prettiest little flowers, and lots of green and flowered foliage had been planted all along the front of the house and around the sides. The house sat upon a large lot; there was quite a distance to the next house, and tons of trees filled in the spaces between, making for excellent privacy.
    After unloading the groceries, I grabbed a snack before we headed back down to the beach.
    Once again, we tossed our shoes and socks and rolled up our jeans. We walked through the shallow parts of the waves as they lapped up onto the shore. We left footprints in the sand, and Oliver held my hand while he told me about life growing up in the area. He spoke of his baby sister, Olivia, more freely than he ever had back home. It made me wonder if being back in his native area made him feel closer to her.
    I asked him if he would take me to his old neighborhood where his house used to be. He smiled big when he told me that he would love to. I wanted to know that part of him —the parts before he had been changed.
    After a couple more hours in the sand, the sun was beginning to settle low on the horizon. Oliver piggybacked me up the slope and back to the house. We dropped our sandy shoes and socks on the back porch before heading inside.
    I made us salads while Oliver jumped in the shower. He claimed the sand and saltwater irritated his skin if he didn’t wash it off right away. We couldn’t have that now, could we?
    While waiting, I made myself a sandwich to go with my salad. Once Oliver was out of the shower, he helped me take our food out to a table on the back porch, and we watched as the sun began its breathtaking descent while we ate dinner.
    After dinner, we snuggled in the hammock and watched the sunset. It was beautiful as the pink sky faded into the darkening night.
    Once the stars were scattered across the sky, we stared up at them and just talked about whatever came to mind. You know, avoiding the giant elephant sitting beside us. I was not going to bring up anything about us bonding, and I didn’t think he was either. I mean, what would he say? “So, you wanna go inside and bond now?” Yeah, I didn’t think so. And I wasn’t about to ask the same stupid question.
    At some point, I brought up the fact that I had skipped out on midterms, and that I would most likely be failing the classes I had left.
    “I can take care of that,” Oliver said with a playful hint to his voice.
    “That’s not fair, Oliver.”
    “Sure it is. Think of it as a perk to dating a geek.” He winked and grinned at me.
    I laughed, but this conversation was not over; it was only over for the moment. I would not let him fix my grades. It just wasn’t fair to others. Especially to Carter who worked so hard to keep his grades up. The thought made me wonder how he was doing. It also made me wonder if Zane, the angel, had caused any trouble, or was he too busy searching for me? An uncontrolled shiver ran through me. Oliver held me tighter.
    “What are you going to do about having your blood checked?” I asked, suddenly remembering Oliver’s seventy-two-hour check-in.
    “I got an extension. I was originally assigned weekly blood testing, but I requested it be changed to every three days.”
    “Why?” I questioned, turning my gaze away from the sky to find his eyes already on me. My tummy dropped.
    “A lot can happen in a week,” he said, his voice taking on a sultry tone that made my stomach drop even more.
    “A lot can happen in three days,” I said back very quietly.
    His eyes settled on my lips. A breeze suddenly picked up, sending a cold chill through me that made me think of the fancy bathtub just inside the house. I tried to escape his grasp so I could go take a bath, but Oliver was reluctant to let me leave the hammock. He tried to entice me to stay with kisses, which worked for a little while. That is, until I could no longer control my shivers. With a defeated grin, he released me and we headed inside.
    While Oliver