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smiled sweetly. “You know I love you too, darling.”
    What captured Ember’s attention most was their eyes. Asher’s were a light blue, and Isaac and Acton’s were hazel, but they all had copper flecks in them. Once she had noticed it, it was hard not to stare. They were long striations, reaching all the way from the center to the rim of the iris—tiny ruddy brown veins of copper and what could have been little green flecks of verdigris. She had never seen eyes like them before, and the contrast the red-brown made against Asher’s light blue was stunning.
    Acton’s patient smile made her realize she had been quietly staring at each of their faces for a conversational turn too long.
    “I’m sorry…” She said, laughing nervously and shaking her head.
    “It’s okay, they’re used to it.” Kaylee batted her eyes. “The Knox boys have quite a reputation around here. Be careful or you’ll become part of it.”
    Asher and Isaac had broken into laughter as Kaylee raised a playful eyebrow, and Acton joined in. Not wanting to single herself out, and happy that her moment of embarrassment had passed, Ember gave a smile and a laugh as well.  She had no idea what she was laughing at.
    They started to walk into town. Asher and Kaylee fell back as Isaac chattered on about cars or farm equipment—Ember wasn’t quite sure which. He was using words like torque, belt slippage, alignment…things that Ember wasn’t entirely familiar with, but she didn’t care. She was lost in the thrill of having friends to be out on the town with, and it kept her from thinking. Acton stayed constantly on her other side, not talking, with a little reassuring smile in her direction every time she looked over at him. He didn’t need to talk. Ember felt like she had known him forever, even though she knew it was silly.
    Every time she looked over, he would give her that little smile and nod just slightly. He kept his hands tucked into his pockets and matched his pace to hers, and soon Ember found herself looking to him, not just for his smiles and nods, but because he seemed to have some vague idea what Isaac was talking about, and Ember matched her expression and reactions to his. Acton didn’t seem to mind, even though he must have realized what she was doing.
    They stopped in front of the one little pub that existed on the island—The Garden. Ember hesitated, glancing skeptically at the warm light flowing out of the windows onto the misty streets, the noises of happiness and frivolity flooding her ears.
    “I’m not old enough to…” She trailed off.
    The warm light and the welcoming noises suddenly made her sad as she turned to look at Isaac, Asher, and Acton again; she must have misjudged them. They could have been late in their teens, just a few years older than she was, but they might also have been in their early twenties. She analyzed Acton with consternation, desperately trying to figure out if he was her peer or not. It was hard to tell sometimes with the working classes; men started working on the fishing boats young and stayed fit as a matter of survival. They didn’t act like the boys back in Pennsylvania, or what little Ember knew about boys and how they acted. They looked young, but they had confidence, and Ember was fairly sure that most of the teenage boys she had encountered had been more arrogant than confident.
    What was worse…they were all watching her expectantly. Kaylee gave her an impatient nod, as though they were waiting for her to walk into the bar so that they could follow.
    “I…” Ember started, looking around at them desperately. She wondered if she had it in her to walk back to her mother’s house, in the dark, alone. She hardly knew the island, let alone the way back. “Um…”
    Acton suddenly stepped in front of her as she started to turn beet red. “Go on ahead and save a table.” When no one moved, his tone became more commanding. “We’ll join you in a minute.”
    Kaylee had opened her