I stood up and looked at the CD player for a long moment before shutting it off. “Yeah!” I shouted back. “I’ve just decided.”
By the time we got to the reception, I was pleased that I hadn’t given in to any of Mom’s suggestions. Nobody was wearing jeans, but nobody was wearing anything worthy of the little-black-dress numbers she’d put in my hands. My light blue sundress and strappy white sandals fit the dress code perfectly, and the halter top on my dress showed off my neck and shoulders in case Luke really did come back for the reception.
“I hate when they hold these things outside,” Delia said loudly as she stepped off the sidewalk and her pointy heels sank two inches into the turf. “Thank God they at least have chamber music. I was afraid they’d have something awful, like that bagpiping earlier.”
I disagreed entirely. Nothing was worse than being shut in a room that smelled like carpet cleaner with one hundred strangers. Instead, I saw students, parents, teachers, and judges roaming between large white tents set up for food and the quartet that provided the music. The food smelled great and reminded me of Saturday nights at home. And the hot summer air had given way to a cool breeze as the sun slipped down toward the treeline.
“What is that smell?” Delia demanded. She was just being nasty, of course. She knew darn well that Mom’s catering company was here tonight. Dad always called Delia “my least favorite sister-in-law.” He was being funny, of course, since Delia was Mom’s only sister. But I agreed. Delia was an overbearing cake with condescending frosting, and frankly, I was on a diet.
“Dee, you survived!” James sauntered up and paused half a step when he saw Delia. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were busy.”
Delia surveyed his kilt, his unkempt hair, and his hands scrawled with various messages to himself.
“You’re the piper, aren’t you?” she asked coldly.
James smiled firmly. He had already identified her as a piper-hater. “Yes, but I do it against my will. The aliens won’t let me stop.”
Delia’s smile was iron. Not amused.
I said, “This is James, Delia. He’s the number two piper in the state of Virginia this year.”
“Soon to be number one,” James said with a charming smile. “I hired a hit man.”
Delia’s face remained exactly the same.
James exchanged a look with me. “Well, it was nice to meet you. I’d better find out if the food’s lonely.”
I gave a little wave as he retreated, mouthing later, and Delia frowned deeply. “What strange people always come to these events. We’d better find your parents.”
“I’ll catch up to you.” I edged away from her. “I think I see some of my friends.” I wasn’t a very good liar, but Delia wasn’t a very good listener, so we parted amicably, her toward the tents and me definitely away from them. I glanced quickly toward the food tent crowds but didn’t see any sign of Luke, so I headed around the side of the chamber group’s tent.
Here, the sun came slantwise through the trees across the road and made long gold stripes of light across the grass. I walked along one of the gold stripes, watching my incredibly tall shadow walking before me. I hadn’t gotten far along the stripes when I smelled herbs.
The scent was so strong and came on so quickly that I checked the ground under my sandals to see if I had crushed something. There was nothing but clover beneath my feet. But the leaves caught my eye, and I crouched. Sure enough, there was a bunch of four-leaf clovers, a few among many three-leaf. I picked one and straightened up, looking at it. For luck.
“I heard you play.”
I blinked and focused beyond the clover. Unnoticed by me, a young man with ginger hair had approached. His face was a riot of freckles, but he was still amazingly handsome—like a magazine ad. He had the beautiful, cared-for look of kids with trust funds.
I wasn’t sure how to reply, so I just said, “You did?”
He ducked around me in a circle, as if studying me. “Yes.” He circled again; I spun to keep my eyes on him. “Very impressive. Quite better than I expected.”
Better than he expected for what? For a girl? For a student? For a harpist? For me?
“Thanks,” I said, voice guarded. He circled again, a smile on his face. I got another whiff of the herbal scent, and I had an idea that it must be him. Something he was wearing.
“Quite impressive altogether.”
I asked politely, “Did you play?”
He grinned. “Do I ever stop?”
He kept circling, ceaselessly moving, and then his smile changed in some subtle way that made my stomach drop to my feet. “You smell good.”
A familiar voice made me spin the other direction. “Deirdre.”
Luke grabbed my hand abruptly, knocking the clover out of it as he did. Relieved to be rescued, I said, “I’m glad you’re here. This guy—” I turned to look at the weirdo, but there was nothing there, only the lingering scent of rosemary or thyme. There were a dozen places he could’ve hidden as soon as my back was turned. It only meant that he really had been up to no good. Why else would he hide? “There was a guy right here.”
Luke looked behind me. “There’s nobody there.” His eyes narrowed. “Nobody.”
Goose bumps prickled on my skin. It would’ve been easy to just believe Luke, but the freckled boy was impossible to forget. “There was,” I said unhappily. “Some freak.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Luke said loudly. “C’mon. Let’s get back to civilization. What were you doing way out here, anyway?”
I glanced around. All my spinning had taken me surprisingly far from the tents. The chamber music was only a faint music-box sound from here. “I—I was just trying to get away from my annoying aunt.”
“Well, let’s get closer to her and farther from invisible freaks,” Luke suggested. He turned me with the barest touch on the small of my back and we headed toward the noise. “I like your dress, by the way. Suits you.”
I secretly preened, then surprised myself by saying, “I know.”
Luke said, “It’s not polite to gloat,” but he grinned. “So, tell me about your annoying aunt.”
I sighed as we approached the food tent. “That would be her, over there. Aggravating my mom by the food tent.”
He stood with me and quietly observed Delia and Mom. I was beginning to like that about him. He listened. He watched. “She’s quite awful, isn’t she?”