After Eden Read Online Free PDF

for a long time,” he said eventually.
    I nodded. “I sat next to him in preschool. I’ve actually known him longer than anyone. Even longer than I’ve known Megan.”
    “He really likes you.”
    It was a statement, not a question.
    “We’re close,” I said, sifting the cold sand through my fingers. “We’re like brother and sister.”
    Ryan smiled. “I’m not sure Connor thinks of you as a sister.”
    “Oh, he does,” I said. “We know each other much too well for anything else.”
    Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You’re very unperceptive.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “He has a huge crush on you. It’s so obvious. Just the way he looks at you.”
    I shuddered involuntarily. “Ugh! Don’t say that. Connor is really great, but he’s like a brother to me. Anything more would be …” I paused, trying to find a word that explained how I felt. “It would feel disgusting.”
    Ryan laughed a short, strange laugh. “Poor guy. No wonder …”
    “What?”
    Ryan was gazing out to sea, his eyes glazed, as if he were miles away. He spoke softly. “You are going to break his heart.”
    “Actually, I think Connor and Megan would be good together.”
    He gave me a flicker of a smile. “If you say so.”
    Matt came running over, kicking up sand in his wake. “Frisbee. Girls versus boys. No excuses, Eden.”
    Ryan leaped to his feet and offered me a hand up.
    “You go ahead. I’ll just enjoy the view,” I said.
    I lay back on the blanket and shut my eyes. Although it was only the beginning of March, there was enough strength in the sun to warm me through my jeans and sweater. After a few minutes a shadow fell across my face and I heard someone sit down next to me.
    “Well, well,” said a voice. I didn’t have to open my eyes to tell it was Connor. “It’s always the quiet ones.”
    “Get lost,” I said, shoving him playfully.
    He didn’t move. “Aren’t you going to sit up and watch your boyfriend showing off?”
    “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
    “You could have fooled me.” Connor and I teased each other all the time, but this seemed different. He seemed really annoyed by all the attention Ryan was getting.
    I sat up. “I hardly know him. We couldn’t even be described as friends.”
    “But you like him, don’t you?”
    I could feel myself blushing. Even if I hadn’t, Connor knew me well enough that I wouldn’t attempt a lie. I shrugged. “Too much competition. I wouldn’t want to have to try that hard to get a boy to notice me. I’ll leave him to the sharks.”
    “Oh, I think he’s noticed you,” Connor said. “He came to this party with you.”
    “That doesn’t mean anything. We live near each other. Anyway, he’s way out of my league. I haven’t even thought about him that way.”
    Connor smiled and leaned toward me. “He’s not out of your league. You’re beautiful.”
    I couldn’t speak. I thought back to what Ryan had said just a few minutes earlier.
    “Well thanks, Connor,” I said, in the end.
    I stood up to put some space between us and Connor stood up too.
    “I’m going to go and start the grills,” he said. “You want to help?”
    When the frisbee game ended, Ryan walked up to the grills and stood next to me. “Thanks for the invite,” he said. “I’m having a good time.”
    “I can see,” I said, pushing veggie burgers around the grill and deliberately not looking at him.
    “What are you cooking?”
    I was reminded of the first day I spoke to him, at lunchtime when he had seen the pizza. “Veggie kebabs and veggie burgers.”
    “What are veggie burgers?”
    I smiled. “You don’t know what veggie burgers are? Are they all hunting, shooting, fishing types in New Hampshire then?”
    Ryan looked at me as though he didn’t know what to say.
    “They’re made from soybeans,” I said. “You should try one.”
    “Okay. Is Connor cooking the same?”
    I shook my head. “No, he’s grilling beefburgers.”
    “As in cow?”
    I laughed.