Tidal Read Free Page A

not.”
    “I will, though.” She studied him for a moment. “Eventually.”
    “But not today?” Daniel asked.
    “No. Not today.”
    “Then I need to get to work.” He put his hands on her waist, and when she didn’t react with clawing or yelling, he lifted her up and set her on the seat next to him.
    Penn pouted. “Work is so drab.”
    Daniel shrugged. “It pays the bills.”
    He’d moved away from Penn to the edge of the boat and was about to step off when he felt Penn’s hand clamp onto his wrist. She moved supernaturally fast, and it was hard for him to get used to that.
    “Don’t go,” Penn said, and it was the pleading in her words that made him pause. She knelt on the bench next to him with a strange desperation in her eyes. Hurriedly, she blinked any emotion away, trying to recover with an uneasy smile that was probably meant to be flirtatious.
    “I have to,” he insisted.
    “I can pay you more,” she said, her tone almost comically breezy.
    For all her attempts at trying to seem nonchalant, her grip on his wrist had only tightened. It’d gotten rather painful, but Daniel refrained from pulling it free. He didn’t want her to know that she was hurting him.
    “What would you need me to do?” Daniel asked.
    “I could think of something.” She winked at him.
    He rolled his eyes and finally yanked his arm free. “I’ve told them I’d build the sets for the play, and I’m a man of my word. They’re expecting me.”
    “A fence,” Penn said hastily as Daniel climbed off his boat. She stayed behind, leaning on the rail so she faced him. “You could build a fence around my house.”
    “What do you need a fence for?” he asked, waiting on the dock to see if she had any good reason for it.
    “What does it matter to you why I need a fence? I just need one.”
    “I have my hands full already.” He turned away from her.
    “Ten grand!” Penn called after him as he walked away. “I’ll pay you ten grand to build me a fence.”
    Daniel laughed and shook his head. “I’ll see you around, Penn.”
    “We’re not done yet, Daniel!” Penn shouted, but he just kept walking.

 
    THREE
    Alterations
    “Stop that,” Marcy said as Harper began emptying the overnight drop box at the library.
    “What?” Harper turned back to face her with a stack of worn Harry Potter novels weighing down her arms.
    “Working,” Marcy replied tightly, and Harper rolled her eyes.
    “Edie’s been back for weeks. You have to be used to it by now,” Harper said, but she let the door to the drop box slam shut, leaving a small pile of books behind.
    Marcy was kneeling on her chair and leaning so far forward on the desk, she was practically lying on it. Her dark eyes stared out from behind her glasses with a manic intensity as she watched the front door of the library.
    “I’ll never get used to it,” Marcy insisted.
    “I don’t even understand what the big deal is.” Harper set the books down on the desk.
    “ Move ,” Marcy hissed and waved her off, because Harper was apparently blocking her view of the front door.
    “You know that’s all glass, right?” Harper asked, motioning to the door that sat in the middle of the large windowed library front. “You can see through all of that. You don’t need your eyes locked on the door like a laser beam.”
    “ Pfft ,” Marcy scoffed.
    Harper moved to the side anyway, since it was easier to get out of the way than try to use logic on Marcy. “She won’t be here for another ten minutes, so I don’t understand why you’re so freaked out already.”
    “You don’t get it,” Marcy said, sounding gravely serious. “If I’m not busy the entire time she’s here, if I even spend five minutes sitting behind this desk, Edie will immediately launch into some story about her honeymoon, and she won’t stop talking about it.”
    “Maybe she’s doing it on purpose,” Harper said. “You’ve worked here for, what? Like, five years? And in all that time combined,