The Bachelor's Perfect Match. Kathryn Springer

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      Since when?

      Aiden clamped down on the words so hard that pain shot down his jaw.

      But he knew what Brendan and Liam were trying to do.

      It was the same thing everyone—from Sunni to Anna’s eight-year-old twins—had been trying to do since the day Aiden was released from the hospital. They wanted him to feel useful.

      But what his family didn’t seem to understand was the more they tried to make Aiden feel useful, the more useless he felt.

      It was bad enough he’d been as helpless as a baby those first few days at home. Liam had had to help Aiden shower and get dressed. Brendan—Mr. Organized—had bought one of those plastic pill holders and divvied up Aiden’s pain meds in compartments that corresponded with the days of the week. His brothers had even taken turns checking on Aiden after he went to bed until he’d asked for a story, too.

      They’d taken the hint and backed off. Now Aiden realized he’d simply been granted a temporary reprieve from “brother smother” while they plotted a new strategy.

      “I printed out the map you drew.” A map Liam happened to have tucked in the back pocket of his jeans. “Do you have time to take a look at it?”

      “Sure.” The word tasted bitter in Aiden’s mouth. Thanks to the guy who’d run him off the road, he had nothing but time.

      He’d imagined being involved in every aspect of River Quest, and now he’d been reduced to the role of consultant. It was killing Aiden to watch his idea take shape under someone else’s hands—even if those hands belonged to his more-than-capable older brothers.

      “The fire ring—” Liam pushed aside the flotsam and jetsam that had collected on the coffee table over the course of the day and set the map down. “It looks a little close to the victory platform.”

      “It’s not a fire ring...it’s a ring of fire.”

      Brendan frowned. “What’s the difference?”

      Aiden couldn’t believe he had to ask. “One you roast marshmallows over, and one you run through.”

      “Run through,” Liam repeated.

      “Is there an echo in here?” Aiden rolled his eyes toward the knotty pine ceiling. “What did you think? We’d be making s’mores for all the contestants when they got to the end of the race?”

      Judging from their expressions, that was exactly what his brothers had thought.

      “You expect people to run through fire,” Brendan said slowly. “On purpose.”

      “If they want to win. Hence the word challenge.”

      A smile played at the corners of Liam’s lips. “It will definitely be that.”

      “It will also send our liability insurance premiums through the roof,” Brendan muttered.

      “Everyone has to sign a waiver,” Aiden reminded him.

      “Fine...but that doesn’t mean s’mores are a bad idea.”

      Aiden hadn’t expected Brendan to go along with it. Did his big brother trust his judgment? Or did this fall under “humoring the patient”?

      There was no way to know for sure until Aiden could sneak the side-by-side out of the garage when no one was looking and take a drive back into the woods himself.

      Being under constant surveillance had joined the list of things that made Aiden feel twitchy. And speaking of constant surveillance...

      “Where’s Mom? She mentioned something about going out for dinner tonight.” Aiden didn’t look forward to being on display for the whole town to see, but sitting at the table, underneath the family microscope, was taking its toll on him, too.

      “She is, but not with you.” Liam got a goofy, lovesick grin on his face. “She and Lily are meeting Anna at The Happy Cow tonight to work on the wedding plans.”

      Aiden tried to hide his relief. He’d be alone.

      “So we ordered a pizza.”

      Or not.

      “Sausage with extra mushroom,” Brendan added.

      Aiden’s favorite. “Humoring the patient” it was.

      “Sounds great. I’ll meet you in the family room.” At least there wasn’t a wall of glass framing the river, reminding Aiden that he could look but not touch.

      Liam shook his head.

      “You stay put. We’ll bring it here.”

      Aiden kept the smile in place until his brothers left the room, and waited until their voices faded before he took out everything on the coffee table—including the map—with one swipe of his crutch.

      Because the reminder that Liam and Anna would be exchanging their vows in a few short months reminded Aiden of a vow he’d made. He’d stood in this very room a few weeks ago and announced to his entire family that he would track down their missing sister before the wedding.

      What had he been thinking?

      Right now, the task seemed as impossible as sprinting through the ring of fire Aiden had designed for River Quest.

      Hiring a private investigator wasn’t in the budget, and the thought of spending hours on the computer made Aiden feel twitchy all over again. He’d never understood why people would rather stare at a screen than the sky, anyway. A person should experience life, not read about it.

      Aiden bent down to collect the items on the floor before his brothers returned, and he picked up the book Chloe had been reading during her “entertain Aiden” shift the day before.

      A bookmark, stamped with gold and copper leaves, poked out between the pages.

      Fall into a Good Book. Visit Your Local Library.

      Aiden’s lips twisted in a smile.

      Maybe he didn’t know where to start the search for their missing sister...but he knew someone who might.

       Chapter Three

      For over an hour on Friday evening, Maddie had been pounding her head against the proverbial brick wall, trying to coax even a spark of interest from the three high school seniors who’d gathered around the table in the library’s conference room.

      A feat Aiden Kane accomplished simply by walking through the door.

      Tyler Olsen slipped his cell phone back into the pocket of his hoodie, and Justin Wagner, whose chin had been fused to his chest from the moment he’d sat down, pushed upright in his chair. Skye Robinson, who’d been doodling on the cover of her notebook during Maddie’s opening introduction, took one look at Aiden and her cheeks turned the same shade of bubble-gum СКАЧАТЬ