Never Let You Go by Emma Carlson Berne

it went on all night . Whoever said country living was quiet had obviously never actually been out in the country.
    Megan had slipped out of bed, head pounding, dying to rinse off her sticky skin, as soon as the sky began to lighten. On the other side of the room, Anna had slept with annoying soundness, lying on her back with her mouth open, hand relaxed on her chest. Megan had located her towel, which she’d left outside on the sink last night, so it was damp, and had picked her way down the muddy path to the house.
    Now she shut off the water, toweled off, and pulled on clean jeans and a T-shirt. She wrapped her hair into a knot and stuck a long bobby pin in it before opening the bathroom door.
    Dave and Sarah leaned on the counter, wearing faded flannel bathrobes and watching the coffeemaker as it burbled, filling the room with its nutty fragrance. Two blue mugs sat waiting. Their hands were touching in what felt like a private moment. Megan wondered if she should slip back into the bathroom.
    But before she could, Sarah turned around. “Oh, hi! Morning. You sleep okay?” She smiled and Megan relaxed. Sarah didn’t look annoyed at the interruption.
    Dave nodded hello and Sarah went on. “You’re on breakfast duty, right? Today, it’s eggs and toast and fruit. Everything’s in the fridge or on the counter. Just figure two to three eggs per person.”
    She poured coffee for herself and Dave, and the two of themwandered over to the table. Megan stood uncertainly in the doorway for another minute before she realized those were all the instructions she was going to get. This was going to be interesting. She was more of a cold cereal girl at home.
    After some fumbling in various cupboards, Megan found a huge black frying pan and started cracking eggs into a blue bowl. She’d just reached twelve when the screen door opened and Anna came in, wearing yesterday’s cutoffs and one of Megan’s T-shirts, her face still puffy from sleep. She was followed closely by Robert and Isaac, both with hair that looked like it had been whisked. The boys collapsed at the table, immediately burying their heads in their arms, while Anna started sticking slices of bread in the toaster.
    “I borrowed your toothbrush this morning, okay?” Anna said in between yawns.
    “Where’s yours?” Megan scraped at the pan. The eggs were starting to stick. She glanced over at Sarah, hoping for some help, but Sarah was talking to Isaac.
    “Don’t know. Maybe I dropped it last night. I had the craziest dream. We were all at this party in some basement and—” She stopped as Jordan entered the kitchen, looking only marginally more awake than the others. He was wearing a faded gray T-shirt and a pair of jeans with dirt embedded in the knees. The red-gold stubble on his chin and cheeks glinted in the sun streaming in through the windows.
    Megan’s heart rate immediately increased. She was blushing for no reason and forced herself to look at the frying pan, hatingherself for reacting like this when all he’d done was walk into the room.
    She scraped fiercely at the pan with the spatula. This batch was done. She dumped the eggs onto a plate and started a second batch. Just ignore Jordan. Pay no attention. He’s just a guy, like the rest of them. Except somewhere deep in her mind she knew he wasn’t. He was different.
    Anna slid a plate in front of Jordan with two slices of hot buttered toast slathered with jam. Jordan looked down at the plate, then looked up and down the bare table. There was a little pause as everyone watched. No one else had any food.
    “Um, thanks,” Jordan said. “Toast, anyone?” Then he turned to Robert. “You were snoring all night, bro. Isaac and I took turns poking you—do you remember that?”
    Robert guffawed. “No, I always sleep like a horse. Nothing bothers me.”
    Eat like a horse, Robert. The expression is “eat like a horse,” not sleep like one. Megan suspected Robert might not be the sharpest knife in