On the day I turned sixteen, I knew I loved Aaron Blakney. There was something in his eyes that told me that he had finally noticed me and that he was no longer labeling me the too-young-and-do not-think-sister-of-my-best-friend. Some would call it female intuition, although at sixteen I could hardly call myself a real woman — except in a biological sense — but I still knew my own feelings. I did not tell anyone about those feelings. Aaron came to my birthday that year. He attended gatherings on the Richmond estate, on the island where my family vacationed and spent vacations as often as my father managed to persuade my mother to spend time on the old estate located on the coast. We were huddled in the pool when it happened. I was on Wyatt’s shoulders and Lucas was carrying Jasmine Thorndi
