Our Song

by A. Destiny

  He gave a heavy, resigned sigh. “Okay, fine. Put on your jackets, and let’s go grab a meal. There’s a place on High Street that was recommended by a number of people. We’ll get some authentic Scottish cuisine there.”

  I slipped on my dark-blue fleece jacket and checked myself out in the mirror. My blond bob was a bit worse for wear but not horribly so, and a quick run-through of my brush smoothed the strays. I had on jeans and a T-shirt. Not my foxiest outfit ever, but it would do for now.

  “You look lovely, Ava,” Mom said as she walked by me, giving my upper arm a small squeeze.

  We left the room and made our way down the hall, down the stairs, and into the large wood-trimmed lobby. A variety of people hustled and bustled around us, checking in as they dragged suitcases to the front desk, talking, laughing. Their energy was infectious, and I found my spirits lifted even higher.

  Wow, I was in Scotland—I was really here! And this was going to be an awesome two weeks.

  “Oh, just to remind you,” Mom said to me when we stepped outside into the mild summer air. “Mollie and Steaphan have a son around your age. Graham. He’ll be hanging out with us too,” she added with a broad smile.

  My good mood slipped a touch, and a hint of wariness filled me. Wonderful. Mom’s attempts at vacation matchmaking weren’t very subtle.

  We crossed Princes Street and headed down the sidewalk toward High Street, weaving through the crowds of people. The air carried the rich scents of food and the sounds of drummers off in the distance. Sunlight peeked through intermittent clouds and warmed the air, which hovered around the midsixties. When we’d left Cleveland yesterday, it had been in the nineties and scorching hot for days. This was far, far more comfortable.

  “I’m sure Graham is a nice guy,” I finally said to Mom. My stomach growled again. I focused on my hunger in an attempt to change the subject. “So, I can’t wait to try this restaurant. Do you think you’ll try haggis while we’re here? I don’t know if I’m brave enough to eat it.”

  Mom ignored my food ramblings and continued, “You should give him a chance, Ava. I’ve seen Graham’s pictures, and he’s quite handsome. A clean-cut boy with a friendly smile.”

  “I’m sure he is.” I knew the grin on my face was super fake, but I flashed it anyway. A mother’s idea of handsome was quite different from a daughter’s. Plus, I tended to like guys who were a little less prim and proper. David’s short, scruffy black hair and dark-brown eyes came to mind, and I shoved the memory right back out again. At least that old sting in my heart didn’t flare up at the thought of him, the way it had for so long after our breakup earlier this year.

  Dad, who was already in tourist mode, had his camera at the ready and was busy snapping shots of the large brick and stone buildings lining the street. I took out my phone and snapped a few shots so I could send them to Corinne.

  Mom nudged me with her shoulder and gave me a wistful smile. She was such a romantic. “I know what you’re thinking, Ava, but who knows? Graham might turn out to be your Scottish vacation romance. After all, Mollie hadn’t planned on falling in love, but here she is, almost twenty years later and still happy as a lark.”

  I gave her a casual shrug. Yeah, it would be awesome to find someone I liked that much, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I’d liked David too, a lot, and that had turned out terribly. No one else knew what had happened between us to make us break up, not even Corinne, and I wanted to keep it that way. The truth was far too mortifying. “We’ll see,” I replied with a broad smile. “I’m looking forward to meeting them all.” That much was accurate, at least.

  A. DESTINY is the coauthor of the Flirt series. She spends her time reading books, writing, and watching sweet romance movies. She will always remember her first kiss.

  ELIZABETH LENHARD is the author of Sixteenth Summer, Fifteenth Summer, the Chicks with Sticks series, and several other ghostwritten projects, including the Charmed and Spy Kids series.

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  Read the entire Flirt series!

  Lessons in Love

  Never Too Late

  Portrait of Us

  Sunset Ranch

  Puppy Love

  Love Is in the Air

  Sparks in Scotland

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  This Simon Pulse paperback edition July 2015

  Text copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Destiny, A.

  Our song / by A. Destiny and Elizabeth Lenhard.

  pages cm.—(Flirt)

  Summary: “When fifteen-year-old Nell is forced to go to folk camp for the summer, she eventually falls back in love with her musical roots, and possibly with fellow musician, Jacob”—Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8406-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4424-8408-5 (ebook) [1. Camps—Fiction. 2. Love—Fiction. 3. Music—Fiction.] I. Lenhard, Elizabeth. II. Title.

  PZ7.D475Ou 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2014030457