The Rest of the Story(52)

“It’s chimpanzees,” Gordon said, getting to her feet and coming over to join us. She brought the book with her.

“Whatever.” Celeste peered at her camera again. “Now, hold on, I think I’ve been in portrait this whole time . . .”

“You need landscape,” said Mimi, who was off to the side with a Pop Soda, observing. “Turn it sideways.”

“Mama, I know.”

Beside me, Bailey sighed loudly. “I just want the guys to get here. Where are they?”

“It’s only seven fifteen,” I told her.

“Yeah, but we said seven.”

“You can’t smile while you’re talking!” Celeste said. “Now, everyone look here. Say cheese!”

We did, as she took several without a flash, some with, and then a few in portrait mode just to be on the safe side. “Perfect,” she said as Gordon returned to the steps, reopening her book to her marked place. “Now we just need a few with the boys and we’ll be set.”

“No,” Bailey said flatly. “We are not doing that.”

Celeste looked up from her camera, where she’d been examining the shots she’d taken. “What do you mean? Of course we are. It’s a formal dance, we need pictures with your dates.”

“You don’t, actually,” Bailey replied. “Because I’m sure we’ll take some once we’re there, as a group. And anyway, we’re running late. There’s no time for anything else.”

Celeste looked at Mimi, who shrugged. “Fine,” she said. “But I want to meet these boys before you leave with them. Especially the famous Colin.”

Bailey rolled her eyes. Then she pulled out her phone, quickly firing off another text. When I glanced at her screen and saw it was the fourth in a row with no response, I quickly messaged Blake, asking for an update.

Be there in ten, he wrote back immediately. Meet me outside.

“Look,” I said, showing Bailey. “Everything’s fine.”

“Why does he want you to meet him outside, though?” she asked worriedly, squinting at the message.

“You’re the one who just said they’re running late,” I pointed out. “Bailey. It’s fine.”

She did not look convinced, though, as Mimi and Celeste headed into the house, telling us to yell when the boys arrived. Gordon stayed on the steps. “I just want to get there,” Bailey said, looking at the Club, which we could see, lit up across the water, from where we were standing. “I hate all this waiting.”

“It’s fifteen minutes,” I assured her, but this she ignored, already checking her phone again.

A moment later, a car did turn into the Calvander’s lot. It wasn’t Colin and Blake, though, but Jack, returning from work at the Station with Roo in tow. As they made their way toward us, I suddenly felt shy, standing there in what he’d picked out for me. But when he saw me in it, he grinned.

“Really like the dress,” he said, looking me up and down. “But you know what it’s missing?”

“A cape?” I asked.

He gave me a thumbs-up. “You got it.”

I laughed, but Bailey just looked at him. “Shut up, Roo. She looks great.”

“Whoa,” he said, holding up a hand. “I was—”

“It’s an inside joke,” I explained.

“Yeah, I’m just kidding around, Bay,” Roo told her.

“Well, don’t,” she told him. “You can’t just show up when someone’s done all this work to get ready and make fun of them. That’s a jerk move.”

“Nobody’s making fun of anyone,” Jack said to her. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I just don’t know why you’re here if you can’t be nice.”

“Because I live here?” He shook his head. “Man. Talk about self-centered. It’s not just about you all the time, you know.”

Bailey looked like she was about to respond to this—and hotly—but then another car slowed, turning into the lot. It was Blake, in a black Toyota, and the first thing I noticed was that he looked nice in his tux. The second was that he was alone.

“Where’s Colin?” Bailey yelled at him, as soon as he parked. When he didn’t hear her, or pretended not to, she started walking up the sloping grass toward him. Gordon, a finger now marking her place in her book, watched her go.

“What’s her problem?” Jack asked me, but I didn’t answer, my eyes only on Bailey as Blake got out from behind the wheel. When she said something to him, he just shrugged, then waved at me.

“We’re late,” he called out. “Come on.”

“Where’s Colin?” I replied, but he didn’t hear me over Bailey, who was now repeating this same question, but with more emotion. Enough, in fact, that he started to get back in the car, shooting me another look first.

“Something’s up,” Jack reported, his eyes on both of them. I started walking.

“Look, enough with the bullshit,” Bailey was saying, her voice cracking slightly, when I came up. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I told you,” Blake replied. Seeing me, he reached over, pushing open the passenger door. “I’m not part of all this.”