The Rest of the Story(59)

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “I always wondered, you know? What happened to you. Because I remembered that time you came when we were kids.”

“I wish I remembered,” I said. “I lost a lot. Like, everything from this place.”

“Wasn’t lost,” he said. “You just left it here. You know what Mimi says: the lake keeps us.”

“I’ve never heard that before.”

“Sure you have,” he replied. “Just now.”

He smiled at me then, and as I felt myself smile back, I wondered if our parents, the best of friends, had ever stood in this same spot. There were so many stories here, like every moment had already been lived once before.

But then, Roo did something different. He reached forward with one hand, sliding my fallen strap back up on my shoulder. It was a simple gesture, but like earlier, with the corsage, I felt my heart catch in my chest. Once the strap was fixed, he left his hand there, fingers spread cool over my skin. Like a take two, second chance. The kind you don’t get often.

Maybe this was why I stepped a little closer, lifting my chin as I looked up at him. His eyes widened a bit, but he stayed where he was.

“Hey!” someone yelled from the water. “What are you guys doing up there?”

We both jumped, him turning his head at the noise while I took a full step back, putting space between us again.

“One sec,” he called back. Turning back to me, he said, “Look, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, as well as the weight of his hand on my shoulder, even though it was now gone.

“Roo! Get in here!” Jack yelled.

He reached up, tugging his own shirt off and tossing it onto the grass with the others. Then, with a final look back at me, he jogged down the dock as everyone else whooped and clapped, and dove off.

“Shoulda done it.”

Again startled, I looked over to the couch, where Bailey was now curled up on one side. “What?”

“Kissed him,” she said, her voice muffled by her hair. Her eyes remained closed. “Had the perfect chance. Shoulda taken it.”

“I panicked,” I said, looking out at the water. Familiar story. “Why do I always do that?”

She didn’t answer, as her breathing had steadied: she was asleep again.

Back inside, the room was still hot, one of the light strands had fallen down, and a leftover corsage lay flattened on the floor. No one had touched the punch. When I realized the speaker was buzzing steadily, not connected to anything, I went over and turned it off. That was when I heard my phone.

It was in my bag, which I’d left in the kitchen on the counter. By the time I went over and pulled it out, it had gone silent as well, although a message remained on the screen. My dad.

Just got off the boat. Great time but EXHAUSTED. See you Friday! Can’t wait.

No way, I thought, rereading this a second time. But when I flipped over to my calendar, scanning the month of June into July, I saw it was true: my trip was almost over. Before long, I’d be going back to Lakeview to move into our new house and begin another life. But what about this one?

I started down the steps, and when I felt grass beneath my feet, my instinct was to stop, stay where I was. Instead, I started moving faster, enough to blow my hair back and feel a breeze on my skin. I knew I must look ridiculous, a girl in a formal dress, running alone down the grass. But at least I was doing it myself, each step a choice as I got closer to the water.

“Saylor?” April called out, spotting me, but I didn’t look for her, or anyone else, as I banged down the dock, gaining speed. I just had my eyes on the end, that leap to come, and in my mind I could see it as jumping past so many other things as well: the view behind the wheel, my neatly organized closet and room, Trinity’s judging face. Blake leaning in for that kiss, then Roo fixing my strap so carefully while I stood by, frozen. You can make your life, or life can make you. Was it really that simple of a choice?

As I hit the dock’s end and jumped, I wanted to see it, that change from passenger to driver, Emma to Saylor, watching to doing. So when I hit the cold lake and went under, I kept my eyes open.





Fourteen


Things move fast once you decide to get behind the wheel. Or maybe it just seems that way.

“Good. Now, wipe it with those newspapers. Rub in circles.”

Gordon did as she was told, her skinny arm moving across the mirror as Trinity, stretched out across the bed with her feet up, watched. “Like this?”

“Yes,” I said as I passed behind her with the bathroom trash can, then dumped it into the garbage bag by the unit’s door. “Be sure to take all the dust to the edge and off. That way you don’t leave any.”

“Listen to you,” Trinity said, turning a page in the magazine she was reading. “You sound like an expert.”

“I had a good teacher,” I said.

“Puh-leese,” Bailey groaned from the bathroom, where she was scrubbing the shower. “Don’t flatter her. She’s already acting enough like a princess.”

“I’m pregnant,” Trinity pointed out, unnecessarily. Her stomach was like a mountain when she was prone, blocking the view of her face from the end of the bed.

“And I’m working two jobs and we have Gordon on as child labor,” her sister replied. “So everyone’s suffering, not just you.”