When We Collided(37)

I’m not sure how much time passes, sitting beside my sister. It feels like we’re the only people who are still and sober. Everyone else creates a loud, smoky blur around us. Drinking with my sister doesn’t feel weird like I thought it would. This past year made us the same age: old. Because we have real problems. Not that so-and-so broke up with me or I failed a biology test or will I get into Berkeley? Naomi and I are the grizzled adults drinking silently at the bar while the college kids grind on the dance floor.

When Vivi reappears, she has the guy she was flirting with in tow. Yay for me.

“Naomi, this is Ethan,” she says, with mischief in her voice. “I was just telling him how you’re doing an internship for your environmental engineering major.”

Naomi doesn’t smile, too suspicious of Vivi’s motives. “Oh yeah?”

“I’m a junior at Stanford.” Ethan talks fast, genuinely excited for some reason. His hands clasp against his chest like Naomi doesn’t understand the pronoun I. And his eyes are locked onto my sister in a way that makes me want to punch him. “Majoring in environmental engineering.”

This changes Naomi’s expression. She softens, now looking at Ethan in wonderment. My sister is such a nerd for science, and no one in our house ever wants to hear about it. She gave up a long time ago. “I’m at Cal Poly!”

“What’s your internship emphasis?” he asks. Vivi crosses her arms, triumphant.

“I’ve been compiling a lot of pollutant data—NPS and indicator bacteria mostly. But I get to transition to some groundwater-remediation-type stuff soon.”

“That’s so cool. I’m working at an environmental law agency this summer because I’m thinking about going to law school. We have a big Clean Water Act case right now.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, Captain Planet,” Vivi says, touching Ethan’s arm in her overly familiar way. “But this is more boring than watching glue dry.”

Vivi’s candor can be charming. It can also be rude as all hell. Naomi looks ready to throw her into the Pacific, but then Ethan chuckles. “She’s right.”

His eyes stay fixed on Naomi. “I’m actually kind of hungry. Do you want to walk to the diner? I think it’s still open. I’d love to pick your brain about the environmental influences on Verona Cove.”

“Sure.” Naomi rises to her feet. I’m not used to seeing my sister’s face so open and untroubled. “I’d love to.”

They head off together toward town without even saying good-bye. I can hear him telling her that he grew up in landlocked Colorado, that Verona Cove’s ocean life and varying terrain are fascinating to him. I stand, like I’m going to chase him down and warn him: if you hurt my sister, I will bludgeon you with a tree branch. Or drown you in unclean water. Or whatever you do to maim and insult an environmental engineer.

“Down, boy,” Vivi says, patting my arm. “He’s an Eagle Scout. Literally. We talked about it.”

“I’ve never even seen that guy before! He could be . . . a murderer.”

She rolls her eyes. “Violet Cunningham is his cousin. It’s not like he’s a drifter who hitchhiked into town with a rusty sickle.”

Violet’s a lifelong vacationer and well-liked enough to get a bonfire invite. But still.

“Besides,” Vivi says, jabbing her elbow into mine. “Check that out.”

Naomi and Ethan walk past her ex-boyfriend and his group of friends. She doesn’t even glance over. And maybe, to Vivi, it seems like matchmaking. But it honestly took me this long to realize that maybe my sister just needs a friend. She comes home from her internship and looks after the littles. She goes upstairs to handle money stuff with my mom; she cleans up around the house and does laundry and grocery shops, same as the rest of us. I can’t remember the last time I saw her with someone her own age.

“That’s what I call killing two birds with one stone. Except I would never kill one bird, let alone two, so that’s not really the right adage. But there’s no adage for, like: gave one bird a cute boy named Ethan and made another bird named Adam jealous. Oh! Speaking of which. I’m getting a birthday dinner on the patio, right?”

The change in subject takes me a moment. “Right.”

“Great, okay, so I’ve been promising Leah I’d help with her peacock costume, but she wants there to be an occasion, and my birthday party seems like a good one. So I want everyone to come to dinner, and I want everyone to dress up like their favorite animal because that will make everything perfect for me.”

“Yeah, all right. Why not?” For the thousandth time in the weeks I’ve known Vivi, I wonder, What the hell have I gotten myself into?

“Hooray! Oh, and don’t forget to invite Officer Hayashi.”

Like I would forget a request like that. I still don’t quite understand their connection. I know they eat breakfast together some mornings. And I know that, last week, as Officer Hayashi was leaving Tony’s, he pointed at me and said, You be good to that girl. Then he patted the handcuffs on his belt all menacingly.

“Hey, Vivi!” someone calls from closer to the water. I’ve lived in this town my whole life, and Vivi has more friends.

“Be right back,” she says, kissing my cheek. “Don’t move, okay? We’re talking more about my anthropomorphic birthday party. Isn’t that a great word, anthropomorphic? I’m not sure if I said it right, but who the hell gets to decide how people use language anyway? I could make up my own language if I wanted to; there’s no council that certifies these things, and . . .”