“Got it.” He tapped his temple. “Every word committed tomemory.”
I sighed. “What idiot thought he wouldn’t need air conditioning in Upstate NewYork?”
“We could go sit in my car, if you’re truly that uncomfortable,” Julian offered. “Or head up to thelake?”
I shook my head. “Too many people at the lake. Especiallytoday.”
Julian’s mouth twisted slightly and I could practically read his mind. He wanted to know why I hated interacting with people, why I’d become a total hermit. But I liked him not knowing. I liked being just Daniel when I was with him. I liked leaving my baggage behind. And although I knew he wondered, he seemed content to let itgo.
“There’s a smaller place,” he said slowly. “A pond where my dad used to take us fishing. The banks are really rocky, so it’s hard to sit, which means people don’t really hang outthere.”
I pushed to my feet. “I’ll grab you atowel.”
We drove down one of the little unmarked turnoffs from the Camden Road, not far from my place at all, and I parked my truck near the water. The pond didn’t look very deep, but it looked clean and blessedly wet and completely unoccupied, which was moreimportant.
I shucked off my shirt, tossed it in the front seat, and ran to the water’s edge. The bank was rocky, and the tiny pebbles dug into my feet, but holy crap, the water wascold.
“Hurry up!” I toldhim.
He waded in behind me,grinning.
“You know, my brothers and I used to have handstand contests here,” he said. “I had the best form, but Constantine held it thelongest.”
“That’s the middle brother,right?”
He nodded and frowned slightly, like it was weird that I didn’t always remember which of his siblings was which. But I didn’t ask him questions about his family. It seemed weird, when I was hardly about to volunteer information of myown.
“Why does it not surprise me that you had the best form?” I did a quick stroke out to the middle of the little pond, barely thirty feet from the shore. “CompetentJulian.”
“You know better,” he said, following behind me. “More like rambling, awkward Julian. But I watched the most men’s gymnastics,so…”
It was my turn to frown. I didn’t know why he saw himself that way. He’d never been rambling or awkward in front of me. He was always himself—kind, intelligent, sarcastic,caring.
“Constantine, on the other hand,” he continued, “was able to stay under longest because he didn’t worry about trivial things likebreathing.”
“What?”
He snorted. “He’s a daredevil. If you hung out in town for any length of time, you’d know there are three Ross brothers: the quiet one, the hellion, and the troublemaker. Con has very little concept of his own mortality.” He shrugged. “That probably explains why he became a policeofficer.”
“The helliondid?”
It was odd to me that O’Leary had pegged people into boxes. Julian wasn’t quiet. Not with me. Clearly his brother wasn’t much of a hellion anymore,either.
“Yep. You know, I betcha I could still beat you. If you’re up for a challenge.” His blue eyes shone in thesunlight.
“Bring it. What are wedoing?”
“Handstands.Duh.”
“Julian, who’ll judge our handstands?” Then, because I was twelve, I also added, “Duh.”
Julian snickered. “Honor system. I’ll rate your attempts honestly, and you’ll do the same for… oh, fuck!Shit!”
“What?” I turned and headed for him immediately. “Are you okay? Legcramp?”
The water wasn’t deep, but still, drowning was a realconcern.
“No! Worse! I’m being eaten alive by sunfish! Fuck. Gross! Gross, gross, gross. I remember why I stopped coming here.” He flailed through the water and up onto the rocky shore. “Oh, god. Ew. There is nothing worse.Nothing!”
