“Hell yes!” he exclaims.
I stand up and jump into his arms, celebrating like we’ve just won the fucking lottery because it feels like we have.
Gemma says something, though I don’t hear it with the way Reed is spinning us around and jumping.
However, I do hear Mads’ reply.
“Oh, yeah. Twins. Separated at birth,” he says about Reed and me. “You get used to it.”
I see my dad pouring something into a bunch of glasses over at the kitchen island. He walked in midway through us chatting with Stella, and since then, he’s been putting away groceries.
I’m so glad he wasn’t here for my confession.
I don’t want to see him in any more pain.
“Celebratory sparkling raspberry juice, anyone?” my dad announces.
I jump down from Reed’s arms. We all crowd around the counter, grab a glass, and cheers high. The glasses clank, and as everyone else tips their drinks back, my eyes are on Gemma, watching her take a sip.
A similar sadness to the way she looked on the beach is in her eyes. A long exhale leaves me at the sight of it, and I wonder if it has to do with the fact that we’ll be going home tomorrow.
“Hey—” Andi nudges me in the side, breaking my trance, and I hug her from the side.
“Hey.”
She squeezes me back, then nods her head toward the bedroom. “Can we…”
“Yeah.” I set my drink down and slip out of the commotion with her as Zeb asks my dad to tell Reed and Wren some of the stories about how he and my mom used to follow an older jam band around the country in a van.
I don’t close the bedroom door when Andi and I enter, and it’s killing me not to blurt my question once we’re alone.
“So. The big news… Are you…” I eye her expectantly, and she blushes as if she knows what I’m asking.
“Mads said you might have figured it out yesterday,” she says.
I open my arms wide, mouth dropping. “That’s fucking awesome! Con—”
“No, wait,” she says, shaking her head and taking a step back. “I’m not. I mean, Iwas…”
Her eyes cascade to the floor, and guilt swarms my body, heart dropping. “Shit, Andi. When?”
“I… It started yesterday afternoon. I’m fine. Really. It’s just another setback, that’s it,” she says, and I can see her trying to hold it together.
“You guys didn’t have to come,” I tell her. “If you need to be at home or the fucking doctor—”
“Bonnie, I need to be here,” she insists. “I need to be where Maddox needs to be, and work is the only thing that’s going to keep him from losing his mind and dwelling, thinking that it’s somehow his fault. We’ve already spoken with my doctor. Already… cried… enough times that I don’t think I have any tears left in me. It’s just a setback. One more bump in the road, right? I just… I wanted to tell you, especially after Mads said you had figured it out.”
This fucking sucks.
If there are two people who deserve their dreams more than anything, it’s Mads and Andi.
“What can I do?” I ask her.
She gives me a grim smile and shakes her head. “Nothing,” she sighs. “Except, don’t make a big deal out of it. Really. This is the second time, so I kind of know what to expect… God, that sounds really shitty when I say it like that,” she says with a nervous laugh.
I squeeze her hand, and she takes a deep breath like she’s trying to shake it off.
“The beach is a good place to clear my head—doctor approved, in fact,” she goes on. “I can help your dad with cooking and cleaning up after all of you. I’m sure he’s having a ‘what the fuck’ moment in there. And besides, Zero is in love with the waves.”
