“I was trying to do the right thing,” I tell her.
She blinks at me.
Swear to god, that blink says,For you, or for her?
And you know what?
I don’t know the answer to that question.
11
Laney
Helikedme?
That’s absurd.
I have no idea if he thinks he can wash away years of being an utter turd by telling meI only pulled your ponytails because I liked you, but I cannot process this right now.
Nor do I appreciate it.
Funandsubjecting myself to being treated like crap under the bullshit excuse of he liked meare two very, very different things.
I grab my credit card and ID out of my purse, tuck them into the pocket of my skirt—I love this thing—and head out my door, only to nearly crash into Sabrina on the porch.
“You’re back.” She squeezes me in a quick hug. “What’s wrong?”
“I need a mai tai.”
She looks at the door.
I grimace. “If he leaves, I will personally strap him to that half-open pullout sofa with unbreakable ties and leave him there for the rest of the weekend once we find him, and I can nearly certainly promise you he knows it.”
“Mai tais it is,” Sabrina says.
Twenty minutes later, we’re at the pool. I’m not in my swimsuit. I left it in the room. But I have a mai tai in one hand, a plate of shrimp skewers in the other hand, my straw hat and sunglasses on, and Sabrina right next to me.
“This goes in the vault and we willneverspeak of it again,” I tell her, and then I catch her up on most of my entire day.
Whispering.
Because the bushes behind us might have ears.
Also, I tiptoe around the part about the kittens. I don’t mention it at all, in fact.
Loyalty to the cats. I swear that’s all it is. Not me holding a grudge and wanting to have a secret when everyone else around me is keeping secrets.
When I get to the part where Theo told me helikedme, she doesn’t react at all.
Like,at all.
“Hello?” I whisper. “A gasp? Awhat the hell? Maybe athat’s so mean of him to lie about thinking you were attractive in high school to wipe away his bad behavior?”
Her expression is completely and totally blank. “Hm.”
“Donotpoker-face me on this one.”
“Laney.”
