“Nope.” I turned my phone off. “I very much think you can.”
***
“Where have youbeen?” Iris burst out when we returned to Golden Doors.
“Sailing,” Ethan said. “What’s up?”
But I knew. I could tell by the way she vibrated. “It’s the video, isn’t it?”
“It hastaken off.”
“Like a comet?” Ethan joked.
Iris frowned. “Comets don’t take off.”
“They kind of do. Like from the Oort cloud,” he tried.
The triplets stared at him. “No,” Iris said, less, I expected, at his words than at him trying to joke in the first place.
I kissed his cheek. “I think you’re funny.”
“Look at this.” Iris swiveled her phone toward us. “You’ve got three hundred thousand views. You’ve also got comments from news journalists asking to talk to you. I’d check your DMs, I bet they’re crazy.”
I’d already started powering my phone back on. I had several missed calls, including Dad and Cora. I called Dad first.
“Sorry I didn’t pick up,” I said when he did. “Ethan and I went sailing so I didn’t obsess over the video. What’s up?”
“That sounds nice,” Dad said. “How was sailing?”
Just like Dad, to get distracted. “It was good. Why’d you call?”
“Ah. Well, I got an interesting call. From Charles Gibson.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Is he furious?”
“Yup,” Dad said cheerfully. “Luckily, you’re a minor, so they have to be furious at me, not you. And they don’t have any valid reason to be mad, they’re just angry you stole their thunder. They still have a few bureaucratic hoops to jump through before they can put out their announcement tonight.”
“Am I in trouble?” It didn’tsoundlike I was, but best to make sure.
“Nope,” Dad said. “Not at all! Let’s go out to dinner to celebrate.”
I called Cora next. “This is so fucking kickass,” Cora said, sounding as cheerful as Dad. She paused. “Sorry. I feel like I’m not supposed to curse in front of you.”
“Yes, you’ve ruined my impressionable young brain,” I said. “Do you want to come out to dinner with me and Ethan and my dad?”
“I don’t want to intrude…”
“Please,” I begged her. “I’d love if you came.”
“Then I’m in.”
I spent the night with my three favorite people on the island, celebrating.
And when I got back home, the video had crossed one million views.
Twenty-Six
A week later, the Barbanels threw their end-of-summer comet-viewing party.
