“Right. I caught them with their friend in a hot tub on one of the yachts down here. They say you work on the boat.”
Three girls could only mean one thing: Greyson was there too. Had Alex already gotten this call? “Yes, I’m a stewardess on theSerendipity.”
“That’d be the boat, then. Listen, they seem harmless enough, so as long as you can come get them, I think a warning will do.”
“Yes, of course, thank you.” I hung up and swung my legs from the bed, still only half-awake. I slid on my shoes, pausing on my way out the door to look at the empty sofa bed, anger flaring within me at the sight. Once in my car, I crossed the parking lot and stopped in front of Alex’s unit. But before I could call him, he stepped outside, van keys in hand and looking as tired and confused as I was.
“I’m guessing you got the same call I did,” Alex said when I waved him over.
“Yup.” I patted the passenger seat. “Get in.”
“This isn’t what I thought we’d be doing together in the middle of the night,” he said once he’d closed the car door after him. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he rapped against the window with his knuckles. “Distance. Right. Just trying to lighten the mood.”
I shook my head, flexing my fingers around the steering wheel as I drove. “Sneaking onto the boat to use the hot tub? What were they thinking?”
“They weren’t thinking.”
“I don’t understand.” I kept my eyes on the empty road ahead, taking the same route Alex and I had on all those morning commutes. “They were acting perfectly normal all night. They were half-asleep when Iwent to bed.” Had they been planning this even then? How could they be so deceitful?
Alex stared out the window when the ocean came into view. “Sounds better than my night. Greyson went straight to her room. She hasn’t spoken a word to me.”
“You okay?”
Alex shook his head. “I’m doing what I think is best for her, but we’re both miserable.”
Then stay, I wanted to tell him. But that would be selfish, so I let us fall into silence. My thoughts turned to Mia and Kitty, my anger growing with every mile. That phone call had scared me out of my mind. Anything could have happened to them. Didn’t they know better by now? Hadn’t losing Samson taught them anything?
By the time we arrived at the marina, I was shaking again. Alex didn’t look any better off, fuming beside me as we walked to the security office. The girls sat against the wall outside, staring at their knees. Beside them was a big guy in a security guard uniform. Officer Thomas, presumably.
“I believe these three belong to you,” he said when Alex and I stopped in front of him.
“Yes. I’m so sorry.” I shot Mia and Kitty a glare, but they avoided my gaze.
After a few minutes of polite conversation and a warning to the girls, Officer Thomas disappeared inside, leaving Alex and me alone with our delinquents.
“Car,” Alex said to Greyson. I pointed the girls in the same direction, too angry to speak.
The girls slid silently into the back seat, and I was glad to be driving. It gave me something to do. The atmosphere was tense as I pulled out of the marina, and I glanced in the rearview mirror. Kitty looked down at her feet, Greyson had her face to the window, and Mia stared straight ahead, tugging on the strings of her tie-dyed hoodie, face expressionless.
After a few minutes of silence, Alex turned in his seat to look at Greyson. “Why were you there?”
Greyson didn’t respond.
“Greyson, answer me,” Alex said.
Through the rearview mirror I could see Kitty looking between Mia and Greyson, her lip trembling. “We only wanted to cheer her up,” she said. “Like you and Aunt Jo did after that charter with the dog people.”
“Thank you, Kitty,” Alex said before turning to Greyson again. “The silent treatment ends now, Grey. I’d likeyouto tell me why you were there.”
Greyson turned to him, talking so fast and so loud, it made me flinch. “Because I’m tired of listening to you! Why should I when you don’t even care what I think? You’re always giving up things I never asked you to give up! I don’t want to go to L.A.—”
“I don’t see what this has to do with you sneaking onto the—”
“Ugh!” Greyson groaned, knocking the back of my seat with her knees. “You always decide what’s best for us without even asking me. You don’t want to leave, either, so I don’t understand why we’re going when neither of us wants to go.”
“Because your mom—”
“I don’t have a mom! She didn’t want me, and now she does? Why? What changed? She came to see me twice and now we’re supposed to just pack up our life and fit into hers?”
