“Yes, sir.” Reed salutes him and pulls me into the crowd.
His parents went all out. I scan the room, my eyes following the strands of string lights draped across the rafters in the peaked ceiling. Cream-colored candles float in centerpieces on each table. Soft music plays as people mingle and at first, I feel like a third wheel following Reed from table to table. He “introduces” me to people who I’ve already met at some point in my life, and my cheeks heat. I’ve loved working at the restaurant all summer, but I’ve never once felt this uncomfortable here. Now, with Reed parading me around like this, I feel so out of place.
“Dance with me,” he says, pulling me to a small area where the tables have been cleared. A few couples are twirling across the open space and gazing into each other’s eyes in a way that is far from the friendship I’m trying to keep with Reed.
I pull back on his hand. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun,” he says. “Better than interacting with these people.”
I look around the room filled with strangers. If I have to be surrounded by people I don’t remember, I’d rather not be talking to them about it.
“Okay,” I agree, letting him pull me a little closer. His gentle hand rests on my narrow waist and mine on his broad shoulder. He sways us in slow circles to the music.
“Make her dance, check,” he whispers in my ear.
I tilt my head back to see his smile. “You’ve checked off a lot of things on this list of yours this summer.”
With two weeks left, I imagine saying goodbye as the last thing he’ll check off.
“I’m just getting started,” he says.
I was afraid of that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SUMMER, TWO YEARS AGO
The glimmer of the August moon shimmering against the strokes of the lake one evening has me glued to the end of the dock in a peaceful state of solitude. It’s rare to find myself alone these days, so I dip my bare toes in the water, sketching the lines that ripple like snakes and then fade into glass.
A familiar crash of a screen door startles me and the light on Miles’s trailer shines a spotlight on him and Lexi. They’re standing inches apart, his hands clasped around hers, and I turn away before I see anything even more intimate.
I’ve gotten in a good place with Miles as friends, but it still stings to see him kiss her. I try to push the thought of them several feet behind me out of my mind and go back to shading in the crest of the moon against the page when I hear his voice escalate.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Miles, please understand,” she begs through her tears. “It’s better this way.”
I can’t help it. The emotion in her voice has me peeking over my shoulder. Miles drop his grasp and takes a giant step back.
“Fine. Go!” he shouts, kicking the trailer door with his boot.
She clasps a hand over her mouth to cover her sobs and runs to her car. She’s gone before Miles ever looks up.
He drops to a squat and scrubs his hands down his face. His heart is breaking, and my first instinct is to go comfort him. But he doesn’t know I’m out here watching his very private breakup with Lexi.
Weighing my options, I pretend I wasn’t here at all. It’s not hard to blend into the darkness. When I look back at my sketch, it doesn’t seem dark enough to mirror the weight in the air, the deafening silence all around. I shade darker strokes on everything… the water, the sky, the spot on the dock where I sit invisible.
“How long have you been out here?” his angry voice booms from behind me.
The jerk of my shoulders sends a giant black gash across the page as I lift my hand to cover my heart. “Miles, you scared me!”
“How long, Teddy?” he presses.
“Long enough to know that you could use a friend right now.”
I gesture for him to sit beside me.
He sighs. “I was thinking I’d go fishing. You want to come with me?”
