Thank God!
“But,” she continued, “I dunno. Maybe we can be friends when all the emotional wreckage gets sorted.”
I studied her face and saw anxiety and lack of sleep. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She hesitated, then nodded firmly and repeated, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just not sure if I’m ready to face all my problems yet. I know that sounds immature—”
“Hey, avoidance can be a legit coping mechanism. I mean, it’s basically how I got through first semester. I couldn’t deal with Nana’s death, so I didn’t. I blocked everything out. Avoidance is happiness.”
One brow slowly arched. “Isit happiness, or just being unhealthy as hell?”
“Is there a difference?”
She snorted a light laugh. “Look, the bottom line is that I’m okay. Mostly? But yeah, I honestly don’t want to eventhinkabout Paul today, so maybe there’s something to your avoidance thing. Would much rather focus on a treasure hunt.”
“Hey, no argument with that. Treasure hunt it is.”
“Thanks, Paige.” She looked relieved and smiled at me. “Come on. This food smells good. Let’s go see how many egg rolls the boys can eat before they puke.”
We hauled the bags to the dock, where Lulu was fooling with the music while Seb and Benny were huddled over a mason jar filled with weed. Benny was rolling some kind of mutant joint involving multiple papers pieced together with some impressive origami skills.
“Jesus, Benny,” I said. “Are you making a voodoo doll?”
“Tulip,” he said, looking smug. He held up a ridiculously fat joint that vaguely resembled the flower after which it was named.
Jazmine took a seat on the bench across the table from the boys. “Is that the hashish from the dispensary north of town? Remember what happened the last time you rolled one of those.”
“What happened?” I asked, sitting next to Jaz.
Lulu plopped next to me. “I found Benny asleep in the next-door neighbor’s gazebo the next morning.”
“Worth it,” he said, smiling to himself. “Besides, the Wags have never really partied together, have we?”
“Not unless you count beer and cooking sherry when we were fifteen,” Seb said. “What better time to start than now, though? We’ve got a Mabel clue to crack, and I personally don’t have work tomorrow.”
“Me neither. It’s Friday, no paddleboard classes,” Jazmine said.
“Free as a bird,” Lulu agreed.
“Paige?” Seb asked, raising a brow. “You sticking with prim and proper? Or are you going to get in the mud with us?”
Everyone looked at me.
“Jesus with the peer pressure,” I complained.
“Look, this is how I see it. Yesterday sucked,” Benny pointed out. “For many reasons, not looking at you, Jaz—”
She lifted her good arm. “I’m sorry. I have no idea how Paul found us at the brewery—he wouldn’t tell me. But we hadn’t been in contact, so it wasn’t me. I’ll take the blame for making the choice last fall to hang with him instead of telling him to get lost. But hasn’t every one of us done dumb things?”
“Facts,” Seb said appreciatively, clapping a couple times. “I dub thee forgiven, Jazmine Elizabeth Neely.”
She flipped him off good-naturedly.
“If everyone is forgiven, can we all just chill today?” Benny asked. “No drama. Buena onda.”
“Fine,” I said. “Buena onda.”
“Woo-hoo!” Lulu shouted while Jazmine grinned at me. Across the table, Seb gave me a tiny, mischievous smile and said, “Well, all right, then. I say we call this Wags meeting to order properly. Benito, light ’er up!”
