“Dear God, I see enough sweaty half-naked men at work. I don’t need to see it here,” Dixie says. I glance around to make sure my parents are nowhere to be found, and I flip her the bird. She just smiles. “Zoey is up.”
“Yeah?” My heart rate isn’t going to slow down anytime soon now.
“She just got out of the shower, so you should get in it so you don’t stink while you grovel,” she advises.
“Thanks. Which room is she in?”
Dixie lifts an eyebrow. “Winnie’s, so don’t get any ideas.”
You have to go through Dixie’s room to get to Winnie’s. It’s the worst possible room they could have given her, because it means I’ll never be able to sneak in, but I’m guessing they know that, which is why Dixie is smiling at me deviously.
“I should have been an only child.” I head to the bathroom and take a quick shower. I wrap a fresh towel around my waist and grab my dirty clothes before heading upstairs. I hit the landing at the same time Zoey walks out of Dixie’s room. She’s in a fresh pair of jeans and an off-the-shoulder sweater. Her hair is in a simple ponytail and she’s barely wearing makeup. I take a step closer to her and reach out and graze her cheek with my fingertips. “You look beautiful.”
She blushes and smiles. “I feel better now that I’ve slept a little.”
“Good.” I nod. “Do you want to get out of here? Just the two of us?”
She nods. This time she steps closer to me. “It’s probably time we talked.”
“Yeah,” I agree and watch her as she moves a hand to my chest. She places it just under my left collarbone and then slowly lets it slide down my bare, wet skin. “I just gotta throw on some clothes.”
She nods again but doesn’t stop trailing her fingers down my body. She’s at my stomach now and still moving south. I take another step. Her fingers reach my towel and curl around the terry cloth, fingertips pushing their way between my hip and the fabric. I reach up and slide my hand behind her neck. I start to pull her lips to mine.
“Oh, no! Not in this house!”
Sadie’s voice is like a siren going off. We jump apart and I drop my dirty clothes in order to keep my towel from falling. Zoey turns fire engine red. I turn and glare at Sadie as she comes out of her room across the hall. She ignores me. “Come on, Zoey.”
When I get downstairs Zoey is sitting with my entire family around the dining room table and my mom is setting up the Monopoly board. Mom looks up at me and smiles. “We’ve ordered pizza from Bill’s and we’ve invited you two to play, but Zoey said you had other plans?”
I nod. “We’re going to walk down to Old Orchard and grab some food.”
“Okay then. Have fun!” my dad says way too casually, and then he follows it with a very uncasual wink.
The sorority stays quiet for once, and it makes me think maybe Sadie is onto something with that apocalypse thing. We make our way out of the house as the sun starts to set. The air is salty and chilly. I ask her if she needs a warmer jacket.
“I’m okay,” she assures me and points up the street, away from the main road that’ll take us into town. “Let’s walk on the beach.”
Suddenly, I’m seventeen again, walking her home from babysitting. It’s a good feeling but also sad. If only I could go back and start over from there. Not lose touch with her, not let her go, not waste time. But she’s here now—in my life and my heart—and I have to fight like hell to keep her here.
“Your dad sure isn’t letting his illness get him down,” Zoey says.
“He never lets it affect his personality. At least, not in front of us,” I reply as we make ourway up the boardwalk. “And he’s having a good spell right now too, which helps.”
“You’re an amazing son, you know that?” she whispers. “I’ve always thought that since we were kids, but seeing you with him now solidifies it.”
I feel my chest grow tight. “I try.”
“You succeed,” she replies firmly and smiles.
We make it to the sand and both toe off our shoes. As I walk beside her, our free hands not carrying our shoes keep brushing, so I finally take hers and lace our fingers. She doesn’t pull away, so I gain the confidence I need to speak. “Kina is a nurse. She works at the children’s hospital. We went there a few weeks ago with the Cup, and after I left your place the other night I went to an all-night diner and ran into her.”
It’s too dark to read her expression so I just keep talking. “She is helping me get home opener tickets to a kid I met there. That’s it.”
“Okay.”
“You believe me?”
“Yes.” It feels like she’s forcing herself to say that, and I hate it. “Why didn’t you tell me about Tessa?”
