“You’re not the beach, Paige. You’re the whole fucking sky.”
Chapter 22
July, Now
The thing about Candice is, she’s been in love with the same girl since she was a teenager. Age thirteen, to be precise. Candice and Hailey met their freshman year of high school through the foreign film club and have been inseparable ever since.
I was only four years old when Hailey started coming around the house, five or six when I understood they weretogether, which means I pretty muchonlyhave an adult impression of Candice in association with her high school sweetheart.
“They’re like, a unit,” I try to explain to Liam on the car ride from Minneapolis to Chicago. “I mean, I knowallcouples are like a unit, but—”
“I get it,” he offers from the passenger seat (I finally conned him into letting me drive by swapping seats at a gas station). “You don’t think of Candice without thinking of Hailey.”
“Exactly. Candice wouldn’t evenbethe adult Candice I know and love without Hailey. They sort of molded each other.”
“What are they like?” Liam asks.
“Hailey could talk to a wall. Candice is quieter, but if you’re with her one-on-one, she’ll make you feel like it’s the most important conversation she’s ever had.”
I glance over and catch Liam’s nod. He’s rubbing the heels of his palms over his knees. Beyond our windows, the looming city issprouting around us. Buildings growing taller, bodies packing in. The setting sun has painted the brick a light-lacquered pink.
Today was a six-hour travel day, and there’s no show tonight, but the bands will play two shows at Thalia Hall starting tomorrow before heading next to St. Louis. The tour buses have probably made it to the hotel by now, but Candice and Hailey insisted Liam and I cancel our reservation and stay with them.
I’ve been to their townhouse a few times before. After the past few dreary hotel rooms with no surprise cuttlefish for entertainment, it’s exactly the change of pace we need.
“What’s the age difference between Folly and Candice?” Liam asks.
“Four years.”
“So, Folly is equidistant from you and Candice.”
“No, Folly is equidistant fromZaraand Candice.”
Liam laughs tiredly, pushing his hands through his hair. I reach over and grab his left hand. He had still been rubbing it. “Nobody’s going to care if you can’t memorize all my sisters’ ages.”
“I’llcare,” Liam replies, glaring out the front window.
“You’re so competitive. Even with yourself.”
“You’re my girlfriend,” he says quietly. “These are important things to keep straight.”
I wish I could study his expression, analyze it, but we’re fast approaching the townhouse. I concentrate as the streets narrow, the neighborhood cars parked tidily on either side like books on a shelf. There’s a parking spot right in front of the townhouse—Candice texted and said she’d moved her car for us—and I’ve just parallel parked when the front door flings open.
“PAIGEY!” I can hear Hailey’s scream from here.
“That,” Liam says, looking out his window at her, “is a grown-up Tinker Bell.”
And I laugh because he’s right. Hailey’s blond hair is knotted in a neat bun atop her head, and she’s wearing a gray skirt suit withsparkly slippers. Hailey works for Boeing. She probably just got home from the office and kicked her heels off.
She races down the stairs, then flings open the wrought iron gate that separates her little courtyard of a front lawn from the sidewalk. I jump out of the car to squeeze her into a hug.
“I’ve missed you!” she squeals.
“Missed you too, Hails.”
She grabs my hand, pulls me toward the back of the car just as I glance up and see Candice leaning on the doorframe in a pair of army green overalls. Her hair is in two small braids that kiss her shoulders. She winks at me, and I smirk back.
Hailey migrates to the passenger side to envelope Liam in a hug before he’s even fully stood up. She greets him, verbalizes her excitement, and he his thanks, and then we’re heading up the stairs with our luggage, saying it all again with Candice.
