Of course it was locked; I suspected the password was posted for us on the kitchen’s fridge or something. I’d figure that out—
A text from my dad suddenly popped up onscreen:Wi-Fi PW is top+peg4ever, FYI.
An ode to the big anniversary, I surmised.
Thank you!I replied, then successfully connected to theinternet and enabled my Wi-Fi calling. Annie didn’t answer her room’s landline, but Tara picked up on the third ring when I called Finlay’s front desk. She told me that Annie was in the atrium, sitting at the puzzling table with a few housemates. “I’ll go get her if you like,” she said, “but it’s been a nice stretch—”
“Oh, no, I understand,” I cut her off. “I’ll call back later.”
The more Annie’s dementia worsened, the less social she’d become. If she was willingly hanging out at Finlay’s rally point? That was a big deal, and I didn’t want to interrupt.
We hung up after Tara made a note about a post-breakfast call tomorrow, and I rubbed my stinging eyes before any tears could spill.
Then I bristled at a knock on my door.
“Hello?” I said over the lump in my throat. It sounded like a question.
“Hi,” the person on the other side said. A guy. “Olivia?”
“Yes.” I nodded even though he couldn’t see. “Connor?”
“I hope I’m not bothering you,” he said. “But Teddy and Finn and I just got back from the beach, and I wanted to introduce myself.”
Right, those were their names!Beth’s daughter Ashley has two sons, I remembered Erica telling me.Teddy and Finn are around the twins’ age…
“You can come in,” I told Connor, realizing he was waiting for an invitation. I tried to make a joke. “I’m decent!”
Connor chuckled, his laugh cool and full-bodied and a littlebit boyish. “Took you long enough,” he quipped before twisting the doorknob.
Based on the Carmichael family genes, I was not surprised by the handsome guy standing in the doorway. But for some reason my pulse quickened, sort of caught off guard. Six-two or six-three, Connor was tall and thin with some shade of strawberry blond hair and startlingly pale blue eyes. Something sparked in them when we made eye contact, and I caught a muscle in his sharp jaw twitch. “Olivia?” he said again, a lock of hair falling over his forehead when he cocked his head. He was quick to smooth it back.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, smiling brightly and sticking out a hand at the same time Connor opened his arms to seemingly go in for a hug. Interesting—everyone here seemed to be a hugger. And despite what Charlie thought, I wasn’tnota hugger, but…
Connor recovered easily, one arm reaching to casually scratch the back of his neck while the other swooped in to take my hand. I could feel the calluses on his palm as we shook. “It’s nice to meet you too,” he said, adding after a beat, “I’m Connor McCallister.”
Wait, what?I thought.
Because whileConnor McCallisterrolled off the tongue, it certainly didn’t sound likeConnor Carmichael.
“Okay, who do you belong to?” I asked, confusion overwhelming my manners. “Does Erica haveanothersister? Because I know Beth’s married name is Krause.”
One side of Connor’s mouth tipped up in a smile. “You think I’m a Carmichael?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you?”
“Not even a little bit.” He shook his head. “But you’re not the first to think so.” He grinned and ran a hand through his fair hair, which was lighter but still similar-ish to Nick and Charlie’s. “The twenty-fifth, maybe.”
“At least I’m not the only one.”
Connor good-naturedly rolled his eyes. “I’m hanging out with Teddy and Finn this summer,” he explained. “Beth’s grandsons. Her daughter Ashley is a family friend.” He paused. “And, as Teddy will most definitely tell you later, also my tenth-grade math teacher.”
I smirked. “You’re a manny.”
“Yes.” He straightened his already confident shoulders and smiled. “Thank you—I’m amanny. My brother Liam won’t shut up about me being ababysitter. Do I seem like someone who reads bedtime stories?”
“I don’t know.” I fought a smile to pull off a shrug. “I don’t know you yet.”
Though something about him was starting to seema littlefamiliar. His eyes maybe?
