“Ted, are you serious?” Connor gave him a look. “Am I new here?”
“He’s a natural with them,” Charlie murmured as Teddy and his brother giggled. “Their parents aren’t here, so everyone was a little worried…” He trailed off. “But it’s been three weeks and Nana said it’s been easy. He takes them to sailing and tennis camp a few days a week, spends hours with them on the beach, and even supervises bedtime.”
“Jeez,” I said. “Where are their parents?”
“Handling something,” Charlie answered vaguely while Teddy and Finn said goodbye to their grandparents and great-grandparents. Beth barely looked up from her laptop, but Topper put down his coffee for fist bumps. I glanced over at Connor; it was hard to believe I’d needed to check his breathing earlier, that he’d seemed like someone capable of sleeping through his alarm. Now he looked more awake than anyone in the room, humming some song while casually swinging his keys around a finger.
He quickly caught me looking at him, winking when we made eye contact. My stomach swirled, but I forced myself to peel my banana and take a bite. “How’d you sleep last night?” Connor called.
“Fine.” I shrugged, even though I hadn’t woken up once—a rarity for me. “How about you?”
“Swede and I had the sweetest dreams,” he replied, then checked his watch and whistled. “Troops, time to head out!”
I watched him shuttle Finn and Teddy outside, and for some reason, I pushed away from the island and followed them. The early-morning clouds had cleared, the sun now shining brightly and a breeze rippling.
“Remind me how often you’re going to reapply?” Connor was asking Teddy as they headed down the front walk.
“Every time we switch sessions,” he replied.
“You’re a genius, my man,” Connor patted his shoulder, then turned to his brother. “Finn, the hat.”
He groaned. “But…”
“Girls don’t like backward hats,” Connor said. “Mary-Grace Van Cleve is never—”
“He likes Claire Dupré now,” Teddy chimed in.
“I do not!” Finn’s voice jumped, but I caught him peek at Connor’s front facing baseball cap before he flipped his around to match.
Someone was clearly an icon.
“Hey!” I called right before they hit the driveway, all three guys turning to face me. “I…” Totally didn’t have anything to say. “Uh, have a question.”
“What is it?” Teddy asked. “We have a schedule.”
“And we’re actually running ahead of time for once,” Connor said. He smiled at me. “What’s up?”
I thought quickly. “We don’t have a shower.”
“Because you’re staying at Summer Camp,” Teddy said, as if that explained everything.
Summer Camp.Our nook’s name again made me think of my favorite Polaroid of Annie—barefoot and smiling with a glass of wine as she posed beside that mysterious green tractor.
“No, our bathroom doesn’t have a shower,” Connor confirmed. “But the outdoor shower’s right off the porch.” He sighed happily. “If heaven were a place on earth…”
I made a face. “An outdoor shower?”
“Wait, have you never taken an outdoor shower?” he asked and laughed when I wrinkled my nose. Finn and Teddy did too. “You’re missing out!”
Was I? Because I didn’t really see the appeal of a shower that didn’t involve steaming up a mirror. Maybe my dad and Erica would let me use their shower.
By way of goodbye, Connor nodded toward the garage; I did a double take when I saw the boys climbing intomycar, a blue-gray Jeep Wrangler. Except no, it wasn’t my car, because I hadn’t taken its top off or driven up here or have a Pennsylvania license plate.
I also definitely did not have a Hilton Head sticker on my back bumper.
But a shiver still ran up my spine, not only recognizing that sticker, but also realizing something. I’d seen Connor’s car before—I’d seen it only weeks ago, in a parking lot on a drizzling, dreary night.
And I’d mistaken it for mine.
