“I believe you,” I said back, for real this time. Mads sounded like the best of all best friends; someone who Connor was wholeheartedly open with and who was open with him.
We said good night, but my heart twisted when I shifted onto my side and heard Connor’s slow breathing beneath me. Was he already asleep?
“I’ve been in your car before,” I heard myself say softly.
Connor heard me too. “What?”
“I’ve been in your car before,” I repeated, a little louder.
“Well, yeah…” he said. “We went to Edgartown.”
“No, I’m not talking about that,” I said, then closed my eyes and asked, “Who do you visit at Elkins Village?”
Crickets. The bottom bunk was very quiet for a few moments. “My grandfather,” Connor eventually said. “He moved into independent living this spring. We have dinner with him every other Saturday, and I also bring him his favorite sushi on Wednesdays.”
A lump formed in my throat. “That’s really nice,” I whispered, wishing Annie still lived in the independent wing.
“Thanks,” he replied. “He’s happy there. He’s dating a woman a few doors down from him. Fliss something.”
“Fliss Williams,” I surmised, swallowing hard. “Don’t you just love her name?” I remembered Annie saying about the woman she’d met in chair aerobics. “Fliss is short forFelicity…”
“Yes, that’s it.” Connor’s nod was in his voice. “Fliss Williams.”
I waited for him to ask me how I knew that, but he didn’t; instead, he circled back to how I’d ended up in his car. “It was an accident,” I said. “We drive the same Jeep—”
“Seriously?”
“—and I always leave mine unlocked at Elkins.”
“Well, of course,” Connor said. “There’s no place safer than Elkins Village.”
“Until I climbed in your car,” I quipped. “I didn’t bother checking the license plate. It was raining and I was…” I trailed off, thinking of how I’d fled Finlay House after Annie beggedme to help her escape into the night. Every inch of my body felt coated in guilt.
Swede, the only one sleeping, let out a loud snore. “How’d you realize it wasn’t your Jeep?” Connor asked.
“I’m very attuned to details,” I answered. “The driver’s seat was set too far back, and your Jeep is higher than mine. I didn’t have a lacrosse stick riding shotgun either.”
“Wow.” He laughed. “If only I’d seen you…”
That would’ve been some meet-cute!I thought, but the sudden heat in my chest burned the joke before I could make it.
Connor let silence hang in the air then shifted on his mattress. My pulse started pounding.Who doyouknow at Elkins?I imagined him asking, realizing he already knew when he asked what photo of Annie’s I wanted to follow next.
I mentally scanned my list. Edgartown lighthouse?Check.Old Whaling Church?Check.“How does the Flying Horses sound for tomorrow?” I suggested.
“Like an adventure, because I haven’t been yet. Finn keeps saying it’s for little kids.” He took a beat, then a breath. “Do you want to summon your inner child and go?”
“Only if you summon yours.”
“Already done,” he said brightly. “Everyone says I’m a child at heart.”
Thirteen
We agreed to visit the Flying Horses, the world’s oldest carousel, on Friday. Today was the Fourth of July, so Nick advised us not to go near the center of Oak Bluffs. It would be swarmed with people.
Tomorrow it was.
Instead, I spent the day on the beach and spoke to Annie before getting ready for the Foxes’ party. She told me she was watching reruns of her favorite HGTV show,Love It or List It, and insisted that she and Pops had lived down the street from the house being showcased. It was in Durham, North Carolina.
