Quincy:What?
Gwen:WHO?
Why?I’d asked myself, internally groaning.Why did you tease that?
Hadn’t I already decided Connor would want to get too close for comfort?
Because you wanted to hook them, reel them in, and get their advice, I thought now, snatching my phone the second after Maisie texted Connor.
I hadn’t had the time or guts to respond to my friends.
Maybe I already knew what they would say.
“Shall we?” I gestured toward the doors.
Maisie squealed with delight once we pushed into the center ring. The Flying Horses were in full swing, the platform carousel spinning to upbeat, old-time carnival music. I grinned, thrilled tosee the green painted platform and hand-carved wooden horses in real life. “Their tails arerealhorsehair!”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
“Teddy.”
“Shame on me for even asking,” I said as we weaved our way through spectators and paid our carousel fee before joining the patient line waiting behind a white picket fence. Tourists had definitely gotten the memo to visit. My guess was we’d have to wait a couple rides before mounting our noble steeds.
Connor responded to Maisie’s text a few minutes later, confirming that he and Bryce were indeed making a pit stop at Nancy’s, and did we need any condiments with our hot dogs?
I pretended to gag when Maisie said relish and mayonnaise.
Fries too?Connor asked.
Depends, I answered.Does Teddy think they’re up to snuff?
“Did Annie ever get the brass ring?” Maisie asked while we watched children and adults alike stretch to grab a ring when they passed the overarching dispenser. I’d read that there were many iron rings, but onlyonebrass. Whoever seized it won a free repeat ride.
I shook my head. “She never said.”
“Oh.” Maisie’s brow furrowed a little. “Maybe she didn’t win then. I feel like that’s something she’d tell us.”
I felt a twinge in my chest. Annie and Maisie bonded over their shared love of competition. Our grandmother had rarely missed Maisie’s softball games, tirelessly cheered for the twins during elementary school field days, and taught Maisie to playgin rummy when we had Sunday dinner with her. I lost track of how many games they’d play, but they almost always ran after the kitchen timer chimed. “Would someonewinalready?” Erica would tease. “The food’s getting cold!”
It almost broke my heart that Maisie probably wanted to tell Annie about the other day’s nightshirt caper, but the chances of Annie understanding were slim.
“I think she would’ve told us too,” I said slowly, then squeezed my sister’s shoulder. “She might’ve won, Maze. Let’s believe she did.” I paused. “The reason she didn’t tell me was because I never spoke to her about the Flying Horses.”
Maisie’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I tried talking to her about Martha’s Vineyard,” I said, “but she didn’t share much beyond telling me she went. She wasn’t…”
My sister’s gaze fell to the floor when I trailed off, which made me remember that she was ten—a precocious ten, like I once was, butonlyten. Finlay House frightened the twins, with its village elders, and Maisie had gotten so frustrated with Annie before our grandmother had been moved there, unable to fully understand what was happening. I knew she was also disappointed in herself, which killed me. “Thank you for staying,” she’d whispered to me last year, right after our dad agreed to my gap year. “Annie needs you.”
Now, I swallowed the lump in my throat when Maisie took my hand. “How do you know she came here, then?” she asked quietly. “To the Flying Horses?”
“I have this,” I answered, reaching into my purse and pulling out Annie’s Polaroid from a zipped inner pocket. I handed it to my sister. “I found it in one of her boxes in my closet.”
“Wow,” Maisie marveled. “She looks soyoung.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, also admiring the photo. Someone had taken it from a distance; Annie wore a floppy straw hat and a light pink sundress, and she was waving at the camera as she rode a horse with a white mane and tail. She was smiling so widely that I wanted to smile back. “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Second-most beautiful,” Maisie pointedly corrected, then said, “I wonder who that man is.”
