“No, thank you,” I heard her tell Kai. “I’m speaking with my granddaughter.”
About groundbreaking matters!I thought, but kept quiet when Kai suggested Annie call me back later.
“Kai, that would be rude,” my grandmother said, as a knot twisted in my heart. I knew I had to hang up; Annie had lost her fondness for eating in the dining room, but everyone agreed it was important for her to keep up socializing.
I refused to be her excuse.
“Go have fun at lunch, Annie!” I chirped, but while closing my eyes. I’d been so close, yet so far. “I should go, anyway. I promised I’d take Maisie and Bryce to the candy store.”
“Well, alright,” she replied. “But don’t think about what I said, Olivia. Justdo. Otherwise, you’ll only keep talking yourself out of it.” She took a breath. “Because, dearest, I can hear how much you want this in your voice.”
* * *
Every muscle tensed when I rejoined my siblings and Connor at the carousel. (Maisie had snagged the brass ring twice more; Bryce had gotten in trouble for climbing up on his horse in order to reach the ring dispenser.) My hot dog from Nancy’s was now cold, but I ate it anyway, needing to fixate on something other than Connor’s glinting blue eyes.
It was so delicious that I wondered how it had tasted when hot.
“Smile!” the twins chorused from the sidelines while Connor snapped a shot of my second and final spin around the carousel.Like Annie, I’d chosen a white horse. All I was missing was her fabulous straw hat and a mystery man.
I met someone, she’d said.
Who?I wondered on our way back to Edgartown. The Candy Bazaar was on the water near the yacht club. Maisie and Bryce raced into the cute cedar-shingled cottage; the screen door slammed shut behind them.
“Ladies first,” Connor said upon grabbing the door for me, but a family of five poured out first.
“Thank you!” called the mom with a toddler on her hip. Her little boy was multitasking, licking an old-fashioned Fudgsicle while also trying to pull off his mother’s sunglasses.
“My pleasure!” Connor smiled, then he held the door for two Twizzler-wielding teenagers before finally gesturing me inside.
“The consummate gentleman,” I commented, but I felt my lungs contract, imagining his hand landing on my lower back to guide me through the doorway.
“You okay?” he asked when he didn’t touch me.
Because why would he?
I’d made things clear on the roof last night.
“Just a little thirsty,” I lied.
“I can help with that,” Connor said, a mischievous smile curling.
My cheeks flamed, catching the double entendre too late. Why hadn’t I saiddehydrated?
He pointed toward the far side of the store, to a tall drinks fridge. “Over there.”
I flashed him the middle finger.
He hit me with a smirk that straightened my spine.
Again, I was an idiot.
“Olivia, look at these!” Maisie called before I could flee the store. “Cigarettes!”
“What?” I blinked to see my sister waving around what looked like a Marlboro pack. “They’re candy, right?”
Grinning, Maisie nodded and added them to her already impressive haul. Wicker baskets lined the shelves, containing candy from your everyday M&M’s and Nerds Gummy Clusters to flying saucer wafers, sour strawberry belts, and blocks of chocolate. “Oh, man!” Connor exclaimed as Maisie offered me a candy necklace to match hers. “I wasobsessedwith these when I was a kid.”
“What is it?” Bryce asked, a pack of Razzles in hand.
