“I know!” she said quickly, encouraged, as if I’d agreed with her, which I hadn’t. “He’s not a bad guy, Saylor. He just screwed up. And he’s really sorry.”
“Bailey.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re not going to get back together with him, are you? Because that’s—”
“We’retalking,” she said again. I already hated this phrase. “And he invited us over tonight, because they’re having a Campus party. Will you come?”
“No,” I said.
She blinked. “You didn’t even think about it!”
“I don’t have to,” I said. “I don’t want anything to do with those guys.”
“Saylor,” she groaned, adding syllables to my name to draw it out. “If you don’t come, I have to go alone. Is that what you want?”
“What I want,” I replied, “is for you to realize that you deserve better than someone who would stand you up when you are all dressed up for an eventto which they invited youand then not apologize for, like, days.”
“Saylor.”
“I’m not going,” I said, and she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Besides, this is my last night. I want to spend it here.”
She looked at me, surprised. “Your last night? What do you mean?”
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” I said, gesturing at my barely packed bag, which sat on the only chair in the room, symbolizing my ambivalence. “My dad’s coming and we’re going to stay at the Tides.”
Now she was shocked silent, at least for a moment. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “I found out a few days ago, but now it’s really—”
“This is great!” She sat up straighter, suddenly energized. “You’ll be over there right by the Club, so you can be my eyes and ears. You can tell me if he’s serious aboutwanting to get back together.”
Forget denial: this was delusional. “Did you hear me say I’m leaving?”
“For the Tides, though!” she said. “You can’t be upset about that, it’s like a dream.”
Of course she’d see it that way. “I just want to stay where I am.”
“God, why?” she said. “Saylor, you’re going to hang out in the nicest hotel in the area.”
Who cares? I wanted to shout. Out loud I said, “I like it here.”
“Only because you don’t know any better.” She sighed wistfully. “God. You aresolucky.”
I could admit to already being emotional. But something about her using that word, at that moment, made my temper flare. “Lucky?” I repeated. “Just because I’m going to stay someplace nice?”
“Well... yeah. I mean, Saylor, come on. It’s kind of a first-world problem. If it’s a problem at all.”
“You’ve had the lake your whole life,” I said, my voice rising a bit. “You take it for granted. I only had three weeks to meet you, and Trinity, and—”
“We’re not going anywhere,” she said. “You can come back anytime. But the Tides? That’s, like, special. Can’t you see that?”
Always about the place. Never about me. “What I see is that you don’t care at all that I’m upset,” I said. “When youaren’t telling me I’m spoiled for feeling that way.”
“You are spoiled!” she shot back. Then, immediately, she said, “I mean—”
I swallowed, hard. “Yeah. Whatdoyou mean?”
“You don’t know what it’s like to live here! How dead it is all winter, nobody around. And then summer comes and yeah, it’s nicer, but most of us have to work all the time, because that’s when you make money. For you it’s a fun getaway, discovering your history or whatever. The rest of us don’t get that luxury. Nobody does except for you.”
I thought back to the first days I’d been here, when I’d found out Mimi had said I was on vacation and that everyone should let me relax. Since then I’d worked my butt off cleaning rooms, not to mention being Bailey’s wing person as she made one bad choice after another. Clearly, though, it made no difference. I was the rich spoiled cousin then, and the rich spoiled cousin now.
