“Great,” I said as another white-shirted Club worker came around from behind the sail, wiping his hands on his shorts. It was Blake, not that I had time to react, as in the next moment my dad was walking right up him.
“I think that’s for us,” he said, nodding at the boat. “Payne?”
“That’s right,” Blake replied, hopping onto the dock. “All ready for you as promised. Do you need a quick lesson?”
“No, no,” my dad said as I pulled my hat down a bit farther. “I know what I’m doing. Actually taught sailing here when I was your age.”
“Really?” Blake asked. “That’s cool. Did you live on Campus?”
“Room fourteen,” my dad told him proudly. “All fouryears. Could still find my name on the wall, I bet, if I looked. Matthew Payne.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Blake.” He stuck out his hand and they shook while I stood off to one side, willing myself to be invisible. “I’ve left a card with our number here at the docks and a backup Club one, just in case you run into any trouble.”
“Hopefully not,” my dad said. “We’re just doing an easy sail. My daughter, Emma, here isn’t exactly a fan.”
Blake gave me a quick glance, nodding, then turned back to the boat. A beat later, though, he looked at me again. My hat had covered my face some, but not enough. Damn. “Saylor? Is that you?”
My dad, surprised, looked at me as well. “You guys know each other?”
Silence as neither one of us confirmed or denied this. Finally I said, “He’s friends with Bailey.”
“Oh, right,” my dad said, as if I’d mentioned this before, which I hadn’t. “Small world. Oh, there’s Tracy.”
With that, he was walking down the dock to the Club, where I could now see my stepmother emerging, a basket hooked over one arm. Blake and I both watched him go, if only to not look at each other.
“So,” he said finally. “Um... how have you been?”
“You mean since you guys ditched us for Club Prom?”
He sighed. “Hey,Ishowed up. Remember?”
“Did you really expect me to leave Bailey, too, and come with you?”
“I don’t know!” He lowered his voice, stepping closer to me. “Look, what Colin does is his thing. Don’t hold it against me. What was I supposed to do?”
“Well,” I said as a motorboat approached, puttering, “you could have been honest with me so I could be honest with her. That would have been a start.”
“He’s my best friend,” he said. “And it was a crap situation. I’m sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Tell him to leave Bailey alone. It’s not cool that he’s calling her.”
“I know.” He slid his hands in his pockets. “But again, that’s him. Anything else?”
I considered this, looking at the boat beside us, sails still fluttering. “Declare this thing unseaworthy so I don’t have to go sailing?”
He cocked his head to the side. “It’s a lake, though. Not a sea.”
“Unlakeworthy, then,” I said, giving him a smile. “Help a girl out.”
“The thing is, I’m kind of here to help the guests getonthe water, not hinder them,” he said. “Sorry.”
I shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“What about dinner?” he asked. “Tonight. Wherever you want, on me.”
Suddenly I’d gone from no plans to being in high demand. But again, he was not the person I was hoping would be doing the asking. “I can’t,” I said. “I have a party to go to.”
“For that girl Taylor?”
