I pull at the neckline of my shirt, sweat dripping down my sides.
“I’m not stupid. I know that we aren’t together, but I didn’t realize that we couldn’t even be friends.”
“We are friends.”
“No. We aren’t. We used to talk about our days. Check in with one another. Let each other know when the milk was empty. But you’ve completely shut me out.”
There’s pain behind her eyes, the sting of rejection a foreign notion to her. And it’s not fair.
“I guess I thought this trip might give us a chance to reconnect.”
I reach for her bucket, knowing that we need to have a serious conversation, one away from the prying ears and eyes of the party posse.
“Katherine, I think we need to talk,” I say, as Meredith screams from across the field.
“I lost my ring!” she shouts, holding her hand up, her ring finger bare. “I told Grant we should get it resized but we both kept forgetting, and now ...”
“We’ll find it,” Katherine assures her, bending down to start searching. “Which direction were you coming from?”
Meredith points to the section of stomped-down grass behind her.
“I bet they have a metal detector back at the Activity Center,” Adrian says. “I can run down and check.”
“Does that work on white gold?” Meredith asks, her face pale.
“That’s still a metal,” Vanessa quips, setting down her own bucket with a heavy sigh, bending down to aid in the search.
“It has to be in this area,” Meredith explains, extending her arm to indicate the search ratio.
“And you checked the bucket?” I ask.
Meredith peeks inside, handing the flowers to Katherine as she dumps out a smattering of leaves from the bottom. “It’s not there.”
“Let’s divide into sections,” Katherine says, instructing Angie. “We’ll each go to our left, and then after five minutes we’ll switch. Sound good?”
Angie nods, before they slink through the tall grass on their hands and knees, almost indistinguishable beside the movement of the stalks.
“Are you going in?” I ask Vanessa, who’s standing next to me, sans bucket.
“What’s the expression about too many cooks ...” she replies. “I’m sure it’s like right under their feet.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. They’re probably digging it further into the dirt.”
The grass sways frantically as they crawl through.
“You should wait for the metal detector,” I call out, but they ignore me.
“Oh my God!” Meredith shrieks, jumping up and down. “I Found it!”
Meredith and Angie both stand, their brows sweat-stained as Katherine places the ring back on her finger, clutching her hand to her chest.
“Mere,” Katherine says, her voice panicked. “I need you to stay still, okay.”
“Why?” Meredith asks, her eyes wide.
“There’s a bee.”
“Get rid of it,” Meredith shouts, freaking out.
