Georgie had no idea about the years spent with a stomach full of butterflies, or how often I was jealous of the ease of their bond. They were both dreamers, even if their eyes were set on entirely different worlds. As much as I wanted to join them up there in the clouds, I was usually back on planet earth making sure they didn’t drift too far and hurt themselves.
Someonehad to.
“That’s it, right?” she said, sending me a skeptical look. “Just prom, a few months before graduation—nothing else?”
I pressed my lips together and fought to keep my voice steady. “That’s it.”
“Huh.” Georgie stared at the ceiling for a second, as if debating whether or not to press me further, before sighing. “Just wanted to make sure I had all the facts,” she murmured, clearly not entirely sold.
I’d bought myself another day, at least.
Then my mind wandered back to the diner, and the strange way Teddy reacted to my prodding. He was usually an open book. Even with seven years of separation, we still grew up together—the rare moments he held something back were like the glaring beacon on Bluebell Point’s lighthouse.
“Something’s wrong,” I muttered. “With Teddy.”
Georgie groaned teasingly and paused her movie. “You mean besides the fact that he’s still oh-so-handsome?”
I glared as she wiggled her eyebrows.
“No. I mean—” I rubbed my temples in an effort to hide my heating cheeks. I couldn’t go and start thinking about his broadened shoulders and the deepened timbre of his voice. “That’s beside the point. When I asked about his piece forTravel and Taste, didn’t he seem… standoffish?”
“Maybe he’s tired. Maybe it’s stressful being back home as a semi-famous person. It could be any number of things, Margot.”
Of course Georgie would give him the benefit of the doubt.
But maybe she was right—I could’ve been reading into things or drawing conclusions based on my frustration. Candice had been telling me I needed to tryhopeful skepticism. Why did I give her such a large portion of my paychecks if I wasn’t going to listen once and a while?
“Sure,” I replied, the best I could muster.
Georgie hummed in relief and gleefully unpaused her movie. Though I knew she’d watched this one at least twelve times, she still teared up as the music crescendoed and Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson finally kissed in ahighlyunrealistic scene on Manhattan Bridge.
Just like Teddy, she was always so unguarded—to life, to new experiences, and even to the inevitable heartbreaks. They embraced it all with open arms.
I often wondered how that felt. Did they have a greater depth of emotion? Was it easier to live while focusing on the warmth of the sun instead of the thunderclouds in the distance? And when they got hurt, no matter how greatly, did they think it was all worthwhile?
My phone buzzed, and I quickly wriggled out of my blanket.
It had been remarkably dry since I decided to blow up my life in New York. No one messaged—not old assistants, or authors, or friends from work that never became more than acquaintances. I hadn’t expected anything more, though, and that prevented me from being too disappointed.
I frowned at the screen.
Mom: We need to talk. Urgent.
She wasn’t the type to live with any sort of urgency. Alarm clocks on her days off were the bane of her existence, and she never felt the need to worry about school schedules. I stared at it for a few more seconds until the words floated in my vision and burned my eyes.
“Something wrong?” Georgie asked, having crouched by her television cabinet to sift through some more DVDs.
I shut it off. “It’s probably nothing,” I replied with a shrug. “What’re we watching next? What level of sappiness are we talkin’?”
She pursed her lips and cocked her head at the disk in her hand. “Maybe a six?”
“So it’s really an eight.”
Georgie grinned as she popped it in the player. “I’m gonna make some hot chocolate. Want any?”
“I haven’t even finished this.” I held up my shake and waved it at her with raised brows. “And you’re a menace. Have you had your blood sugar checked recently?”
“Shut up.” She paused at the foyer entryway. “Rhett made me go last week,” she grumbled before shuffling to the kitchen.
