“Better than sex.”
I snort. “You’re having the wrong kind of sex.”
She gives me a horrifying, cheese-filled smile. “Not for long.”
I groan and bite into my own sandwich.
“Hey, Tristan?”
I look at her, then swallow, barely tasting my food. “Yeah?”
Her eyes are sincere and luminous. “Thank you for tonight.”
“Of course,” I say hoarsely.
She settles back against the couch and tucks her knees under her. “I’ll miss this.”
“This again.” I frown. “I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.”
She shrugs, but her eyes are sad. My chest pinches. It feels like she’s slipping away from me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
16
KATIE
“This is the life.” Sienna wriggles her toes on the cushion. We’re laid out like sardines on the stern of the boat, baking in the mid-morning sun.
“Totally.” Emory sighs.
“It’s about to be your life,” I remind her. “Are you excited?”
She covers her face with her hands. “Is it lame that I don’t even care about the sailing? I’m just excited to be with Aiden.”
“Not lame,” Sienna says softly. “I love it.” She lays her head on Emory’s shoulder. “I’m happy for you.”
“I’m jealous of me,” Emory says with a little laugh. “How is this real?”
I squeeze her arm and then flip onto my stomach. I know exactly how Emory feels. Crownhaven isn’t real life. It’s an oasis in the madness of the world. I adjust my bikini bottoms and sigh happily. I love it here.
Sienna took us out on the forty-foot speedboat today, yelling “yeehaw” and pumping her fist in the air as she gunned it over the waves. Now we’re anchored in an inletnear one of the islands in the bay. She’s on her stomach, picking at a platter of grapes and cheese while she thumbs through a magazine. Her hair is pink today, like the inside of a shell or a soft sunset, and her bathing suit is classic Sienna—tiny, expensive, and alarmingly bright.
Emory is tanning topless because she says it’s very important to get a base tan before her sailing journey.
The entire world is just blue sky, gulls crying, and hot sun.
“So how many guys did you pick up last night?” Sienna asks idly.
Emory snorts a laugh and cracks a lid to look at me. “Yeah, Katie, was it a threesome or a foursome?”
I poke my friend in the arm. “Knock it off, you two.”
“Come on,” Sienna moans. “I need to live through you. All I do is study.”
“It was nice,” I say, thinking back to the guy I gave my number to.Cary, his name was, which I liked because it sounded old-fashioned and romantic, and he had the manners and smile to go along with it. “I didn’t really feel a spark with the guy I met, but we did dance.”
“That’s a start,” Sienna crows excitedly. “Do you have pictures? Do you like him?”
Emory laughs into her towel.
