Chapter one
Olivia
Islumpagainstthepassengerseat of my best friend Annie’s car, exhausted and restless.
“You ready for a summer of surprises?” Annie asks brightly, in acute contrast to my energy levels.
She’s driving us home from the airport. It’s a late Sunday afternoon in early summer and we just got back to Austin, Texas, from northeast Florida where we’d been attending my older sister Nicole’s wedding. Annie was my plus one—there are certainly no men in my life worth the title. Not that I needed a man. Annie was the perfect date, and we had a blast, hence my exhaustion.
I look at her now, sliding my sunglasses down my nose and scrunching up my face. “Surprises? If by surprises you mean sleeping in a cabin and keeping sunburnt, hyperactive kids occupied, then sure. I guess so.”
Annie quickly glances at me in the passenger seat before returning her eyes to the road. She smiles, but there’s an uneasiness behind it.
“It’ll be fun,” she insists, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. “Maybe even the best summer of your life.”
I take my sunglasses fully off now and stare at her profile. “Best summer of my life?” I repeat.
I leave tomorrow to work as the activities director for a kids’ sleepaway camp about two hours east of our hometown. I’ll be there for thirteen weeks. Working at a summer camp is a fun way to earn money for the next few months—and definitely beats the patchwork of jobs I’ve been working for the last year—but I’m not sure why my friend would prophesy it being “the best summer of my life.”
I fold my arms in front of my chest. “What’s going on?”
Annie shrugs, conspicuously keeping her eyes facing forward. “Nothing. I’m happy for you—heading off on a new adventure. New experiences. You know?”
“Hmm,” I hum as I slide my sunglasses back on my face.
Annie’s being weird. Actually, she’s been a little weird for six months now, ever since we got home from an ill-advised trip to New Orleans. We stayed with my oldest sister, Molly, and hung out at the Halloween parade with Annie’s twin brother, Gage, and his girlfriend. I wonder if maybe something’s going on with Gage that has her so restless, but I can’t ask her.
Annie and Inevertalk about Gage. It’s been an unspoken rule of our friendship ever since theeventthat happened right before our high school graduation. We’ve both silently agreed to never mention it again. So her cryptic behavior now makes me think whatever she’s hiding is Gage-related. We don’t have secrets from each other that don’t have to do with Gage.
Annie pulls into the driveway of my house in southwest Austin. Well, my parents’ house, though they’re still in Florida for a couple more days. I moved back home after I graduated college. A year later, I’m embarrassed to still be here with no plans or directions beyond this summer.
In a way, I kind of hope Annie’s right, and it will be a summer of surprises. My life could use some upheaval. Some direction. Some motivation. And yeah, some romance if it’s not asking too much. A summer fling could be exactly what I need. Or maybe that’s the last-single-sister melancholy talking.
Both of my older sisters—my smart, beautiful, successful older sisters—are married and thriving in their careers. Nicole, who married her husband, Adam, yesterday, is an academic librarian at a cute little college in Florida. Molly, who surprised everyone by eloping with her husband, Jonathan, in Las Vegas last Thanksgiving, started a new job a few months ago. She’s a coastal environmental scientist running her own lab with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in Charleston, South Carolina.
Meanwhile, there’s me: a single serial dater teetering on the cusp of unemployment after barely graduating with my bachelor’s degree.
I’m happy for my sisters and so proud of them. They’re amazing. But I can’t help but look at their lives and look at my life and feel … deficient.
All through high school and college, playing soccer was my passion. I was the captain and best striker on my Division I college team, thriving on the pulse of the game, the consistency of the workouts, and the camaraderie of the team.
When that last season ended my senior year, I felt listless and directionless. I scraped through my last semester to graduate with my degree in exercise science, but I don’t know what to do with it.
I don’t know who I am now that I’m not a soccer player.
I’ve gotten by coaching weekly classes for a kids’ soccer program here in Austin, but the hours are limited, and the pay is low. I definitely don’t make enough to move out of my childhood home into my own apartment.
So when Annie found an ad from a sleepaway camp looking for an activities director for the summer and encouraged me to apply, I figuredwhy not?It’s temporary, but it gives me more time to figure out my next step and a blessed reprieve from living with my parents.
I twist in my seat and grab my bag from the backseat of Annie’s car. Before I can reach for the door handle to get out, Annie stops me with a hand on my arm.
“Good luck tomorrow,” she says. “I’ll miss you this summer, but I know you’ll do great.” She pauses, her nose scrunching up as if considering how to word what she says next. When she speaks, it sounds suspiciously like a pep talk. “Promise me you’ll keep an open mind about anything … unexpected that may happen. And call me if you need anything or want to talk anything through. You know I love you and want you to be happy.”
I stare at her. It’s a supersweet sentiment and of course I love Annie, too, but everything about this conversation and her mannerisms screams suspicious. “What unexpected things are you expecting will happen?”
She darts her eyes away. “I don’t know. Poison ivy. Homesickness. Awesome camp crafts. A summer romance, maybe?” She laughs, but it’s pitched too high, the way she laughs when she’s nervous.
I narrow my eyes. I had a long day of travel after waking up a little hungover this morning from yesterday’s festivities. I need to unpack, do laundry, and repack before I have to get up early tomorrow to drive to Camp Prairie Star. I’m going to let this go for now. Annie is not as sneaky as she thinks, so I’m sure whatever she’s hiding will come to light sooner rather than later.
