“Aren’t you going to ask me?” I said.
His eyes darted over my shoulder to Annie and then back to me, his forehead pinched. “Ask you what?”
I smiled brightly. “To punch you in the stomach. You haven’t asked me yet.”
His eyes widened, but he quickly crossed his arms over his bare chest. He raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Youwant to punch me?”
I nodded my head slowly, eyes narrowed.
Sensing something about to happen, kids came from all over the yard to circle around us. The girls were giggling, while the boys nudged each other and laughed about Gage fighting a girl.
“Fine.” Gage dropped his arms to his sides. “Go for it.” He pulled his shoulders back and tensed up his core.
I pulled my fist back and then quickly shoved it forward into Gage’s stomach. It did feel pretty solid. I had to hide my wince as I pulled my hand back. Gage, on the other hand, could not hide the shock on his face when my fist crashed into him. I smirked.
Gage doubled over, trying to catch his breath. My smirk turned into full-on laughter. I stepped back and glanced over at Annie. She laughed so hard that literal tears ran down her face. Gage finally straightened back up to his full height, his cheeks red as his friends elbowed him, laughing and teasing.
None of it fazed him, though. He shook his head and laughed with other boys. He caught my eye and grinned, highlighting a row of freckles across the tanned skin on his nose and cheeks. A flurry in my stomach caught me by surprise. My heart almost leapt out of my chest; it was beating so fast. I took a deep breath and slowly smiled back at him.
I was so distracted by my body’s new reaction to my best friend’s twin brother that I didn’t even notice that he had crept back to my side. Next thing I knew, his arms were around my waist for a moment before my body blasted through the surface of the pool water. I came up sputtering. Again.
“Oh, you’re asking for it now!” I shouted to Gage, who stood smugly on the edge of the pool, hands on his hips. Annie rammed a shoulder into his back, and Gage was soon submerged next to me. He came up grinning. He put up his arm and one of his friends tossed him a water gun, which he caught easily.
“Water fight!” Gage called gleefully.
Soon, every kid at the party had a water gun or bucket, splashing and tossing water at everyone else. Even Annie joined in. She ran to the side of the house and turned on the garden hose, aiming it at Gage and laughing.
I made my way to her through the crowd of kids and water.
“This is the best birthday ever!” she squealed in my ear above the chaos.
I grinned back at her. It was a great day, one I would always remember. It was the day I fell in love with my best friend’s twin brother.
Chapter four
Olivia
WhenLindastepsbackinto the room, she hands me a packet of papers and asks Brynn to give me a tour of camp on the golf cart. Thank the Lord she doesn’t ask Gage to take me.
Why is Gage here?
I ask Brynn to give me a minute before the tour, escaping outside ahead of her. I glance around before I scurry behind the camp office building with my phone.
I call Annie, and as soon as she answers, I hiss, “Anaya Gwendolyn Carter. What did you do?”
I was blindsided, seeing Gage here at Camp Prairie Star. With no time to prepare before seeing him, hearing his voice, it was like the air was sucked out of my lungs. I’m lucky I didn’t pass out.
He looks good, though. Too good with his hat on backward and those gym shorts that show off his muscular legs. Gage played baseball all through high school and college, and I always appreciated how all that conditioning honed him into the perfect eye candy.Look but don’t touch.
Annie’s words yesterday about “keeping an open mind” about anything “unexpected” that might happen this summer all of a sudden make sense.
“What do you mean?” she asks, a cautious note to her voice.
“Oh, you know exactly what I mean!” The volume of my voice rises, but I catch myself and return to a stage whisper so that no one overhears the conversation. “You’re supposed to use your plotting skills for your novels, not for my life.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line. “Would you believe it’s a coincidence?”
I laugh wryly. “Not for a second.”
