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Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for Abbi Waxman and her novels
  3. Berkley Titles by Abbi Waxman
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Summer
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. Fall
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  55. Readers Guide
  56. Questions for Discussion
  57. About the Author
  58. What’s next onyour reading list?

She nodded. “I do, yes, but here’s the thing.” She sighed. “I’m happy that you like me, right now, but I have to tell you the truth. I don’t even know who I am. I started drinking when I was pretty young, and doing everything I used to do drunk, while sober, is a surprising challenge. I haven’t gone dancing—what if I can’t dance? I haven’t gone bowling—what if I can’t bowl?” She looked at him, and Asher was surprised to see the beginnings of tears in her eyes. “I was lots of fun, everyone used to say so, and what if I’m no fun anymore? What if I’m not the same Polly everybody used to love?”

“Well,” said Asher, “I don’t know the other Polly, so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but the Polly I know is hilarious and wonderful and about fifteen percent terrifying, so I’m not sure I could have handled the old Polly.”

“Oh,” said Polly. There was a long pause. “Well, if you’re willing to wait, my sobriety date is January the fourteenth.”

“So, dinner on the fifteenth then?” Asher pulled out his phone and put it in his calendar. “I can wait, as long as we can hang out in the meantime.”

She nodded, looking worried.

“What’s the matter?” he asked gently.

Suddenly she stretched up on tiptoe and kissed him thoroughly. Then she stepped back, looking much relieved.

“I needed to check the kissing part still worked,” she said. “I hadn’t done that sober, either.”

Asher’s face was very flushed, and he cleared his throat a little before speaking.

“That part seems to work very well,” he said. “Thanks for checking.”

Polly grinned. “You’re welcome,” she said. “I’m going now.”

Then she turned and walked away. As Asher watched, she leapt in the air and clicked her heels together. Then she kept walking, not even turning around to see his reaction.

He smiled. Things might be weird with Polly, but they were never going to be boring.

THIRTY-NINE

Meanwhile, back inside the house, Laura and Bob—still oblivious to the rolling eyes of everyone in the kitchen—headed into Bob’s room to watch a game and eat candy. It had started over the summer, and now it was a habit, and not simply because of the playoffs.