Rhodes blushed and shrugged. “I just thought maybe—if you want to—we could, I don’t know, do something sometime.”

“Something sometime?” said Caddie. “Could you be more specific?”

Rhodes rocked on the balls of his feet. Caddie enjoyed seeing him so flustered, but she found she also wanted to help him out. “A movie,” she suggested. “Dinner. A walk on the beach. Pick one.”

“Dinner,” Rhodes said quickly. “Then the beach. Or whatever,” he added.

Caddie nodded. “Okay,” she said.

Rhodes stopped rocking. “Okay?” he said doubtfully. “As in—”

“As in I’ll go,” said Caddie. “Now, I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

She left him standing there, looking after her as she walked away. She could practically feel the excitement radiating from him, but she refused to turn around. It’s more fun this way, she thought, pushing open the building’s front door.

She couldn’t believe she had just agreed to go out with Rhodes. He was nothing like the guys she usually went for. If anything, he was the exact opposite. Which was why, she realized, she had said yes. Maybe he’ll do you some good for once, she told herself.

She had other plans, too. For one thing, she was going to call Nicole, like she’d promised she would. She liked her, and it was time for her to have friends. Real friends. Not just people who made it easy for her to not care about anything. That was too easy, and she was tired of not caring.

She walked to the Volvo, reclaimed from the Monastery parking lot that morning, and opened the passenger door to set the papers down. As she was closing the door she saw Brian walking toward her. Seeing her watching him, he grinned and waved.

“What’s up?” he asked when he reached her.

“Not much,” she answered.

“Your dad okay?

She nodded. Brian nodded back. Neither said anything.

“Look—” Brian said finally.

“No,” Caddie interrupted, “you look. My father almost died yesterday because you fucked up.”

Brian stared at her for a moment. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t blame me. You’re the one who freaked out, and no one told your dad to go chasing after you. He did that all on his own.”

“Yeah, he did,” Caddie agreed. “He came after me, even though he didn’t have to. Because I was scared and panicked. And where were you, Brian? Looking at a fucking fish.”

“I didn’t know you were in trouble,” Brian said, shaking his head.

“Did you know I only had half a tank of air?” Caddie asked. “Because I sure as hell didn’t. And, yeah, I should have been smart enough to check it. But I trusted you.” She shook her head. “That was my biggest mistake.”

“Whatever,” said Brian. “You’re fine, aren’t you?”