Nick.

“You’re really going to blackmail me into a makeover?” I asked, refusing to give life to any of my other thoughts.

“You really let me go on for weeks thinking we were sisters?” Campbell retorted, then she flashed me a sharp-edged smile. “The conditioner will minimize frizz when you’re out on the water, which in this humidity with that hair is a must. And you’ll need clothes for tonight. I’m assuming you and Lily received one of these as well?”

She reached into a nearby cabinet and brandished a matte black box, long and thin and flat, with a card affixed to the front and Campbell’s name embossed on the card.

The White Gloves.

“We can hardly rely on Lily to get you ready for your real debut in society,” Campbell said. I opened my mouth to reply, but she put a finger to my lips to hush me. “Things work differently at the lake. Lake formal basically translates to ‘you cannot wear a bathing suit.’ Semiformal means that you have to wear some kind of sundress over your suit. In either case, your makeup has to pass the boat test: if you can’t wear it on the water, you don’t wear it at all.”

“So you’re going to this White Glove shindig?” I asked when she finally stopped talking.

She shrugged. “Who am I to turn down a pity invite?” It was unlike Cam to admit to even the slightest bit of weakness. She was the kind of person who could come in last in a race and convince every person there that she’d won. “At this point in my exile, I will gladly let people gawk at the pitiable, scandalous Ames family to their hearts’ content, so long as they offer me some form of diversion as they gawk.”

“What kind of diversion are you expecting tonight?” I asked.

Campbell smirked and gestured to the shower. “You strip,” she said, “and I’ll talk.”

I made the executive decision to undress in the shower. I’d shed my swimsuit and started in on washing my hair when Campbell deigned to hold up her end of the bargain.

“Think of the White Gloves like the Junior League—by way of Skull and Bones. They tend to recruit from the debutante sets in a three-state area, but the initiation process is notoriously risky and risqué. A total adrenaline rush, from what I’ve heard.” Campbell paused for a few seconds. “Anyone can be born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but not every country-club girl is White Glove material.”

Lily had been excited to receive an invitation. As I stepped under the spray and rinsed the shampoo—and the lake—from my hair, I had the distinct sense that Campbell was relieved.

She needed this.