Needing to cool off, I sit up and make my way over to the water. Paige follows, and we perch on the edge of the pool and let our legs hang down while splashing water up and down our arms. It’s only mid-May, but the high today is ninety-two. I’m glad my parents were home a few weeks ago to get the pool opened up for the season.

Travis pops his head out of the water inches from where we sit.

“Hey ladies.” He grins, raising his eyebrows behind his aviators—yes, he’s still wearing them, even underwater. He’s somehow trying way too hard, and also not hard enough.

“Can I take you to a party next weekend, Maddie girl?”

I inwardly cringe at the nickname. Only my brother’s allowed to call me that. The faking it lesson applies here, too. I should have never let him get away with it once, because now it’s too late to course correct.

“That depends,” I hedge. “Are Paige and Kyle going?”

Travis spins around to call out to his buddy. “Yo. Ky! We’re taking the girls to that party at Adley’s house on Saturday night. Cool?”

Kyle grunts something that sounds like agreement, and Paige squeezes my arm appreciatively. Travis gives me an obnoxiously unsubtle up and down and swims a few inches closer, then grips both my knees and uses them as leverage to raise himself out of the water until we’re eye to eye.

“Looks like it’s a date,” he whispers in what I’m sure he thinks is an attempt at being sexy. I muster up a half smile before shaking him off, standing up, and heading to the sunroom for a drink.

Well, it looks like I’m going to a party.

“Maddie! Wait!” Paige calls as I make my way across the backyard. “We need to go shopping!”

I wonder if my sister-in-law has any job openings at her non-profit. Apparently, I’m exceptionally good at charity work.

9. Maddie

Chapter 9

Maddie

I get out of the shower with five minutes to spare before our Sunday night Wheeler family Zoom call. Why we have to sit awkwardly in front of our computers like we’re in a board meeting once a week is beyond me. We have a family group chat. I text my brother almost every day. I talk to my mom on the phone multiple times a week.

But alas. Family Zoom calls started at the beginning of my sophomore year at Berkeley, and they’ve been going strong ever since.

I grab a hairbrush and work through my tangles as the call connects on my end. Rhett’s already logged in, because of course he is. I do the awkward Zoom wave when he and Tori pop up at the top of my screen.