“Okay, don’t change.” Sydney took a pink canvas sun hat out of her bag and put it on Claire’s head. “Perfect. Let’s go.”

She dragged Claire out of the house. Henry took Claire’s addition to their party gracefully. Sydney said that they were just friends, but Claire wasn’t sure if Henry felt the same way. There were times when he looked at her sister and his whole body seemed to go transparent, losing himself in her.

He had it bad.

Claire and Bay had climbed into the backseat of the king cab and Sydney was about to lift herself into the front seat when Claire heard her sister call, “Hi, Tyler!”

Claire immediately turned in her seat to see Tyler getting out of his Jeep in front of his house. He was wearing cargo shorts and a crazy Hawaiian shirt. This was the first time since the garden that she’d seen him, and her breath caught. How did people act after something like that? How on earth did people live and function after intimacy? It was like telling a secret to someone, then immediately regretting that they knew. The thought of actually talking to him now made her face chili-pepper hot.

“We’re going to the reservoir for a picnic; want to come?” Sydney asked him.

“Sydney, what are you doing?” Claire demanded, and Henry looked at her in the rearview mirror curiously. She felt a little ashamed that he could be so gracious about inviting people along and she couldn’t.

“I’m teaching you to swim,” Sydney answered cryptically.

“I have a night class tonight,” Tyler called.

“We’ll be back in time.”

“Then sure. I’m in,” Tyler said, and walked toward them.

When Claire saw that Sydney was going to open the back door, she nearly hurt herself climbing over Bay so Bay would be in the middle, a kiddie buffer between her and Tyler. But she felt ridiculous when Tyler started to climb in and saw her.

“Claire!” he said, stopping short. “I didn’t know you were going too.”

When she finally got the nerve to meet his eyes, she didn’t find anything hidden there, no telltale sign that he was thinking of her secret. He was just Tyler. Should that be a relief, or should that make her more worried?

As soon as they were off, Tyler asked Claire, “So what’s this reservoir?”