“No. My whole body hurts. I’m not sure why—she didn’t have that much stuff. I just want to grab some takeout and crash at the hotel. Maybe hit the hot tub.” He had made sure the hotel he booked had a pool.

“Perfect.” As she pulled up in front of the hotel, she said, “You get checked in, and I’ll go in search of provisions and be back soon.”

He started to protest, reflexively—she should go to the room and crash and he should go find food—but she pointed at the passenger-side door before he could marshal the words. “Go.”

So he decided to just let her take care of him.

When she returned with heavenly-smelling Thai food, he wanted to kiss her. Well, he always wanted to kiss her. But he extra wanted to kiss her. He’d changed into swim trunks, so she went into the bathroom and changed, too. They bolted back some curry and a spring roll each and hit the hot tub.

Forty minutes later his skin had turned pruney and he felt considerably better. He heaved a sigh. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Do you think Clara and Lynn…”

She grinned. “You’re going to have to learn to talk about it, Sawyer.”

“Do you think they’re a couple? Or might become one? I mean, I’m cool with the whole gay thing. I am. I’m not cool with the whole sex thing. I wouldn’t let her room with a boy.”

“Okay, one, you can’t control what Clara does. There’s no ‘letting’ or ‘not letting’ anymore. She’s gonna do what she’s gonna do. All you can do is trust that you did a good job. And you did.” She patted him on the arm. “And two, Lynn is straight.”

“How do you know that?”

“Clara told me.”

God, he was glad Clara had had Evie to talk to this year. “Does Lynn know Clara’s gay?” Because if Lynn wasn’t going to be cool with it, that was going to be a problem. And he didn’t care how much control he was or wasn’t supposed to be exerting, he was going to make it his problem.

“She does, and she’s fine with it. They’re friends, Sawyer. They’re leaning on each other as they make this big transition. It’s all good.”

Right. “Okay.”

She huffed a laugh. “Look at you. You went from hating Lynn because she might be deflowering your sister to hating Lynn because she might be disapproving of your sister.”

“So?”

“You’re cute.”

“I am not cute.”

“Yes you are.” She splashed him. He rolled his eyes. He was too tired to splash back. But she had him smiling.

“Time for dinner part two?” she asked. “And maybe some trashy TV?”

That sounded great. “Yeah.”