“I gotta go,” I say, and I hear my father start to say something, but my finger is already ending the call.

My legs feel funny, and I slump against the giant tree. It’s hot today. And I’m sweating.

My mother was having an affair with Brody Culver.

Her best friend’s husband.

I jump when I hear the van horn honk. It can’t be noon already, but I check my phone, and it is. I cram my script and my mother’s notebook back into my bag and hurry across the lawn to where Jude has the van parked in front of the big yellow farmhouse.

Lex is already in the passenger seat next to Jude, and he gives me a worried look when I climb in. I flash my biggest smile, though, to prove that I’m okay. Because he deserves to enjoy his day off. Without worrying about me.

Val is in the middle seat. She has her backpack and sweater spread out, so the only real spot for me is in the back. Next to Cole. Val gives me a not-at-all-subtle wink, and I know things have been arranged that way on purpose.

I think about last night. Cole’s breath on my skin. The way his fingers tangled in my hair.

“Hey,” he says as I slide in beside him. Then he drops his voice to a whisper. “You get any sleep?” I’m looking out the window, but I feel his hand on my thigh. The press of skin on skin.

My stomach knots up. This is who we are now. We’re two people who touch each other. Like this. And that seems so strange. But also so absolutely right.

It feels like it was inevitable.

“Yeah,” I say.

I should tell him about what happened before he came to sit vigil on the front steps. But I don’t, because I’m still not sure what that was.

How did I end up behind the scene shop, when I had just stepped off the cabin porch?

And I should tell him about what I just read in my mother’s notebook. About B. C.

But I can’t. How do I say that I’ve just discovered my mother was having an affair with his dad?

I push all that away. Because I just need a break from everything this afternoon. A little bit of seafood and sunshine.

Something normal.

We’re making our way down the long, winding driveway now, heading toward the main road. It’s hard to believe it was just one week ago today that I first laid eyes on Whisper Cove, that evening Jude picked me up at the train station. It feels like I’ve been here forever.

George is putting up a sign at the main entrance. midnight music, it says. july 18, 7:00 p.m. tickets on sale now!

Our show. Starring me as Eden. Just three weeks away.