It was also pretty magical that their parents agreed to the trip. Willa wanted to believe it was because the Force was strong in Finley, but the truth was that they were the kind of girls who didn’t give their parents reasons not to trust them. And because they’d never be so far out of cell phone range that they couldn’t call home in an emergency.

“Why did you change your mind?” Taylor demands now.

“I thought you might need my help,” Willa says, earning a sharp glare. Sometimes talking to Taylor is like stepping on gum. They’re not even two minutes into summer and Taylor’s hackles are already up. Two months is going to feel like an eternity if Willa has to measure the weight of every single word. “I just mean—you were right. We have to do what Finley wanted. So I’m all in.”

Taylor’s stance softens, and she nods her approval.

“I, um—” Willa moves toward the steps to go fetch the rest of her gear, but the boat sways again and Taylor’s mom crowds into the small cabin. She beams at Willa, and the exclamation marks are practically visible in the air as she says, “Willa! Thank goodness you’re here! You girls are going to have such a wonderful summer!”

Mrs. Nicholson is one of those unflaggingly cheerful sorts, who always sees the glass half full. She still believes Taylor and Willa are the best of friends, even though that hasn’t been technically true since the summer before high school, when Finley chose Willa—instead of Taylor—to be her crew on the junior race team. Taylor was convinced Willa had poisoned Finley against her. Rather than talking it out, Taylor quit the sailing team and stopped hanging out with Willa unless Finley was there as a buffer between them.

“It’s going to be great.” Willa puts more conviction into her words than she actually feels. She steals a glance at Taylor, and what passes between them is an unspoken if we don’t kill each other first.

Taylor

TAYLOR HAS BEEN AROUND SAILBOATS her entire life. Her granddad was the commodore of the sailing club back in the 1970s, and her parents have always owned a boat. According to family legend, her mom and dad went out for a sail on the day her oldest brother, Carter, was born, and her mom almost had to give birth in the middle of Sandusky Bay. The tale has gotten taller with time and telling—her mom didn’t actually almost give birth on a boat—but sailing is definitely in Carter’s blood. H2O-positive. His dream is to sail with Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup, and it constantly gets under his skin that Cam’s trophies and awards—Campbell won so, so many of them as a junior sailor—are collecting dust in the attic.