Charlie forced herself not to get up from her chair, stared at that same page of Tess for another twenty minutes before allowing herself to text back a b rite there so as to avoid seeming overeager. As she ran upstairs to change into her bikini, ready herself for the beach, she thought about Alice, wished she could take her sister with her. But Alice hadn’t come back from town with Richard, which meant she was probably planning on mooning around the bookstore for the rest of the afternoon. And besides, Charlie was officially still mad at her. She planned to punish her for at least another day or two. The thing about Alice was that while she often acted as if she was socially oblivious, she wasn’t. On the contrary, she was extremely sharp about people and situations. Her instincts were excellent. And right now, Charlie could use some of that sharpness and some of those instincts. She wanted to ask Alice whether or not she thought Jude and Cybill were hooking up. So far she hadn’t had the guts. It was like she didn’t want to know for sure, and if Alice gave her opinion, she’d know. (Okay, not know know, but pretty much know.) Now, it was no longer a matter of wanting or not wanting. It was no longer a matter of choice.

She needed to know.

Well, Charlie thought with a sigh, her needs would just have to hold their horses until Alice came back. She tossed her book, sunglasses, and iPhone into her beach bag, left a sundress and pair of capri pants out on the bed for Fernanda to take to the dry cleaners, then ran downstairs and out the door.

• • •

Cybill and Jude were at their usual spot on the club’s private beach. “Charlieeeee,” Cybill said in that way of hers, talking through her teeth as though she were too rich or too bored to actually open her mouth. She and Jude looked a little hungover maybe, wincing at the brightness of the sun and slightly puffy around the eyes, but otherwise normal. In fact, the whole afternoon Charlie spent with them was normal—tomato juice, vodka, Korres Walnut & Coconut Suntan Oil—except that she didn’t react to it in her normal way. For the first time, she didn’t have fun with them. It was like she was too annoyed to have a good time. And it wasn’t Jude who was annoying her—it was Cybill.