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Shielding my eyes from a sun flare, I watched her zigzag toward me, a cloud of sand kicking up at her heels. “You look like you’re having fun,” I said as she approached.
Tara snagged a Coke from the cooler and plopped down beside me. “Unlike you.” Her eyes narrowed. “What’s up? You’re sitting by yourself in the land of the lonesome.”
“It’s the land of the loungey,” I corrected, loath to admit my self-inflicted misery. “I’m just waiting for Scotty.”
“Dad should be here soon to drop off presents.”
I tensed up as a shot of anxiety stabbed me in the gut. “I didn’t realize he was coming.”
“He’s not staying.” Her shoulder lifted before a new thought stole her expression. “Oh! Mom told me you and Scotty finally…you know.”
I froze.
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Details, Hals. Tell me everything.”
Mortification competed with my slow-blooming sunburn, flooding my skin in itchy heat. “She told you that?”
“Duh. We tell each other everything.” Tara leaned back on one hand and sipped her pop. “She got you a prescription for the whoopsie pill and then put you on the patch. Smart. I can’t imagine a little Halley running around.” She squinted her eyes at the sun, deep in thought. “I mean, I can, and she’d be adorable as crap, but you’ve got dreams to live out first, you know?”
Oh, my God.
I fell backward in the sand and draped an arm over my eyes. “I can’t believe she told you about my sex life.” My sex life made of lies, no less.
She followed, dropping beside me. Our hair blended together, gold and chestnut. “It’s not a big deal. Josh and I are doing it. Mom got me on the patch a while ago.” Her face changed when she glanced at me. “I think Scotty will be good for you. I never understood your interest in older men. They’re nothing but trouble.”
My heartbeats accelerated. “How so?”
“Just trust me.”
Looking away, I fiddled with the string on my bikini bottoms. “I don’t know. I feel weird that you know about that. It’s personal.”
“Not in our household.” She wrinkled her nose with teasing. “The Stephens family is an open book. And you’re basically one of us.”
I wasn’t one of them.
I was the traitor, the turncoat, the Judas.
“Hey, speaking of dreams, what are your thoughts on getting an apartment together?”
“What?”
“Josh offered, but I’d rather live with you. Chicks before dicks.” Giggling, she canted her head toward me. “I can’t imagine starting college and moving on without you.”
I met her gaze across the sand. “I have some money saved up from the animal hospital, but not enough for monthly rent. Can you afford your own place?”
“Mom’s been helping me save. I was thinking we could get a two-bedroom. You and I can share a room, and someone else can take the other one. Between the three of us, I think we’d be fine.”
I nodded, contemplating the offer.
Tara was going to community college, which didn’t have dorms. I figured she’d be living at home until she secured a full-time job in her line of work.
As for me…well, I had no idea what I was doing with my life. Scotty was heading to South Carolina in the fall, after Reed had offered him an opportunity to teach self-defense courses at his east-coast studio under the assistance of his old friend. He would be getting an apartment while he saved up for a more permanent place.
The twist?
Scotty had suggested I go with him. He said he wouldn’t charge me rent until I was on my feet.
The offer was tempting.