Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Caroline’s head tilted as her gaze bounced like a ball between Allie and me. “That’s . . . annoyingly relatable. And admirable.”
“Because you’re determined not to like her?” I took my hat off and set it next to Allie’s, then started on my shoes.
“I know she’s not her sister.” Caroline’s mouth pursed. “But there’s just something about her—about that whole family—that sends warning signals screaming through my brain. They’ve always used their money, their influence, to further themselves. Screw whoever got stepped on.”
“Because her mother cut your best friend from your ballet class?” I set my shoes and socks on the blanket. “And yes, I know about that. It’s kind of fucked up that you got to take ballet and you won’t let Juniper.”
“Taking those classes is one of the reasons I won’t let her,” Caroline argued. “It was two years, and the girls were mean. The teachers were mean. You heard Allie. There’s an impossible standard of perfection that always leaves you feeling like you’ll never measure up. You think I don’t see the circles beneath Allie’s eyes?”
I couldn’t fight her on that last observation. “But you think she’s admirable, so we’re getting somewhere.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “I think what she did was admirable, but the Rousseau girls always stick together, so I’m not surprised.” Concern puckered her forehead. “I’m still worried she’ll break your heart when she leaves, just like the first time.”
“That’s not what happened.” I stripped off my shirt and stood, watching Allie shake her head at Gavin as he gestured to the rope swing.
“I was there,” Caroline countered, stretching her legs over the blanket. “I didn’t know why you were crushed and silent before you left for basic, but now it makes sense. I remember the devastation on your face, and the emptiness in your eyes. You wouldn’t talk to me—to anyone—and Gavin told me not to poke.” Her tone sharpened. “So don’t tell me she didn’t break your heart. I saw the truth with my own eyes.”
“You saw your truth.” I pivoted to look down at my big sister. “But mine? I left her. I broke her. She was in the hospital, for fuck’s sake, looking at months of rehabilitation. Her sister died, and I didn’t show up for her. She woke up and I was gone. I was the prick and broke my own heart. Not Allie.”
“You wouldn’t do that.” Caroline’s jaw dropped, and she looked at me like I’d suddenly become a stranger. “You save people, Hudson. You don’t leave them.”
“But I did.” If she knew that I was constantly lying to her, she wouldn’t be so certain about my character. I was currently the hero in Juniper’s story, but I’d be the villain in Caroline’s once she learned that particular truth. I crouched to look her in the eye. “Truth always differs depending on who’s telling the story, and in complicated situations, there are countless variations. But when it comes to that summer, in every single variant, I’m the asshole who wasn’t strong enough to hold on to her.”
A splash sounded in the lake behind me, and the kids cheered Gavin’s name.
“Why would you . . .” She shook her head.
“I was a selfish fuck who cared more about what I wanted than what she needed.” My chest constricted like a vise. “I’m the one who has to earn her back, not the other way around, and it would really help if you could just lay off and be one less obstacle to overcome, because she’s it for me, Caroline. This summer might be all I have with her, but she’s it.”
Caroline blinked in surprise, then glanced at Allie. “Okay,” she said slowly, then nodded at me. “Okay.”
“Thank you.” Relief lifted at least a hundred pounds off my back.
I walked down to the shore as Juniper went flying off the swing, then came up with a shout of victory as Gavin treaded water nearby.
“We’re up after Melody,” I told Allie when I reached her side.
“Very funny.” She watched, completely rapt as Mel caught the rope and started dragging it up the slope.
I knew that look. She’d worn it the night I met her at the bar with Gavin’s motorcycle. My girl wanted to swing and thought she shouldn’t.
“I’m dead serious.”
Allie snorted. “No way. I think Gavin flew fifteen feet through the air on his last jump. If I come down wrong . . .”
“It’s water, not concrete. Your mom isn’t here, Allie. You can have a little fun. It’ll be good for you.” I watched the expressions change on her face, her brow furrowing at first, then rising slightly as she pressed her lips between her teeth and tilted her head to the side. “The lake’s a good twenty feet deep around there. It’s safe.”
She side-eyed me. “It’s a God-only-knows-how-old rope tied to a God-only-knows-how-healthy tree that can bear God-only-knows how much weight, into—” She sucked in a breath as Mel hopped onto the seat and swung down and out, letting go at the perfect time to fall into the lake, squealing until she hit the water.