Annie’s body stiffens, and I get why even before Trisha hangs her UT lanyard on the hook by thedoor.
But before I can speak, Annie’s out the door and across the patio, the hair that was in my fingers moments ago clinging to her back in wetwaves.
“What the…? Did you spring a leak?” Trisha frowns at the puddle of water on thefloor.
It’s going to be a fucked-upnight.
I never used to dream, but since Annie Jamieson spent the night in my bed—since I tugged my favorite T-shirt over her red bathing suit and felt her curl into me as if I was the answer to her problems instead of the cause ofthem…
I can't stop dreaming ofmermaids.
6
“You seethe car out front last night?” I ask my dad over coffee Tuesday morning beforeschool.
“Friend ofTyler’s.”
I cut him a look. “And you don’tmind?”
“I mind that he went and screwed hishand.”
Haley comes into the kitchen dressed in jeans, a tank top, and a tidy ponytail, Sophie on herhip.
I find a smile for my half sister until my dad asks, “You see much of Tylerlately?”
I swallow my coffee the wrongway.
It was easier to keep him at a distance before I learned Tyler hit Kellan. Before he untangled my hair as if it was hisjob.
Oh yeah, and before I walked in on himnaked.
Tyler Adams is hot. The well-tailored prep school clothes don’t do himjustice.
The boy I grew up with is a man, imposing and beautiful and dangerous. Anyone who’s ever made the mistake of thinking Tyler Adams is all brooding prettiness with nothing to back it up needs to thinkagain.
Would he evenfit?
Some part of me is desperate to know the answer, but I’m sure as hell not about to askhim.
I’d gone to the pool house already upset about rehearsal and left even moreconfused.
It wasn’t seeing all of him that threw me, it was the shock on his face when I told him what I’d heard back inJanuary.
That single expression has me wondering if I’m missing something that would explain why Tyler’s been so secretive allyear.
I thought he might’ve been about to open up to me until that girl showed up and every spark of hope in my chestextinguished.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” my dad asks as I jump out of mychair.
“I was working on some things for rehearsal last night.” I grab a piece of bread and drop it in the toaster. I check the clock and, on second thought, take the bread back out. “Uncle Ryan gave me some trade secrets, and I kind of missed doing my calculushomework.”
Dad slings an elbow over the back of his chair. “Rehearsal doesn’t take precedence overhomework.”
I pat my father on the cheek. “Tell it to your Grammys,Dad.”
For good measure, I tap Sophie, now in her high chair, on the nose. “Can you say Grammys? Gram-mys.” She gurgles and beams, which is the most positive response I’ve gotten from the universe all week. “Make good choices,” I tell her before turning for thedoor.
Three hours later in second period, I’m cursing calculus, wishing for the life of me Pen washere.