Page 91 of Sing For Me

“Sounds exciting,” I deadpan, and he laughs.

“We’re a pretty competitive bunch.”

“I’ve noticed. Your mother laughed in my face when I folded at poker last night.”

“Will!” Silas hollers.

“Get your ass down here, kid!” Reed calls.

“Go on.” I wave a hand towards the lawn. “Don’t want to be responsible for Can Jam related riots.”

He gives me that half smile that always gets my heart racing. “Be right back.”

I smile as I watch him go—then realize that Rose, Fox, Alex, and Everly are all staring at me again.

“Sorry,” Everly says when she sees they’ve been caught. “We’re just happy for him.”

I know my face is red so I hide it behind my beer can. I’m saved from having to come up with a response to that by the reappearance of River.

“She had me carry fifty friggin pounds of ice upstairs,” he mutters. “Dad and Uncle Lennon were just sitting there.”

“Poor baby,” Alex says, patting his arm.

“Where’d Will go?”

“Can Jam disagreement,” Rose says and he perks up.

“Yeah? Who’s winning?”

“Hell if I can keep track. Go check it out yourself.”

“Nah,” he collapses on one of the chairs under a large patio umbrella. “Too sunny down there.”

“You’re such a baby,” Alex says.

“Excuse me, we aren’t all blessed with your golden complexion, Alexandria. Some of us were born pale.”

“Then put on sunscreen,” she suggests, flipping a page in her magazine. “Or, better yet, why don’t you go swimming if you’re so hot?”

River looks over at Everly, Rose, and Fox. “What do you think?”

“Ooh, yes,” Everly says happily. “Let’s all go.” She grabs my arm. “You haven’t been to the creek yet, have you?”

“I’m not sure what Will wanted to do this afternoon,” I mumble, eyes darting over to the lawn as my stomach sinks. Will and I had talked about this, the possibility of swimming with his family. I’d even gone out to buy a new suit with more coverage.

But having planned for it doesn’t make it any easier to actually do.

Alex must hear the unease in my voice. “It’s really fun,” she assures me. “We can bring some drinks down and sit in tubes and let the current do all the work.”

When I don’t respond right away, Everly leans closer. “Do you not know how to swim?” she asks in an undertone. “Because we can totally bring life jackets. No one will judge you.”

There’s not one hint of disingenuousness on her face. She won’t judge me—not for an inability to swim and not for my scar.

“Hey,” CeCe calls from the sliding glass door, interrupting my internal monologue. She steps out onto the deck, a bunch of those plastic tubes of popsicles clutched in her hand. “Mom said to see who wants ice-pops.” She hands them out to her cousins then approaches me, a broad smile on her face. “I remember you liked the blue raspberry ones yesterday so I saved you one.”

My throat catches with sudden emotion. Whatever I said to them during their lecture that first day must have convinced Will’s siblings that I’m not here to hurt their brother, because both CeCe and Silas have been going out of their way to be nice to me.

These are decent people,I remind myself. They would have to be, for Will to love them all so much.