Page 42 of Back to Square One

Twenty minutes later, hair still wet and in a braid down her back, Rowan headed downstairs to breakfast.

“Morning, sunshine,” Justine said from her usual spot at the stove in the kitchen. She was manning a large frying pan that had four pancakes browning in it. “Hungry?”

“Starving.” Rowan helped herself to a cup of coffee from the pot and gazed out the back door. She could see the boat was gone. “Who went fishing this morning?”

“Lizzie, Stevie, Sara, and Evie.” She flipped a pancake. “Claire went for a walk. Becca and Jazzy took the canoe out.”

Rowan let go of a small sigh. “Last one up again, huh?”

“Hey.” She turned to meet Justine’s soft brown eyes. “You are on vacation. Vacation is for resting and relaxing. If you’re sleeping a lot, it’s because your body needs it. Don’t get mad about that.”

Rowan smiled sadly. “You’re right.” She gave Justine a squeeze. “Um, if everybody’s gone, who are you cooking for?”

“You and me. Duh. Get the plates out, would you?”

A few minutes later, the two of them took their plates out to the deck and sat in lounge chairs next to each other. It was fairly quiet, only faint sounds of neighbors or folks on the water drifting toward them on the breeze now and then, and the sounds of their forks against their plates.

“Can I ask you something?” Rowan’s question was soft, almost like her brain didn’t want to give voice to it.

“Always,” Justine said, turning to look at her face.

“What was it like after…” She cleared her throat and swallowed. “After Evie and I split?”

Justine took in a long breath, as if taking a moment to find the right words. “I sometimes forget that you don’t remember.” She wet her lips. “It was hard. Sad. We were all heartbroken for you because—” She seemed to catch herself before she said something she thought maybe she shouldn’t.

“No, it’s okay. Tell me.”

Justine’s gaze shifted so she was gazing out at the water. “You guys just seemed like the best of us, you know? You were so good together. I know Evie breaking up with you came out of nowhere for you, and this is gonna sound weird, maybe, but it came out of nowhere for us, too. We were all stunned.”

Okay, that was news to Rowan. “Stevie never told me that.”

“I mean, you kind of disappeared from the group after that, and I think she wanted to keep from losing you completely, so she stayed quiet about it.” Justine was clearly trying to sound like she was hypothesizing, but Rowan knew her well enough to know that was exactly what had happened, and she felt a new sense of guilt around her friendship with Stevie. She’d have to talk with her at some point about it. “We missed you, you know.” Justine set her plate in her lap and reached a hand over to grasp one of Rowan’s. “We understood, but we missed you. Summer at the lake wasn’t the same without you, and I’m really, really glad you came this year. I know Lizzie is, too.” She squeezed.

“So am I,” Rowan said.

“And we had no idea Claire was bringing Evie, I swear to you. I never would’ve let you be blindsided like that. It was a surprise to all of us, believe me.”

She did believe her.

“Are you okay?”

Rowan nodded once and moved her focus to the lake. “Yeah, I am. I had…kind of a weird night is all.” She debated for a moment before she told Justine everything that had happened, from the fight between Claire and Evie to Evie going into her room to them sharing the bed all night.

Justine digested all of it for a few minutes, Rowan could almost hear the gears in her brain working through it all. “I honestly don’t know what the deal is with those two,” she finally said. “Liz and I have been talking about it since they got here.”

“I wondered if they’re together now.” The words hurt, but Rowan had reached a point where she felt like she needed to know.

“So have we, but I don’t think they are.”

“No? Why not?”

“I mean, I’ve seen Evie in a relationship, and I’ve seen Claire in one as well, and neither of them act the way they’re acting now when they’re in love.” She glanced quickly at Rowan. “Sorry.”

Rowan shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s just all…weird.”

“Agreed.”

They sat quietly for another moment, each clearly lost in her own thoughts and theories. Eventually, the sound of a softly chugging motor became apparent.