Page 43 of Back to Square One

“Is that them?” Rowan asked, pointing at a boat seemingly heading toward their dock.

“Yup.” Justine pushed to her feet. “Better get some more pancakes going.” She reached out for Rowan’s plate but remained standing there, looking down at her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Rowan let out a sigh and then nodded. “I am. Just trying to find my footing is all.” She gave Justine a smile. Her friend had been honest with her, if not totally helpful, and it meant a lot. “I’ll help you with breakfast.”

Not long after that, the boaters trooped into the house, laughter and conversation coming with them like a cloud floating above them. Evie caught Rowan’s eye and gave her a soft smile but stayed on the other side of the room. Stevie bumped her way between Rowan and Justine to the sink to wash her hands.

“What did we catch today?” Rowan asked.

“Three trout, a sunfish, two perch, and a fishing net.”

“That thing’s in good shape,” Lizzie piped up. “I bet somebody accidentally dropped it off their boat and was pissed about it.”

“Mine now,” Stevie said with a grin. “God, I’m starving.” She dropped a kiss on Justine’s head as she walked by. “Your pancakes are the best in all the land.”

“High praise,” Justine said with a laugh.

“Truth,” Stevie countered. Meanwhile, Sara had gotten more plates out and was setting the table. Rowan stood against the counter, having refilled her coffee, and watched her friends buzz around the house, working together like the proverbial well-oiled machine, getting breakfast ready to share. It warmed something inside her as she replayed Justine’s voice in her head.

I’m really, really glad you came this year.

She hadn’t been lying when she’d told Justine that she was glad, too. She was. She’d missed her crew more than she’d realized. But it hadn’t been easy with Evie there, and maybe that was okay. Maybe this was stuff that needed to be sorted out, who knew?

So, she stood, and she sipped, and she smiled.

Chapter Ten

“Who’s up for paddleboarding?” Stevie asked, after everybody’d had their fill of pancakes, coffee, juice, and whatever else there’d been for breakfast.

Hands shot up amongst a chorus of “me,” mainly Rowan, Sara, Justine, and Evie.

“I’m taking the boat out again,” Lizzie said, and Claire immediately asked if she could go as well. She didn’t look at Evie, and Evie didn’t look at her, and Rowan thought, well, I guess that answers the question of whether they’re still fighting.

“And we’re gonna have some alone time,” Becca said, then waggled her eyebrows lasciviously at Jasmine, who rolled her eyes with a laugh.

“Subtlety has never been your forte, Becks,” Stevie said with a laugh. To the others, she said, “Okay. There’s a place on the other side of the lake that will rent us paddleboards and give us a quick lesson. I suggest wearing stuff you don’t mind getting wet because balance is everything on one of those, and we all know that Sara has zero.”

“Hey,” Sara whined, but also shrugged because she knew it was true.

Rowan caught a quick look pass between Claire and Evie—worried on Claire’s part and annoyed on Evie’s—but neither said anything.

“Meet out front in fifteen?” Stevie asked, and everybody agreed and scattered to get ready. Rowan was excited to try something new, and also a little leery that Evie was coming along, especially given all the crazy circumstances from the night before…the ambush kissing in the dark hall, the fight with Claire she’d overheard, the vague recollection of sharing the bed—which she still wasn’t sure was real or imagined. It was a lot for a head that was already taxed with recalling memories and having extra aches. Her doctors had recommended she stay as stress-free as possible, and this certainly wasn’t that, was it? Vacation was supposed to be relaxing, and for the past day or two, she’d felt like a child’s toy that had been overwound, everything inside her tight and ready to bust apart in pieces.

Sara had arrived in her own SUV, and it had more room than Stevie’s truck, so they piled in, Stevie and Sara in the front, Justine, Rowan, and Evie in the back seat. It wasn’t crowded, but there also wasn’t enough room to sit three adults in a row without them touching one another, so Evie’s thigh was pressed against hers, and she was super aware of it. She made a valiant effort to talk about anything else.

“Hey, I thought you had a paddleboard,” she said to Stevie as they pulled out onto the road. “It’s a cool teal color, right? Or am I making that up?”

“I do. Bought it last year. I had a brain fart while I was packing for this trip and like an idiot, didn’t even think to bring it.” There was a beat of silence before Stevie’s voice went up a notch. “Ro.”

Rowan met her eyes in the rearview mirror, and they were wide. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I bought my paddleboard last year.”

Rowan frowned, confused about the statement. “Yeah. That’s what I said.”

Evie picked it up faster than she did. “That’s in your amnesia window!” she said excitedly, using the same phrase Lizzie had.

Rowan turned to her and blinked, and it took her a moment to understand what they were saying. But then she got it, and she couldn’t help the grin that burst across her face.