Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend (17 page)

“Thanks,” I called up to Josh. “I was just . . .” I realized I had

no idea how to fi nish that sentence, so I just let my voice fade

away. “Thanks,” I fi nally repeated.

“Sure,” he said. He smiled down at me, and I tried to look non-

chalant, like I was just treading water— while keeping my arms

fi rmly clamped at my sides— for fun. “You all right?” he asked.

“Fine!” I said brightly. “Just, you know . . . getting some exer-

cise. Did you know the government recommends an hour a day?”

Josh frowned at this, but he must have believed me— it might

have helped that I was almost totally out of breath— because he

gave me a nod and headed back to where the rest of the party

was.

I treaded water over to the side of the pool and leaned against

it to give myself a little rest. I looked at the volleyball game going

strong, and tried to estimate just how long it would take for

people to get out of the pool so that I could make my exit without

worrying about accidentally fl ashing people.

Surely only a few more minutes. Ten, tops.

O O O

An hour later, my fi ngers were thoroughly pruned and I had

never wanted anything as much as I wanted to be out of the

pool and no longer having to worry about accidental nudity—

something that, before to night, had never honestly occupied much

space in my thoughts.

-1—

The volleyball game had ended, but now two of the chicken

0—

partners were canoodling in the shallow end and occasionally

+1—

S 120 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 120

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 120

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

shooting me murderous looks, clearly wanting me to leave as much

as I wanted them to leave.

Luckily, I hadn’t had to tread water this whole time; I’d fi g-

ured out a system where I could perch on the ladder and still re-

main clothed. I had watched, from this position, as most of the

guests had said their good- byes and left, until there were only a

few people still standing in small groups talking.

“Sophie!” I looked up, hoping there hadn’t been a delay in my

response, to see Josh and Hallie standing at the edge of the pool.

They were carry ing their bags and wearing clothes over their

bathing suits— clearly ready to leave the party.

“So we’re heading out,” Hallie said. Her voice was friendly but

her expression was puzzled, and I knew she was probably won-

dering why I had come to a party she’d invited me to and then

spent most of the time alone in the pool. She probably thought I

was weird and unfriendly, and I couldn’t help but feel this night

had been a total disaster, even without the self- destructive bi-

kini. I’d come hoping to get closer to Hallie, and I had a feeling

that after my behavior to night, she wouldn’t want anything more

to do with me.

“Great!” I said, trying to keep my expression cheerful, like I

was just having so much fun leaning awkwardly against a pool

ladder. “I’ll see you around?”

“Sure,” she said easily, but I couldn’t tell if she meant it or if

she was just being polite. She turned to leave, but Josh stayed

where he was, looking down at me, his brow furrowed.

“Sophie, is everything okay?” he asked, his voice a little low,

—-1

directed just to me.

—0

—+1

S 121 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 121

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 121

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

“Just fi ne!” I said, brightly. But he looked at me, right into my

eyes for a moment, and I felt my smile falter a little under this

scrutiny.

“I’m actually going to stay a little bit longer,” Josh said, turn-

ing to Hallie, who was pulling her keys out of her bag.

“Oh,” she said. She glanced at me, and her eyebrows shot up,

then back at Josh. But she didn’t look displeased about this, I no-

ticed. “Okay. Are you . . .” She paused and looked down at the keys

in her hand.

“Sophie can give me a ride home, right?” Josh asked, turning

to me.

“Um . . .” Giving him a ride would involve getting out of the

pool, and I didn’t see that happening anytime soon.

“Cool,” Josh said, seeming to take this as a yes, and turning

back to Hallie. “So I’ll see you at home?”

“See you then,” Hallie said, still looking a little thrown by

this development. She gave us a wave, and I nodded back at her.

She turned and left, glancing back once at us before heading into

the house.

“Okay,” Josh said, turning back to me and bending down so

that he was closer to my level in the water. “What’s going on?

Nobody spends this much time in a pool unless they’re trying to

win some kind of a bet.”

“Nothing,” I said, abandoning my post on the ladder and

going back into the water, so that I could move myself farther

away from Josh. It’s not that I was dying to start treading water

-1—

again— my calf muscles were still burning— but I didn’t want

0—

him to be able to see the state of my malfunctioning bikini. I

+1—

S 122 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 122

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 122

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

suddenly realized that it would be much worse if accidental nu-

dity happened in front of
Josh,
as opposed to just the random

canoodling volleyball couple. “I just don’t want to get out.”

Josh just looked at me for a moment, then shrugged. “Then

I’ll get in,” he said.

“No—” I started, but that was when Josh pulled his shirt over

his head, and I was momentarily struck speechless. By the time

I’d stopped being blinded by his abs, he was already in the water

and swimming toward me.

“Is it a secret?” he asked, and one of his eyebrows quirked up.

“Did you fi nd money on the bottom or something?”

“No,” I said, feeling myself smile but simultaneously trying

to move away from him and make sure that the pieces of fabric

I was clutching all stayed where they were meant to. “It’s just . . .”

I looked at him, treading water along with me, and realized there

was probably no sense in even trying to hide what was actually

happening. I sighed. “Okay, fi ne. My bathing suit is kind of fall-

ing apart.”

A very intrigued and happy expression took over Josh’s face.

“Really?” I glared at him, and he arranged his features into a

more contrite expression. “I mean . . . that’s horrible.”

“And I’ve just been waiting for those two to leave,” I said, tilt-

ing my head in the direction of the volleyball couple, who still

showed no sign of moving. “So that I can try and get out without

anyone seeing me.”

Josh just looked at me for a moment, and I was suddenly

struck by how ridiculous this must look, the two of us bobbing

—-1

up and down as we had a conversation while treading water.

—0

—+1

S 123 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 123

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 123

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

I was about to apologize for this mess I’d landed myself in— I

knew Teddy would have been mortifi ed if I’d done something like

this— when Josh smiled, wide. “This is great,” he said. “It’s like a

spy mission.”

I blinked at him. “It is?”

“Totally,” he said, like it was obvious. “Okay, I’ll try and get

them out of here, and once they’re gone, I’ll go get you a towel or

something so you can get out without anyone seeing.”

“But what about you?” I asked. I was really quite concerned

about the mechanics of getting out of the pool, and about the

state of the few scraps of fabric that were still holding together.

Because I had a feeling that when I got out of the pool, the weight

of the water would pull apart the last few seams still hanging on.

“I won’t look,” Josh assured me. “I’m a gentleman.” He said

this without any sarcasm at all, and for some reason, I believed

him.

“Okay,” I said, and I was suddenly incredibly relieved that

I was in this with someone else, and someone whose powers of

plan- making hadn’t been addled by inhaling chlorine fumes for

an hour. “Let’s do it.”

Josh started swimming over to the shallower end, motioning

me to follow him. I did the best I could to propel myself forward

without using my hands, catching up with Josh when he stopped

a few feet from the couple, who were now playfully fl icking water

at each other. “Hey, Sophie,” Josh said in a voice that was clearly

designed to carry. It was also incredibly fake- sounding, and it

-1—

was pretty obvious to me that maybe Josh should keep his talents

0—

on the lacrosse fi eld and not start trying out for school plays.

+1—

S 124 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 124

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 124

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

“Yes, Josh?” I asked, hoping I sounded a tad more natural. I

was now in shallow enough water so that I could stand, and I had

never been so grateful to touch solid ground. My legs were shaky

from all this unexpected cardio, and it was enough to make me

think I should start actually running with Bruce occasionally, as

opposed to just fake running.

“Did you hear about that fl esh- eating bacteria? The one they

started fi nding in swimming pools?”

“Why, no,” I said, glancing over at him, and when I saw his

fake- earnest expression, biting my lip hard to keep from laugh-

ing. “Could you, um, tell me more about it?”

The couple looked over at us. The girl mostly seemed annoyed,

but I noticed it looked like the guy was listening.

“Oh yeah,” Josh said. “It’s been happening all over the Eastern

seaboard. You get it when you’ve been spending too much time

in pools. And there are no symptoms . . . until it’s
too late
.” Josh

said this pretty much directly to the guy, who paled, then turned,

splashed his way toward the shallow end, and ran up the stairs.

“Seriously?” the girl, now abandoned in the pool, called after

him. She scowled at me and Josh, then fl ounced her way out of

the pool as well.

“Part one successful,” Josh said, swimming over to the side

and pushing himself up and out of the pool, giving me a nice

view of the very impressive muscles in his back. “On to part two.”

Josh grabbed a striped towel from the basket by the lounge

chairs and held it up by the edge of the pool so that it would

block anyone from seeing me— though I noticed that there really

—-1

weren’t very many people still hanging around. There was one

—0

—+1

S 125 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 125

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 125

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

guy (it looked like it might have been Todd, the host) passed out

on a lounge chair, but aside from that, the backyard looked pretty

deserted. “Ready?” he called, and I could see that, true to his

word, he was facing forward, not looking back me.

“Ready,” I said. I cautiously moved myself farther into the

shallow end, then walked up the pool steps, gripping on even

tighter to the suit, because, like I’d suspected, the whole thing

had gotten heavier once I was out of the water. I risked dropping

a hand for just a moment as I snatched the towel from Josh and

wrapped it around me. I had never in my life been so grateful to

no longer have to worry about indecent exposure.

“Okay?” Josh asked, still facing forward.

“Okay,” I said, coming around to the other side of him. “Thank

you.” I waited to feel incredibly embarrassed by this— needing a

very cute guy to help you not accidentally fl ash people— but the

humiliation didn’t come. It felt, strangely enough, like we were a

team. And since he didn’t seem embarrassed, it was like I wasn’t,

either.

“Ready to leave?” Josh asked.

I nodded emphatically. “I am,” I said. No offense to Todd, but I

would be happy if I never spent any time at his house or in his

pool ever again.

“Cool,” Josh said, grabbing his own towel and wrapping it around

his shoulders. “Meet you out front?”

“Sounds great,” I said, nodding. I started to head to the house,

then stopped. “Thank you,” I said.

-1—

Josh just nodded, not brushing this off or making a joke.

0—

“You’re welcome,” he said. “See you in fi ve.”

+1—

S 126 T

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 126

105-56018_ch01_3P.indd 126

10/2/13 7:32 AM

10/2/13 7:32 AM

I made it upstairs with the towel wrapped tightly around my-

self and went straight for the corner where I’d left my clothes. I

shed the remnants of the bathing suit, and dried off and changed

back into Gwyneth’s party dress, understanding as I did so that

there was a reason people normally put on shorts or T-shirts

after swimming, and not formalwear. But the dress was staying

in one piece, so really, I wasn’t going to complain.

Once clothed again, I examined the ruined suit, baffl ed. I still