“You are not serious,” I wailed.
“I promised Dad. It’s a big brother’s duty. Just because you’ve lost his trust doesn’t mean that I—”
“I didn’t do anything to lose his trust,” I interrupted. “Adam and I fell asleep. That’s the truth. You know Adam’s harmless.”
“I do not,” McGillicuddy said sternly.
“Well, not harmless, but he wouldn’t hurt me.”
“He wouldn’t mean to,” McGillicuddy acknowledged. “But Adam’s got it bad for you, Lori. And sometimes what Adam intends to do and what he actually does are two different things.”
I scowled down the hill. Early morning mist rose from the smooth lake and evaporated as it touched the sun. A little over two weeks ago, I’d skipped happily toward that mist, knowing it would burn off to reveal a whole summer day working with Sean. A week ago, I’d still thought I was after Sean, but I’d fallen for Adam, whether I knew it or not. Yesterday Adam had won me over. It had been the best birthday ever.
We’d screwed it up already. Literally. We were the only two teenagers in the world who could get in trouble for hitting a home run when we hadn’t even gotten to second base. Now the fog over the lake looked menacing. It lapped at the marina piers and curled toward the warehouse and the showroom. It threatened to grab the little love affair between Adam and me and drag it under the surface of the lake, never to be seen again.
Then McGillicuddy said, “I have to tell Dad if I see you with Adam. Just don’t let me see you.”
“Thank you,” I gushed. I would have hugged him if that wouldn’t have been weird. Instead, he turned to walk toward the marina again, and I skipped beside him.
What a relief that somebody was on our side. e situation had seemed bad this morning after Dad yelled at me. It had seemed downright hopeless after I talked to Adam on the phone and he told me he was as grounded from me as I was from him. But I figured everybody would cool down after a few days. Yesterday my dad had been happy Adam and I were a couple, and Adam’s mom had helped throw us together in the first place. It wasn’t logical for them to do a one-eighty just because Adam and I had stayed out all night.
Or maybe it was logical, but it wasn’t fair.
Now that we had my brother as an ally, I felt better. I was sure I could fix everything. As we shuffled across the mat of pine needles, I asked him, “Can you talk to Dad for me?”
My brother eyed me. I didn’t blame him. Dad had put on quite a spectacle this morning. His friendly lawyer facade had crumbled completely after a night of dead-or-missing daughter and no sleep. He yelled at me all the way through breakfast, and I had the strangest experience of being the reasonable one in the argument. Unlike him, I’d gotten plenty of rest. I’d slept through the night just dandy on Adam’s chest. I had felt awful about keeping my dad awake and worried—until he started yelling.
“Can you?” I prompted my brother.
“Dad’s pretty mad,” he said.
“Really,” I said flatly. “I did not get that at all.”
“You should ask Frances,” he said.
“I thought of that.” If anybody besides my brother would believe Adam and I didn’t deserve to be treated like sexual deviants, it was my ex-nanny, Frances, who was now my dad’s girlfriend. I’d given her the play-by-play over the past few weeks. She knew I’d gone after Sean, caught Adam instead, and decided I’d netted the right boy after all.
But something about the idea of going to her for help made me uncomfortable. All those years she was our nanny, my brother and I thought we were pulling something over on Frances. e boys next door thought the same thing. Recently, watching her with the new family she worked for across the lake, I’d realized she let us get away with things on purpose, to learn lessons. She knew me a little too well. is was disturbing on its own, but it was doubly disturbing that this person who knew me a little too well wore hemp shorts and Birkenstocks in public.
Plus, she’d warned me a week ago that seemingly innocent Adam was trouble. And she told me that despite this, nobody would forbid me to go out with him. is was the one thing she’d been wrong about. A VERY IMPORTANT OVERSIGHT.
Plus, “Everything changed yesterday when she started dating Dad.”
My brother nodded. “It’s disconcerting.”
“Very disconcerting.” I hauled open the door to the marina office and waved him inside. “And I’m not sure she’s on my team anymore.” I stepped over the threshold after him, into enemy territory.
Crowded with my brother and me in Mrs. Vader’s tiny office were three big, bare-chested boys wearing nothing but board shorts. ey smelled better than usual, since it was so early and they hadn’t spent the whole day sweating in the sun. Not that I minded their scent all that much—especially when Adam, who was standing closest to Mrs.
Vader at her desk, peered at me over Sean and Cameron.
Since he’d dropped me off after our disastrous date, my mind had worked furiously to punch its way out of this box we’d built for ourselves. But now, as he looked over at me with his pale blue eyes so big and mysterious in his tanned face and his longish hair carelessly pushed back like he had no clue how hot he was—now I knew that if we didn’t find a way to convince our parents to let us be together, this was going to seem like one endless summer.
“Adam,” Mrs. Vader said. Somehow she conveyed a lot of disgust in that one name. Having raised three boys close in age, Mrs. Vader was good at this sort of thing.
“Yes, ma’am,” Adam said politely, and therefore sarcastically. If he hadn’t gotten a Talking-To an hour ago, he would have responded to her call with his full name, rank, and serial number like a prisoner of war.
I tried to catch his eye and give him a warning look. Our romance was at stake here. I didn’t think this was a good time to be sarcastic.
“You’ve got gas,” Mrs. Vader said.
Cameron and Sean cracked up. Some jokes never got old, at least to teenage boys whose little brother was in trouble.
“I figured,” Adam muttered. Heading for the office door on his way down to the marina’s floating gas station, he pushed his way past Cameron and Sean. He even shoved my brother. I would have found this angry-at-the-world act kind of sexy if things hadn’t been so serious. We were in enough hot water.
He slid past me, his chest warm against my bare arm. I looked up into his eyes and watched him as he moved past me. My skin tingled wherever he touched me, like sand sparkling and swirling in the lake when the water was stirred. He filled the sunny doorway for a second. Then he was gone down the wooden stairs to the floating dock.
I turned back toward Mrs. Vader’s desk. She and the three remaining boys stared at me like they’d never seen me before. Like I was Lori McGillicuddy, Teen Geek and Fashion Disaster, transformed into an underage sex goddess. Just the effect I’d been going for two weeks ago when I was trying to hook Sean. Now that I was in trouble, not so good. To assure them I was the same old Lori, I said, “Funny. I figured you’d give me gas.”
“Ew,” Sean said. Cameron fanned the air to dispel the pretend smell, and my brother took a step away from me.
“Sean and Bill,” Mrs. Vader called, “you’re in the warehouse.”
My brother amiably headed toward the warehouse door. Sean put one hand on Mrs. Vader’s shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t need help here in the showroo—” He stopped midsentence when Mrs. Vader glared at him. “On second thought, I’ll see if McGillicuddy needs any help in the warehouse. Good suggestion.” He crossed his eyes at Cameron and me as he slipped past us out the office door.
“And you two,” Mrs. Vader said to Cameron and me. “We sold a lot of stock over the festival weekend. You’re delivering boats.” Cameron took the stack of tickets she handed him. “Score!” he exclaimed, holding up his arms to signal a touchdown, because the boys considered this the choice job.