Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend (41 page)

last night. She said I’d just caught her off guard. And then I

apologized for what I did, like we talked about, and then she said

she hoped that we could both move on.”

I paused before pulling into Bruce’s driveway and just stared

at Sophie. “And that’s it?”

“That’s it,” she confi rmed. She shot me a relieved smile. “It

looks like we were worried for nothing. Good, right?”

“Right,” I echoed as I pulled into the driveway and put the car

in park. “Good.” While I was relieved that Sophie hadn’t had a

terrible coffee date, I was really, really surprised that Hallie had

acted this way when confronted with the girl she thought was

me. I had been sure that she would still be furious, sure that she

wouldn’t have been able to get past it easily. It had been all over

her face that fi rst day we met again, at the train station.

Had I been that wrong?

And—more worryingly— had I done all this for nothing?

“Hey,” Sophie said, waving her hand in front of my face. “You

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okay?”

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“Fine,” I said. “Just . . . thinking.”

We got out of the car and dashed for the front door. I closed it

behind us, thrilled to be dry once again and planning on not

going out until the weather was back to being what it ought to

have been: hot and sunny and summery.

“I think Hallie’s cool, actually,” Sophie said as she kicked off

her fl ip- fl ops. “She was really nice and funny. The whole apology

part didn’t take that long, so then we talked about boys. Did she

tell you how her boyfriend Ward is out of town?”

“She mentioned it,” I said as I kicked my own sodden fl ip- fl ops

off. I knew, realistically, that it shouldn’t have bothered me that

Hallie was able to let this go so quickly. Just like it shouldn’t have

bothered me that she was apparently becoming friends with my

BFF. Just like it shouldn’t have bothered me that Josh was maybe

being a tiny bit fl irty with her. But that didn’t change the fact

that all these things were really, really bothering me.

“And she invited me to this Fourth of July party she’s throw-

ing at her house,” Sophie said as she headed toward the kitchen.

“She said it’s going to be really fun.”

“Really,” I said, dropping my bag on the hall table and follow-

ing her, trying not to sound as hurt as I felt. “She didn’t invite

me.”

“Oh,” Sophie said, frowning. “Well, I’m sure she will soon. Or

Josh will, right?”

“Right,” I said, trying to keep my voice upbeat. “Sure.” The

Fourth was in two days, so it seemed like time was running out

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on that front. I pulled open the fridge and took out two bottles of

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sparkling water. I held one out to Sophie, and she nodded, and I

slid it across the table to her.

“So what should we do about Reid?” she asked. “I mean, if he’s

staying with them, he’s probably going to be at the party too.”

I nodded and picked up my phone. “I got his e-mail,” I said

grimly. “Time to do damage control.”

Sophie took a long drink of her water, then shook her head.

“You know, Gemma, I came here to
escape
all the drama.”

I felt myself smile as I started typing the e-mail to Reid.

“How’s that working out for you?”

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I pulled open the door and was not quite able to stop myself

from rolling my eyes. “Hi, Reid.”

Reid was standing on Bruce’s doorstep, ner vous ly glancing

over his shoulders. He was wearing a baseball cap pulled low over

his eyes and a pair of sunglasses. His outfi t was made even more

ridiculous by the fact that, even though it had stopped raining, it

was still overcast and cloudy out. Reid could have only been more

obvious if he’d also been wearing a T-shirt that read I’M TRYING TO

GO INCOGNITO.

“Hi,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Is it safe to talk here?”

“It’s fi ne,” I said, opening the door wider and motioning him

inside. “Come on in.”

Reid had responded to my e-mail immediately, but told me

he wouldn’t be able to get away that day without raising suspi-

cions. We’d arranged to meet this afternoon, as both Josh and

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Hallie were running errands for the party, and he didn’t think

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they’d notice his absence. And here he was, on Bruce’s doorstep,

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looking like he was trying to dodge the paparazzi. “I don’t think

I was followed,” he assured me in grave tones, and I gave him a

thumbs- up.

“Good work.” I led him through the back and out by the pool,

where Sophie had been all morning, mostly just shivering in her

bikini and telling me whenever she thought she saw a ray of sun-

shine start to appear.

“Hi!” Sophie called, waving from her lounge chair. I noticed

she’d put on a sweatshirt over her bathing suit, but hadn’t zipped

it. And as we walked across the deck to join her, Reid had a bit of

trouble navigating around the lounge chairs and almost fell into

the pool once, mostly because he hadn’t taken his eyes from my

BFF once. Sophie in a bikini tended to be distracting like that.

“Hi,” Reid managed, sitting and only missing the lounge

chair on his fi rst two attempts. He opened and closed his mouth

a few times, but it didn’t seem like anything else was forthcom-

ing. As I watched Reid take off his sunglasses and lose the ability

to form sentences in Sophie’s presence, I wondered if this was the

best idea. After all, we needed him to be able to follow what was

happening, and it looked like his IQ had just plummeted several

crucial points. I was on the verge of asking Sophie to zip up her

hoodie when Reid managed to pull himself together.

“So. Okay. Um,” he said. He pointed at me. “You’re not Sophie.”

He pointed at Sophie. “You are, right? I remember you from

Clarence Hall.”

“That’s right,” I said, happy that we were all fi nally on the

same page. “The thing is, this all started with a misunderstand-

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ing.” I took a breath and was about to launch into the story of the

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iced latte cup with Sophie’s name on it when the doorbell rang.

Figuring that this was just another one of Bruce’s deliveries, I

stood up. “I’ll get that,” I said. “Soph, can you fi ll him in?”

I headed around the side of the house and saw, to my sur-

prise, Josh standing at the front door, ner vous ly smoothing down

his hair and checking his refl ection in the Davidson Manor panel.

The sight of him— and this private glimpse I was getting—

made me feel a sudden wave of affection for him. I realized we’d

never had that talk he’d mentioned when we stood on the street

under our umbrellas. It just seemed like suddenly there were too

many land mines to avoid, and normal conversation had become

impossible. But as I watched him now, it registered how much I’d

missed talking to him, even though it hadn’t really been that

long.

“Hi,” I called, and Josh turned around, startled.

“Hey,” he said, dropping his hands and sticking them quickly

in his pockets. “I guess I thought someone would answer the

door.”

“We were around back,” I said, gesturing to the side of the

house. “I heard the bell.”

“Got it,” Josh said, nodding. He looked behind me, to where

Reid’s car was parked. “Is Reid here?” he asked, his voice clipped,

like he was upset about something.

“Um, yeah,” I said. “He’s out by the pool.” Josh nodded and

looked down at the ground, and I felt disappointment hit me as I

realized that was probably why he’d shown up at the house. He

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wasn’t here to see me, he was trying track down his friend. “Is . . .

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that why you’re here?”

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“No,” Josh said, without looking up. “I came to ask you a

question.”

“Oh,” I said. I took a breath, then let it out. “Okay.” I resolved,

then and there, that what ever he asked me, I would be totally

honest with him. Even if it was about me and Hallie and who I

really was, I would tell him the truth.

“Is something going on with you and Reid?”

That was not the question I had been expecting, and it was

one that was not at all diffi cult to provide an honest answer to.

“No,” I said, a little incredulously. “Of course not.”

“I just . . .” Josh started, then took a breath and continued. “I

mean, I saw the two of you in the alley yesterday, and he’s been

acting really strange ever since— like he’s hiding something. And

then I come over, and I see that he’s already here . . .”

When he put it all together like that, I could see how it didn’t

sound good. “No,” I said emphatically. “Nothing like that. He

just . . .” I thought quickly, then decided to settle on something

that was probably closest to the truth. “I think he likes So—

Gemma,
” I corrected quickly, hoping Josh hadn’t noticed this,

“and he um, wanted me to see if she liked him too. And that’s

why he’s here.”

“Oh,” Josh said, looking relieved. “Good.”

“Yeah,” I said, giving him a smile, hoping he’d bought it.

Josh glanced around to the back of the house, then shook his

head. “I have to say, thought, I’m a little surprised. Reid doesn’t

usually act so impulsively.”

“Right,” I said quickly. “Well . . . um . . . maybe he’s turning

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over a new leaf out here.”

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“Maybe,” Josh said, sounding unconvinced. “I’m not sure it’s

such a good idea, though— Gemma and Reid.”

I certainly didn’t think it was, either, but couldn’t exactly tell

him why. “I agree,” I said, and he just nodded. Silence fell and,

suddenly, I was aware of just how many unsaid things there were

between us. “So,” I said after a moment, “was that the question

you came to ask me? About my undying passion for Reid?”

Josh laughed. “No, that wasn’t it. Actually, I wanted to know

if you wanted to come to our Fourth of July party tomorrow. Ap-

parently all the houses on our stretch of land do it, they call it the

beach block party. It should be fun. Hopefully the weather will

be better by then too. If it’s a clear night, there’s going to be

fi reworks.”

I felt a smile take over my face. “I’d love to,” I said. I was also a

little relieved. The fact that Hallie had asked Sophie but hadn’t

yet asked me had been bothering me. But maybe she knew Josh

was always planning on asking me himself. Either way, I was just

happy to be going.

Josh took a tiny step closer to me, then stopped. He looked

down at me, and I could see the fl ecks of gold in his green- brown

eyes. And just like that, I had a fl ashback to the beach, to the

shocks that had gone through me when we touched. Was he ask-

ing me to the party as his date?

Maybe Josh was having a similar tangle of thoughts, because

he broke eye contact with me and took a step away.

“Tomorrow?” he asked, as he began to back away toward his

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truck.

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“Tomorrow,” I said, nodding at him. Once again, I heard the

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promise in the word. I waved as his truck headed down the

driveway.

Even after his taillights had disappeared, I stayed where I

was, bare feet on the gravel, just thinking. I had promised more

than just to attend the party when I’d echoed his
tomorrow
. Be-

cause right there, in the driveway, I made a decision.

Tomorrow night, I would tell Hallie, and then Josh, who I re-

ally was.

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“Are you sure about this?” Sophie asked.

We were standing in front of the hall mirror, giving

our party outfi ts fi nal looks. I’d told her my plan the day before

after I’d fi nally gotten Reid to leave. Sophie had explained the