Left Drowning

After I slide the dress over my head, I cross the floor slowly and turn my back to him. “Zip me?” I lift my hair.

“Of course.” He’s clearly trying to torture me because he smoothes his hands over my entire upper body before zipping my dress in the slowest possible ma

I tilt my head back and lean into him. “Chris …”

“We have to go, or we’ll be late.”

I hate him right now. I hate that he has the self-control to get us out of the room, because I can damn well feel how turned on he is.

“Di

Chris drives us to the restaurant in his truck. We haven’t said it out loud, but it’s pretty obvious that we’ve agreed not to go out of our way to let on that our only real plans for the rest of the week are to have sex with each other.

The restaurant is modern and dimly lit with blue starburst lights. Sabin, Estelle, and Eric are seated at a large semicircle booth, and Sabin flies out of his seat when he sees me.

“Lady Blythe McGuire!” He rushes over to me and lifts me into the air in a hug. “I missed the hell out of you. What are you doing here?” He sets me down and holds me by the shoulders. “Wait. Is everything all right? You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just came back early and ran into Chris. Apparently, the Shepherds and I have excellent taste in hotels.”

He hugs me again. “C’mon. I’ll buy you a drink.”

He scoots me into the booth first so that I’m next to Eric, who hugs me, and Estelle on his other side air-kisses me. I love that we are in this fancy restaurant, and Sabin has on his cowboy hat. Chris sits next to his sister and takes a sip from her water glass. Everyone is tan and radiant looking, and I am blissfully happy because I am back where I belong.

“Our girl has returned early,” Sabin a

I have to bite my cheek so that I don’t burst out laughing. I can’t even look at Chris.

“None of you are in the least bit boring,” I say. “You guys must have had an amazing trip. So tell me all the details! How was Hawaii?”

“Full of spectacular hard-bodied men,” Estelle says dreamily. She is, as usual, in full makeup and beautifully dressed in a taupe sweater that looks like cashmere.

Eric rolls his eyes. “That’s true. There were also other incredible views, though.”

I listen to them gush about the plush condo Chris rented for them, the impeccable beaches, the day hikes they took, and Chris and Sabin’s disastrous attempts to learn to surf.

“It’s true,” Chris says. “We sucked. I don’t think either of us stayed up on the board for more than two seconds.”

“It was still fun, though, right, Chris?” I love how Sabin looks at his brother. I think back to the fight on Thanksgiving night and how that could have ripped a family apart, or at the very least caused serious tears, but the adoration in Sabin’s eyes is unmistakable. He clearly looks up to Chris in so many ways, and I wish that James had a fraction of those same feelings for me. One day, one day. Maybe.

“Hey, we went back and surfed again the next day, didn’t we?” Chris gets a spark in his eyes. “You know, Blythe, there are really so many things that I want to do again… .” He sighs dramatically, and I resist kicking him under the table. Then he raises his glass to Sabin’s and nods in Eric’s direction. “And I’d like to give you two credit for your waterskiing success.”

Eric sighs. “Man, I could do that every day. Blythe, you would love it. Have you ever tried?”

I shake my head. “Nope. I’ve done a little sailing, but that’s it. Oh, and I can row a rowboat like nobody’s business.”

“Very impressive,” Estelle says, smiling. “I could sit in a rowboat and bark orders while a half-naked Hawaiian boy rows us to a deserted beach.”

“That’s enough out of you, young lady!” Sabin jokes. “My sister is not to be thinking anything indecent about boys. Not until you’re forty, Estelle.”

“Fine, fine. Blythe, have you enjoyed any new and exciting physical activities we should know about since we last saw you?”

I’m never going to make it through this di

“Yes, tell us.” Chris jumps in. “Any new hobbies you’ve added to your repertoire?”

I clear my throat. “I think that I’ve got all I can handle as it is.”

“Yeah, so how’s the ru

He and I talk together for a bit, and he tries to entice me to enter one of the spring races in Madison. “You could totally do it! A five-K? Ten-K?”

“A ten-K!” I nearly shriek. “I can’t do that, Eric.”

“We’ll see,” he says.

Di

When they ask me about my trip home, I’m surprised to find myself giving more details than I would have expected. I even tell them about going to the Christmas Eve party at Lani’s and Tim’s and talking to Nichole about applying for an internship.

“Are you definitely going back to Massachusetts after graduation?” Estelle asks. “We’ll miss the fuck out of you if you do.”

Sabin throws his arm over my shoulder. “We would miss you, but this sounds like it could be cool. Besides, if it’s a magazine, maybe they have travel features, and you’d actually, you know, travel. To Hawaii! And need an assistant to carry your suitcases!”

“I’m sure you know just the person for the job.” It hits me that I only have four months left at Matthews before graduation. “I don’t know. A lot can happen in a few months.”

“A lot can happen in a few hours,” Chris adds all too casually. He takes the olive from his martini and winks at me as he pops it in his mouth. Relentless. He is relentless.

I cock my head and glare at him. “Are we getting dessert? I love dessert. Sabe, want to share something with me? I think I saw a cranberry torte thing that looked good. And coffee. Espresso, maybe.”

“Yeah,” Chris says under his breath, “Blythe’s definitely going to need an espresso.”

I clear my throat. “So, the torte?”

“Oh, I’m in! I love me some torte,” Sabin says as he rubs his belly. “What is a torte exactly? Why isn’t it a tart? Is a torte a subcategory of tarts? Why don’t all tarts taste tart?”

“Can we still order it even if we can’t classify it?” I ask.

“Definitely. Hey, B., do you want to come to the show we’re seeing tonight? I can probably get you a ticket still.”

“No. No, she can’t,” Chris says all too quickly.

Sabin frowns.

“I mean, Blythe was saying on the way here that she’s exhausted from her trip. You know, holiday nonsense and all.”

“Oh hell,” Sabin says under his breath. “No way. No, no, no.”

I glare at Chris again. He smiles at me and shrugs.

Estelle and Eric are busy scrolling through pictures on their phones and deciding which ones of Eric are the best to send to Zach, and they don’t notice anything.

When the bill comes, Chris refuses to take any money, which irritates me, but I’m not surprised. He does enjoy caretaking.

Sabin claps his hands together. “All right, little siblings. We have to run if we’re going to make the show. And Chris and Blythe need to get to the hotel so that they can get back to fucking each other to all hell.”

“Oh Jesus, Sabin!” Chris tosses up his hands.

“What in the world is going on?” Eric says. He and Estelle have finally looked up from his phone.

I can’t even look at Estelle because she’s got the most satisfied grin on her face. “Well, fuckin’ finally, am I right?”