Left Drowning

“She never showed up. In fact, Chris almost didn’t show up! She called him and they talked and decided not to get married.” Eric is dong a shitty job of hiding his happiness.

“She said that she knows he doesn’t love her. And she’s been banging Jim Lancaster for the past six months.” Estelle can hardly talk fast enough to get the words out. “Supposedly she was holding out on sex until she was married, but obviously that wasn’t exactly the case, and she’s been fucking this guy’s brains out.”

“Estelle!” Chris clamps a hand to his forehead.

“Well, it’s true. Good thing you weren’t fucking her, or she might’ve thought you actually loved her.”

“Seriously? The details are not necessary.” Chris is quite clearly mortified.

“Wait a minute. What? I like details. The details are fascinating.” I start laughing again. The alcohol is really doing a number on me. “You haven’t … I mean, all year … Like, nothing between you and her?”

“Tell her the rest,” Estelle says smugly.

Chris looks embarrassed. “Not now, okay?”

We are interrupted by barking from the car. “Ohmigod. Jonah!”

“You have a dog?” Zach asks.

“I do indeed have a dog. And he’s awwwwwesome. You have to meet him.” I shuffle to the side door and let him out. Jonah jumps up and licks my face and then bounds over to meet the new people. Sabin is immediately taken with Jonah and kneels down to pet him.

“So, you’re going up to the house? The one you’ve never been to?” Sabe asks us.

“Yes, we are. We are going to fix it up. Okay, fine, James is going to fix it up, and I am going to serve cocktails with swords.”

“When you sober up, I’m sure you’ll help me.” James has the tolerance of a saint today.

“Maybe. Or maybe I will just stab you with mini swords and make you work faster.”

Sabin stands up and looks at James. “Sounds like it could be a lot to take on.” He pauses and flashes his best Sabin grin. “Want some help?”

I look at Sabin and realize he might be serious. He’s crazy like that. James doesn’t know him well enough to realize that this proposal he’s making has legs.

“You feel bad for me,” James says, with a good-natured smile. Then he gestures at me. “You’ve noticed that my future assistant seems unreliable.”

“I’m not joking,” says Sabin. “I’m totally serious.” He gives each of his siblings a long, slow, searching look. “Let’s all go!”

“Sabin, you can’t just invite us up to their house,” Chris protests. “Stop being crazy.”

“Of course I can. We’re family. Right, Blythe?”

“Yes!” Estelle claps her hands. “Let’s do it! Summer with the McGuires!”

“Estelle!” Chris glares at her.

“You’re serious!” A big smile spreads across James’s face. “Sure, why not? Come up for the summer. All of you. It’ll be a blast!” James is barreling ahead with plans that I am too dizzy to keep up with.

“What are you doing? They probably have shit to do, James,” I point out with a definite slur. “You know, like normal people. Jobs and whatnot. Plans!” I wave my arms around chaotically.

“Well, Sabin did get dumped by the theater,” Estelle a

Chris frowns. “What do you mean he got dumped? Sabin?”

“Oh, those assholes. I showed up late for a couple things, and they wigged out.”

“Were you pla

“Maybe, maybe not.” Sabin twirls around ridiculously. “Depends on how much of a prick you’re going to be about it. Let’s focus on the positive here. Now we’ve got a summer vacation with our best girl and her debonair brother!”

“This is impulsive and intrusive, and we’re not doing it.” Chris puts his hands in his pockets.

“It’s not like you have anything to do,” Estelle says rather snidely. “What’s-her-face is going to move her shit out of your apartment by herself, and you don’t have a job anyway. You were just going to be honeymooning and then looking for a job after. C’mon. We’ve got the goddamn money, let’s be honest. I want to have some fucking fun!”

I notice that she and James have made undeniable eye contact. Great. This could be interesting, if my brother can keep up with her.

Everyone stares at Chris while he fidgets. “You guys, they don’t want us crashing—“

“Chris.” I look at him. There is no question. Especially in my drunken state, there is no possibility that I could refuse this opportunity to regroup with the people I care most about. Bullshit between me and Chris aside, this is right. “Get in the car.”

He steps closer and takes me by the arm, walking me away from the group. I trip over the gravel on the driveway a few times, but at least I don’t totally wipe out.

“What’s the problem?” I ask, slurring just a little bit. “I heard you’ve been a little boring lately. Why not try something unexpected? This could be fun.”

“Let’s just think for a minute, okay? Try to sober up for one minute. This is nuts.”

“So what? We’re all a little nuts.”

“You and I haven’t talked in a year. Not since that night.”

“I know. I loved that night. And I hated that night.”

Chris meets my eyes. “I know.” He holds the hair back from his face and sighs. “What are you really doing here, Blythe?”

“The better question is what are you doing here?”

He smiles at me. “Fair enough. I was here about to make a huge mistake.”

“Tell me why it was a mistake.”

He looks away, taking his time before he speaks. “Because I’m not in love with her. I told her that today when we talked. She … she doesn’t have hold of my heart.”

Neither of us says anything.

Alcohol makes this easier. “I didn’t want you to get married. At all. I really didn’t, Chris.”

We step in to each other, and I lean against his chest while he holds me delicately. Oh,God, he feels so good. I am reeling to feel him so close.

“Were you going to break up the wedding?” he asks with a hint of amusement.

“Maybe.” Now I’m embarrassed. “Maybe not. I don’t know.”

“I missed you, Blythe. Jesus, I missed the hell out of you.” He tightens his hold on me. “I don’t want to be away from you, not again, but this summer vacation idea is ridiculous. We can’t just all blow off life and congregate for the summer. Who does that?”

“We do. You said it once. ‘What’s a little risk now and then?’”

“You remember everything, don’t you?”

“I do.”

He strokes my back while he thinks and while I silently will him not to let go.

Finally, after what seems like forever, he shouts to the group, “Okay, people!” I wait, wondering what his final decision will be. He pulls me tighter and yells, “Let’s do it!”

“Hot damn!” screams Sabin, who whoops and runs straight to us. He grabs Chris by the face, and plants a slurpy kiss on his brother’s cheek. “Not getting married is the smartest thing you ever did. But you have to ride next to the smelly drunk girl. Shotgun!”

Things move surprisingly fast once the decision is made. James and I trail the Shepherd siblings back to their hotel and within minutes they’re back outside dragging down their suitcases. Of course, Estelle’s is impressively large. Clearly I’m still drunk, but as we pull out of the hotel parking lot, I feel dizzy and not just from the drinks. It has only taken twenty minutes for the entire course of my summer to change dramatically. Not just mine, either—every one of us is taking this leap together.

I’m happy that Sabin and Chris decided to pile into the car with me and James. Sabin is up front and I am in the middle seat in the back, with Jonah’s front half on my legs and Chris on the other side of me. Eric has good company with Estelle and Zach in the other car. He’s trailing us, driving the big Volvo SUV that was Estelle’s birthday present this year, after Chris apparently freaked out and decided her sedan wasn’t safe enough to drive in the Wisconsin snowstorms.