One Golden Summer(38)

“Do you always carry a camera with you?” Percy asks.

“Kind of. I thought you might like some photos from this summer, before the baby comes.”

She tilts her head. “Like a maternity shoot?”

“Nothing as posed as that. Just some spontaneous stuff so you can remember this moment.” Selfishly, I’m much more comfortable with strangers when I’m photographing them.

She grins. “That’s so nice. Although I’m not sure anyone needs images of me in a bathing suit while I’m six months pregnant.”

“You look beautiful,” I say honestly. Percy has doe eyes, a light smattering of freckles that kiss her nose and cheeks, and a sweet nose. Separately, each feature is cute, but they assemble to make something more intriguing.

“All right,” Percy says. “It would be nice to have some photos of this summer.” She blows out a breath. “Before things get real.”

I take the lens cap off my camera, slipping into photographer Alice mode.

“It’s an amazing thing that your body is doing,” I tell Percy, and she puts her hands on her stomach, smiling down at it.

“Or like something out of a horror movie.”

Click.

She glances at me, surprised. “You really are gorgeous,” I tell her, and she smiles again.

Click.

“Aha,” Percy says. “You sweet-talk your way into getting a decent shot.”

I laugh. “You got me, but I’m also telling the truth.”

I take a couple more shots as she grabs four mugs from the cupboard and fills them with coffee, then set my camera strap over my shoulder as Percy passes me two.

“Let’s go caffeinate the boys.”

Percy leads me out to the deck, and we both freeze at the sound of Charlie and Sam’s raised voices. I glance at Percy, and she quickly wipes the alarm from her face.

“Brothers,” she says. “They love each other, but they suck at communicating.”

“What are they fighting about?” I ask as I follow her down the steps off the deck and around to the side of the house.

She seems to debate her answer. “Their lack of construction skills, probably.”

I hear them before I see them.

“I don’t care if you don’t want to talk about it. You need to be prepared.” They sound so alike I can’t tell whether it’s Charlie or Sam speaking.

“Fuck off, Sam.”

So that clears that up.

I glance at Percy.

“Let’s go break this up,” she says.

Charlie spots us over Sam’s shoulder and he says something quietly.

“I’m not dropping this,” Sam replies.

Both men are in their bathing suits, Sam with a T-shirt and Charlie bare-chested. Sam is slightly taller, his wavy hair is longer on top, and his eyes are blue, but there’s no mistaking them as siblings. Charlie casts him a hard look, but it dissolves when he looks at me. I think of the way he looked at me last night, glittering under the fireworks, and my heart beats faster.

After I got home, I checked off numbers four (throw myself a birthday party), fourteen (glittery makeup), and fifteen (put on the green dress) from my bucket list, and I stared at number five (kiss a cute guy). I felt invigorated, bright, like Charlie said.

This morning, I sent Harrison a message, telling him I wasn’t available for dinner right now. And then I emailed Willa. I told her I wouldn’t edit the photos as requested. I quoted the original brief (“a refreshingly real swimwear shoot”) and explained that I wouldn’t have taken the assignment if I’d known she wanted me to retouch the images so dramatically. There’s a chance I’ve permanently damaged our relationship, but for once, the thought of someone being unhappy with me doesn’t feel cataclysmic.

“You must be very brave to throw yourself to the lions like this,” Charlie says to me now, nodding at Sam and Percy.

“There’s a special place in hell for anyone who denies a pregnant woman chocolate cake,” I tell him. “I brought Percy a slice.”

I stare into the branches of tall neighboring hemlock and maple trees, where the frame of a large tree house sits. “So, this is it?”

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Charlie says.

“Your ego?” I ask, still gazing upward. “Very. It’s immense.”

Charlie chuckles, and I hand him his coffee. I catch Percy and Sam looking at us. She’s gaping, and he’s wearing a lopsided grin.

“How do you put up with him?” Sam asks.

“I don’t. I just haven’t been able to get rid of him yet.”

Sam glances at Charlie, who shrugs. “I told you she was ferocious.”

“That’s perfect for you,” Percy tells him.

“We’re just friends, Pers,” he says.

For a few seconds, it feels like I’ve been shaken from a nice dream. Charlie’s flirting doesn’t mean anything.

Charlie looks to me. “Right, Alice?”

“Right.” And it’s for the best, I remind myself. Because this summer I’m focusing on me—and Nan. I’m not about to develop feelings for the heartbreaker across the bay. “Just friends.”

“I doubt that,” Sam mutters, and Percy elbows him in the side.