“I don’t believe you.” He moved a little closer. “If we’re going to be partners and all, we should be truthful with each other, right?”
“Ha! I’m not the one with a history of obscuring the truth. And anyway, being truthful doesn’t mean we have to tell each other everything.” I swam backward as he approached. “It just means we don’t lie to each other.”
“I was only asking a question, Chloe. What are you getting so defensive about?”
I forced myself to stop retreating. If this thing with us was going to work, I could not let him push me around. “Frankly, I was thinking about all the bad decisions I’ve made in your company.”
Oliver tossed his head back and laughed. “Some of those decisions were totally yours, I’d like to remind you. I’m thinking about one in particular, a certain night in my college dorm.”
“I’m not blaming you entirely, I’m only saying that I have a history of questionable judgment where you’re concerned,” I said.
“You liked the games just as much as I did. Admit it.”
“Maybe I did.” I focused on my hand fanning through the water. “I like to think that I’m smarter now. More mature.”
“I don’t know, you seemed pretty mature that night.” He fell onto his back, floating on the surface. “You knew what you’d come for, and you got it.”
“Um, as we have established, you were the only one to come that night.”
He stood up. “Oh, that is cold. There I was, doing you a favor—”
“Ha!” I shrieked, splashing him. “As if it was such a hardship for you!”
“That was a lot of pressure, being your first,” he argued. “I don’t think you’ve ever appreciated that. If I didn’t give you a good experience, you might have been scarred for life.”
“Well, don’t worry. The experience was fine. I hardly felt a thing, and it was over before I knew it.”
“That’s it.” Oliver lunged for me, trying to dunk me beneath the surface. “When are you going to stop teasing me about that?”
“When it stops being funny, so never!”
He finally succeeded in shoving me under, but I clung to his neck so hard we both ended up fully submerged. Underwater, we each struggled to hold the other one down, just like we had a hundred times before as kids. Eventually, we burst above the surface again, laughing and gasping for air, my arms still looped around his neck.
I let go of him immediately and backed up as I caught my breath. “No fair,” I panted. “You’re a lot bigger than me.”
“And you have nails,” he said, checking out the red marks I’d left on his arm. “I forgot how you used to scratch me.”
“Let’s call it even.” I ducked under once more so I could get my hair off my face. When I opened my eyes again, he was staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
“We go back a long way, don’t we?”
I shrugged. “Since we were born. I’d say that’s a pretty long way.”
“And even though we’ve had our differences, if there was something one of us needed, like really needed, we’d help each other out, right?”
“Right.” I paused. “What’s this about? Do you need a kidney or something?”
He smiled. “No. I was just thinking that I’m really lucky to have you in my life. No matter what happens with the business, I hope you know you can always come to me if you need something. I’ll always be there for you.”
A little shiver moved up my spine. “Thanks. That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I mean it. I know our friendship hasn’t exactly been conventional, or even consistent, but I care about you, Chloe.”
“You do?” Who the hell was this guy? He didn’t sound at all like the Oliver I knew. It was disorienting and highly suspicious—but … it was nice too.
“Yeah. You cross my mind all the time.”
“Well, thanks. I care about you too.” I hesitated before going on. “I’ve spent years being angry with you, and it feels nice to let that go.”
The smile he gave me was sweet and boyish. It made my stomach do quick, fluttery things, and I had to look away.
“So what do you say we continue on?” he suggested. “Maybe sit on the beach a little to dry off, eat something, and then head inland?”
“Sounds good.”
We made our way back to the sand and sat down to let the sun and warm breeze dry us off. We ate our sandwiches and chatted a little more about the rye, about what buildings we’d need at Cloverleigh and where they might go, how many people we might have to hire, when all of this might happen, how expensive it would be.
“I’m sorry I don’t have money to invest,” I said, pulling my hair into a ponytail. “But I could look into getting a loan if that would help us.”
“Leave the money to me,” he said confidently. “We won’t have to deal with loans or banks.”
After getting dressed and applying another layer of bug spray and sunscreen—I would be glad when I finally got a real shower—we slipped our packs on our backs again. Retracing our steps back along the trail the way we’d come, we took a left after passing the shipwreck. The trail leading inland cut across the island’s center and took us past Florence Lake, the ruins of an old cabin, and the one-room schoolhouse where Rebecca Hofstadt Feldmann had taught, complete with a bell on top. We left the trail to peek in the windows, but they were boarded up.
“What do you think of naming the whiskey after her?” I suggested as we continued on. “Rebecca’s Rye.”
“Rebecca’s Rye.” Oliver thought for a moment. “I like it. It has a nice, alliterative ring to it. I wonder if she had brown eyes.”
“I bet we can find out. Maybe the Feldmanns will even have a photograph of her,” I said excitedly. “Although it would for sure be in black and white. But if it’s good, maybe we could even use it on the label. With the family’s permission, of course.”
“We can ask. I like the idea.” He elbowed me playfully. “Are we partners yet?”
I sighed. “I suppose we are.”
“Finally! I was starting to get worried.”
“Really?”
“Truth? Nah. I knew you’d come around.”
I elbowed him back. “When we get back home, Oliver, we need a contract laying out exactly how this partnership is going to work. I don’t want to work for you, I want to work with you. We’re equals in this, and we both bring value to the table.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “We’ll work it out. Do you want to become a partner in Brown Eyed Girl Spirits? Or would you prefer to form a new LLC for anything produced at Cloverleigh?”
I stopped walking and grabbed his arm, making him face me. “You’d bring me on as a partner in Brown Eyed Girl?”
“Sure. If that’s what you want.” He hesitated. “That’s what I want.”
“It is?”
“Of course. I shouldn’t have done it without you in the first place. And I’m sorry. I’ll always be sorry for that. Brown Eyed Girl was always supposed to be our thing. I was wrong to do it alone.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “It’s named for you. You should be part of it.”