Diana Peterfreund - Rites of Spring (Break)

“Forget it, Dee,” George said. “Poe would never go against the party line. He really likes having secrets. It’s the only way he can get anyone to pay attention to him.”

You could sense the shock around the table. It wasn’t like George to be so cruel.

But Poe took it in stride, meeting George’s gaze with a look that said, Do you really want to take me on? I had no doubt that Poe could out-insult anyone. Especially someone with so little practice as George. “Exactly. I’m always looking for attention. So flashy. Man, I’m obvious.” He looked at George for one second more, then returned to his food.

“Do you think they’re going to fix the boat railing before tomorrow’s snorkeling trip?” Clarissa asked, whipping out her best charm-school voice.

“We’re not going on that boat,” Ben answered, obviously more than happy to follow Clarissa’s lead. “One of the patriarchs brought a yacht to the island, and he’s lending it out.”

“Cool!” Clarissa said. She turned to me. “You have to come now. It’s not even the same boat.”

I didn’t care if it was the QE2 . I wasn’t setting foot on a boat deck until it was time to leave, and that only by necessity. “Sorry,” I replied.

The conversation turned to other topics, and soon after, Poe finished his food and carried his dinner plate to the counter near the kitchen. I expected him to return to the table, maybe grab a cup of coffee, but he left the dining room.

And in that instant, my decision was made. I stood so quickly I almost knocked my chair over.

“Whoa, Amy,” Malcolm said, catching my chair by the armrest and righting it. “What are you doing?”

“I have to…” I trailed off. No, Malcolm. Don’t look at me like that. He made a grab for my arm, but I shook him off and headed after Poe.

He was out of the building and halfway across the path to his cabin by the time I reached the porch. In the fading evening light, everything had turned violet. The crushed shells beneath our feet, the grass, his shirt, his hair, the hands he was jamming into his shorts pockets.

“P—Jamie,” I said in a voice that wasn’t quite normal volume but fell way short of a shout.

He turned. “You’re going to slip up one of these days.”

“Well, I’ll expect you to keep track.” I jogged to meet him on the path.

“What do you want?” He cocked his head. “To thank me again?”

Give it a rest, Poe. “Whence the hostility?”

He said nothing, but he didn’t need to. It had been our default setting for so long that whenever we broke through and actually communicated, it was as if by accident.

Time for a change. “I was actually wondering if you were planning to go on that snorkeling trip tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not. Obviously.” Deep breath, Amy. “And I thought maybe if you were staying behind, we could hang out. You and me.”

He didn’t react, so I kept going.

“I have no idea what to do around here. I missed the tour. But you’ve been here before, so I’m sure you have some ideas.”

“It’s not that big of an island.” He pointed. “House, games, library, beach. Those are your choices.”

Ouch. Time to retreat. “Okay, well…”

“Eleven o’clock?”

What? “Okay.”

He nodded. “Meet me here. I’ll have something for us to do. Wear walking shoes.”

“Okay,” I said again.

He started to turn away, then stopped, smiled a little, ducked his head, and reached into his back pocket. “Amy, here.” He tossed me a small package. “Just in case.”

I looked down at my hand.

Life Savers.

The rest of the evening was spent in the game room, where the main topic of conversation was my near-drowning and Poe’s rescue. Clarissa and George even performed a two-person reenactment with the help of the edge of the billiard table and a few too many glasses of wine. The patriarchs present were utterly enthralled.

I sat to the side, adding commentary and applause where necessary, but mostly keeping my hand wrapped around that package of mints.

How cheesy was that? I mean, Life Savers? What a dork.

But I still held them. So what did that make me?

I crashed early, picked my way back through the woods to the girls’ cabin, and slept like the dead [4] Not surprising, given the confessor’s busy day, near-death experience, and boy-related stress. And she thought fellowship applications were tough! for the rest of the night. Later, Clarissa told me that the others had arrived back around four in the morning, drunk (except for Jenny, who had stuck to soda) and singing some Diggers tune from the Roaring Twenties (including Jenny, who’d honed her pipes through years of choir practice). But it would have taken a whole corps of moonshiners to rouse me from my slumber.

Unfortunately, my early-to-bed behavior meant I was up at the crack of dawn.

Mindful of my unconscious bunkmates, I dressed in the dim light filtering through the window screens and slipped out into the morning. A thin layer of mist lay over the island, blanketing the path with dew and muffling the sound of the waves on the shore.

Because the morning was a tad on the chilly side, I wore a lightweight hoodie over my shorts and tank top combo. As Poe had instructed, I’d chosen sneakers rather than ballet flats—my only other option since my flip-flops had found their way to Davy Jones’s footlocker.

Poe. Was I really going to spend the day with him? And was it like…a date?

Well, if it was, it was my fault. I’d asked him out last night. Well, asked him to hang out, anyway.

Ugh. What was I thinking? I didn’t ask guys out. I’d never done so. Call me old-fashioned. And if I was going to start, Poe wouldn’t be my choice.

But the facts were incontrovertible. I’d asked Poe to be with me today. Poe. Not Clarissa, not Malcolm, not Jenny, who owed me sitting out a snorkeling session or two, and not George, who may or may not be interested in kissing and making up. Poe. Jamie. Whatever. Him.

Why? Maybe I’d been suffering the aftereffect of some near-death brain chemical? Perhaps it had impaired my decision-making skills. Or maybe it was even worse than that. Maybe I’d been all giddy and power-drunk off that little tidbit Malcolm had given me about Poe. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d played fast and loose with someone’s feelings. [5] The confessor might consider working a little harder on that whole goal of forgetting Brandon.

Without realizing it, I’d broken into a jog, disturbing slumbering seabirds as I pounded through the underbrush in an attempt to escape this unfortunate line of thought. No! I hadn’t made a plan with Poe because Malcolm told me he liked me. It was because I’d wanted to talk to him ever since he saved my life.

Right, Amy. Because gratitude is a much better motivation.

I ran faster, but pretty soon I was going to run out of land. My chest grew tight, and I regretted not having made it to the gym as much as I should have since December.

When I reached the docks, I slowed and rested, looking out over the mist-shrouded water. There was an easy solution to this. Cancel.

But that one didn’t appeal to me at all. I remembered our impromptu pizza party, long before I’d known he liked me, long before either of us had gone overboard. I’d had fun that night. Maybe we’d have fun today. It didn’t have to be a date. He was a patriarch, I was a knight. That was plenty of reason right there that it wouldn’t be a date. I had firsthand knowledge of how bad society incest could get and I was never going there again.