Page 26 of The Last Thing You Said

“Sounds rough.”

When we reach his car, Simon opens the passenger door for me. “I’d love to come back here with you sometime.”

“Sure, we could float down the Lazy River.”

“You must come here a lot.”

I shake my head as I slide in. “Not as much as I used to.”

I don’t say anything else. He closes my door and gets in himself, and we’re quiet for a few minutes as we drive out of the parking lot and back toward town.

“I’m really sorry about your friend,” Simon says softly. “Was it—was it weird for you to be at Cloud 9 without her?”

“Yeah, a little. But it’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.”

I don’t want him to feel sorry for me. I like that he doesn’t know my history, the details about Trixie’s death. I change the subject as we drive through town, and I give him the grand tour of Halcyon Lake. I point out the candy shop, the used bookstore, the hair salon and the apartments above.

“My uncle and his girlfriend live there,” I say as we drive past. “Daniel’s a cook at the diner and you met Clare—the hostess?”

I tell him about my family and Emily. I pause and hold my breath as we drive past Ben’s house, his Firebird parked in front of the third door.

“The park,” I say, and I wave my hand in that direction. “Sullivan Street Park. Great place for a picnic and the best swimming beach in town.”

“Cool! When can we go?”

“Go?”

“Yeah, go swimming? At the park?”

I shake my head. “I’m not much of a swimmer.”

“Really? You live on a lake.”

“Yeah.”

“But you don’t like to swim?”

“Nope.” Too many weeds, too much rocky sand under my feet, too much unknown in the murky lake. “I love to be out on the lake, though. In a sound, sturdy watercraft, of course.”

He pulls into the Clarks’ side of the driveway and walks me to my door, like this is a real date or something.

“I had a great time with you, Lucy.”

For a second I think he’s going to lean in and kiss me. He doesn’t. His cheeks turn pink, and I wonder if he’s thinking about it, too.

“It was fun,” I say.

It’s the truth. I had fun with him. I smile up at him and he grins back.

“See you soon,” he says, and walks across the driveway.

When he’s almost out of sight behind Betty’s gigantic lilac bush, he turns and holds his hand up in a wave.

I wave, too, and then slip my hand into my pocket. The agate is still there, safe.

14 · Ben

He’s holding her hand, for fuck’s sake. Like it’s a date or something. I watch them walk out of the café, throw some bills down on the counter, wait until the count of thirty, and follow them.