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I brush my hand over my head. “There’s more to it than that. Olivia. My mother. Alex. Cash blatantly told me he’s not going to get into a long-term relationship again.”
“Yeah, but that’s just the pain talking. You saw how his dad collapsed after his mom died. The man is hurting. He’s confused. Ugh, you’re so responsible,” Marci says, ruefully. “You’ve got to let that kitty out of the cage.”
“I think it’s fair to say that letting the kitty out of the cage is exactly what landed me in this predicament.”
Marci gives me a devilish grin. “Touché.” She pauses, wriggling her nose. “I guess it’s fine not to know right now. Maybe the summer will change your mind.”
The girls start walking again, and Marc and I take the lead up the hill.
“What about you and Jesse?” I ask.
“Huh?” Marci looks at me, wide-eyed. “Me and who?”
“Oh, come on.”
“You cannot be referring to Jesse Taylor,” Marci says. “Because Jesse Taylor, is the most insufferable human being to ever have walked this earth.”
“Hmm. I don’t buy it.”
Marci rolls her eyes.
“You two have chemistry.”
“Yeah, and you know what else happens in chemistry? Explosions. Big ones,” Marci says.
“Marciiii.”
She shrugs.
We trek to the top of the hill.
Finally, we reach Diver’s Point overlooking the quarry. It’s not too high up, but it’s high enough to be scary for me after all these years. I dismiss the memory and move toward the lookout point. The wood on the decking is creaky, and there’s a guardrail that’s seen better days. The quarry is as beautiful as ever, the water a deep blue, the reflection of the clouds overhead scudding across the surface.
“We made it!” Marci sings.
Belle glares at her, sweat-streaked. “Made it? Made it. Made it to where? We still have to walk all the way back down that thing!”
“If you need a nap.” Hannah removes her backpack and pats the sleeping roll on top. “You know where to find me.”
“I’m going to throw you and that backpack off this cliff.”
“Picture time!” Marci cries.
The girls gather round, and we squish in and hold up peace signs and make pouty faces for Marci’s cellphone camera. Or, Hannah, Marci, and I do. City girl Belle glares, but she still looks cute.
“One more, one more.”
I lean back against the wooden guardrail, grinning.
Marci tells us, “Say—”
There’s a cracking noise that sends panic shooting through my veins. One second I’m upright, staring at our reflection in her cellphone, and the next I’m looking up at that beautiful blue sky, and then I tumble and I’m looking at the water. Wind rushes past me, and my stomach whoops as I plummet.
I scream, but the air is knocked out of me as I hit the surface. Water rushes up my nose and down my throat, and I choke. I try to kick, but my limbs refuse to work properly.
No!
The memories come flooding back. The sound of Olivia laughing. The ice-cold water. And I’m struggling to kick my way to the surface.
