Page 20 of Hot Summer

“Yeah.” Ada chewed on the inside of her lip, her gaze locked on the garden door. She didn’t make eye contact with Cas for a long moment, but when she did, she plastered on a smile.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s fine. He was telling me about how much he liked me already and all that, like, how he feels like we have this great connection, so.” She shrugged.

“Yeah, but this early? Like, less than one day in?”

Cas should probably try to keep the skepticism out of her voice, but honestly.

Ada leaned forward and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “That’s what I was thinking, like... Is it weird that he’s acting like this already or am I just in my head? Because, like, Sienna and Jayden seem into each other and even Charlie and Lexi—”

“Yeah, but that’s clearly mutual attraction,” Cas said. “Are you even into him?”

She definitely didn’t seem like she was—or, if she had been, she’d gotten the ick at lightning speed—but it was probably best to keep that thought in her own head.

Ada’s cheeks reddened slightly. “No, I’m— I could like him, maybe.”

“So, you’re not into him,” Cas said flatly.

“I could be,” Ada said. “If I gave it time.”

“Do you want to have to force it, though?” She wanted to say, Do you really want to “give it time” with someone like Brad? but that felt a touch too aggressive.

“I don’t feel like it’s forcing it. More like giving it time to blossom.”

It took everything Cas had not to roll her eyes.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just overreacting,” Ada said before Cas could reply. “Like maybe he’s just being weird because he’s getting used to being here and I’m too in my head about things.”

No way was that true.

Cas nodded. “Yeah, maybe.”

Ada was quiet for a beat before she flashed Cas another forced smile and popped up off the end of the bed.

“I’m going to go back outside. Come with?”

Ada held out her hand. And Cas was torn.

She could say something, keep them talking about Brad, keep them inside and away from everyone else. It was easy to convince herself that she just wanted some more time away from the action, away from the conversation, but Ada was clearly ready to move on, to stop talking about this, and Cas didn’t want to force Ada into a discussion she plainly didn’t want.

But Cas also didn’t want Ada leaving this conversation thinking that anything about Brad was going to change. He could surprise them, sure, but he probably wasn’t going to.

Ada wiggled her fingers, inviting, and Cas sighed.

“Yeah, all right. But I’m not going to like it.”

Cas took her hand and let Ada drag her to her feet, groaning theatrically about how cold the air-con was all the way.

Once they were outside, Ada lifted her hand to cover her own eyes. “Do you want to grab a seat under one of the umbrellas?”

Cas nodded, and after waving at the crowd in the kitchen, they started walking down to the pool deck.

They dropped all their things onto the chairs, and the moment they sat down, Ada started slathering a thick coat of sun cream over her legs.

“Can you get my back?” Ada held out the bottle, already pulling her hair over her right shoulder.

Cas stared at the bottle for a long moment, her eyes trained on but not really reading the label. She waited for a beat longer than was normal before she reached out to take the bottle.

This wasn’t actually that deep. She’d put sun cream on people before. Loads of people.

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