Page 40 of My Star-Crossed Summer

“You doing okay there?” She raises a brow.

“Sure. Just had trouble sleeping.”

“Your shirt’s on inside-out,” she says, sipping her tea.

When I glance down, I see the rough seams of the tee, the tag sticking out from the side. As I grumble into my coffee, Sophie smirks. Rarely has she seen me out of sorts. Today, I feel like I’ve been completely dismantled and then put back together—but missing a couple of pieces.

“Man, the owls were loud last night,” she says, popping a strawberry into her mouth. “They kept waking me up, too. They’re frisky this time of year.”

“Right,” I said. “The owls. Frisky.”

The door behind us opens, and Victoria drifts in like a breeze, wearing hiking pants and a tank top, her hair pinned up in some kind of loose knot that’s just begging to be let down. She smiles at us as she heads toward the breakfast bar, and my heart hammers against my ribs.

“I should call Hannah before our meeting,” I tell Sophie. “I’ll see you in a few.”

I’m out the door before Victoria makes it to the table with her breakfast, hoping that if I move fast enough, I can outrun the memory of how right it had felt yesterday when she’d let me catch her and hold her close.

By the time I make it to the cell phone tree—the one spot on this campus where we get a clear signal—I’m almost thinking straight again. When I position myself just right under the fir’s massive limbs, I call Hannah, and she answers on the third ring.

“Everything okay?” I ask her.

“It’s about time, brother,” she quips. “How’s camp going? I thought when you didn’t call me back that you’d been snatched up by a Bigfoot.”

“It’s way worse than that,” I mutter, pacing under the tree.

She snort-laughs. “Did you finally get a little bunch of little wild things? It was only a matter of time before your run with allthe sweet little geniuses ended. The odds can’t always be in your favor.”

“No kidding,” I grumble, thinking the odds are never in my favor. For the first time ever, I’m unable to sleep here, but it’s got nothing to do with the kids. Or the frisky owls. “But whatever. It’s fine.”

“What’s wrong?” she says, and I can imagine her eyes narrowing the way they do when she smells trouble. “Something’s awry.”

“Awry? Are you Benoit Blanc now?”

“Your voice gets that cute little hiccup in it when you’re lying. And when you’re stressed.”

“I’m not lying, and I’m not stressed.” I cringe because I hear the little waver in my voice that says otherwise.

“Want to try that again?” she drawls. “Once more with feeling?”

“Okay, I might be a little stressed,” I tell her.

“You’ve done this camp for a million years,” she says. “It’s like your paradise. What’s so different this time?”

Pacing under the tree, I mumble, “Victoria’s here.”

There’s a long pause, filled with the crackle of a cell signal that’s bouncing along the mountain tops, all the way over to Hannah’s neighborhood in Charleston.

“Wait,” she says. “Victoria from college? The one that got away?” Her voice is getting higher in pitch, her words running together like they do when she’s excited.

I bite my lip before I argue withthe one that got awaybecause we’ve had this conversation, and Hannah always wins no matter how much evidence I produce. So instead, I just say, “The same.”

Hannah lets out a squeal that makes my ears ring as she nears a pitch that only dogs can hear. A flock of crows burst from the limbs above me, squawking in alarm, and I hold the cellphone away from my ear and check to make sure I’m still alone out here in the clearing.

“Noah!” she yells. “What are the chances? That’s amazing!”

“It’s terrible,” I say. “I can’t focus on anything. I keep catching myself spacing out.” I leave out the specifics, like how my brain goes straight to thinking of Victoria’s perfect lips and long legs and contagious laugh because my sister doesn’t need to know those details. “The kids are going to think I’m distracted,” I grumble. “And I am!”

“Awwww,” she says, and I can tell from that syrupy sound that she’s clutching her hand over her chest like one of theBridgertonladies who’s just spotted the new most eligible duke and is already picturing their happy-ever-after. Hannah insisted I watch all the episodes with her, so I know how these things work. Heart-eyes are contagious.

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