Page 26 of Making the Play

“I said what I said because I was jealous,” she says softly, her face still turned away from me. “Not of Hawaii, but because you have your whole family, Finn, and a lot of people don’t.”

People like her.

Shit. I took what she said personally when it had nothing to do with me. Talk about an ego problem.

“It’s just me, my dad, and my aunt Becky. She’s a pediatrician and lives in New Jersey so we don’t see her very often. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad and I’m not explaining myself so you’ll feel bad for me. Please don’t. Sometimes I just don’t know when to keep my mouth shut.” She turns her head to look at me. “So, we good?”

“If you accept my apology for being a jerk about it then yeah.”

“Done.” She rolls her head so she’s staring out the windshield.

Dark clouds continue to blanket the shore in colorless light. Despite the dreariness, surfers dot the water to our left, sitting on their boards until a large enough wave comes for them. Right now, the sea is placid so they’ll be waiting a while. Patience will eventually pay off. Much like it does when a baseball player is up to bat.

“Your grandma has a lot of spunk.”

“She does. I’m surprised you didn’t ask to take a picture of the two of us. Hashtag favorite grandson.”

The corner of Chloe’s mouth crinkles. “Ethan and Drew might have something to say about that.”

“Exactly. By the way, thanks for fielding all her questions.”

“She’s the cutest Nosy Parker I’ve ever met.”

“A what?”

“The British informal definition is an overly inquisitive person. I bet that’s part of what keeps her young. She’s always questioning and learning.”

“Webster, Webster, Webster. It’s more like she’s always in everyone’s business.”

“He says with affection.”

“Well, yeah. You met her. It’s impossible not to love her even with her wise and powerful gift for prying.”

“She’s like a nosy Yoda.”

I almost get whiplash when I turn my head to stare at her.

“Only with much smaller ears and fewer wrinkles,” she rushes to say, thinking incorrectly that might not be the nicest description when it’s spot-on. “And beauty. Your grandma is still stunning, but something about her reminded me of Yo—never mind. I’m going to stop putting my foot in my mouth now.” She slips her phone out of her purse and swipes up.

“Don’t ever stop talking, Webster.”Unless you’re up for putting something else in your mouth.Yes, my mind went there.

“I’m going to remember you said that.”

“Please do.”

“Hey, our posts are kicking ass. You’ve already accumulated over ten thousand likes on your coffee pic and it’s only been two hours. The one with your brothers is at nine K.”

“What are you doing?”

“Scrolling through the comments. Do you want to help respond now?”

“Definitely. It doesn’t get more authentic than me, right?”

“A lot of them don’t require any detailed engagement beyond a thanks or thumbs-up since they’re compliments like ‘I’ll take one of each’ or ‘good morning indeed’ but @instawithjulie asks, ‘Which one of you is the funniest?’”

“Funniest-looking is Ethan, don’t you think?” I say.

“That’s perfect.” Chloe taps out the comment, I’m assuming verbatim, her fingers moving a hundred times faster than mine do when I’m on my phone.

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