Page 98 of These Summer Storms

“Jesus,” Gabi whispered. “They could all murder you!”

“I don’t think they inherit if they murder me.”

“Okay, well, I don’t love thatthink,and I don’t have the same faith in rich white people two days from losing their inheritance, but…fine. Then play it the other way. Stay until Wednesday. Get your billions, and walk.” Gabi shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like the worst plan. You can take me on a trip.”

They stopped on the edge of Moonstone Cliff, a limestone precipice that fell into a deep swimming hole close to the secret beach. Gabi watched Alice for a while, and then asked, “May I change the subject?”

Alice slid a nervous look at her friend. “I don’t know.”

“What’s the deal with Jack?”

Nothing.

“Don’t you dare saynothing,” Gabi said. “Even if you hadn’t been weird when he came over and introduced himself—”

“I wasn’t weird, how was I weird?”

Gabi’s side-eye required no additional explanation.

“Okay fine, but my dad just died. Maybe I was weird because of that.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Gabi said, “but this was a different kind of weird. This was sex weird.”

“What is sex weird?”

“The kind of weird that comes when you’ve had sex with someone. Am I right?”

Alice should have said no. She was going to say no. But then she’d hesitated too long (any hesitation was too long, clearly), and Gabi pounced. “Oh my god, Iam.” A heartbeat while she took in the news. “When?Was itgreat? I bet it wasn’t.” She tutted. “The hot ones never try hard enough.”

This one did. This one was great.

“Gabi, this is a funeral.”

“Please. Funerals are for this.” She paused. “Oh my god,Alice. You slept with the executor of your father’s trust, who is running an inheritance game for your family, for which he should really be remaining impartial? Incredible. Ethically, extremely messy, but I honestly could not be prouder.”

“I thought this was tabled for dinner on Friday.”

“Oh, we’ll talk about it at length then.”

“I’m happy that this is all entertaining you,” Alice said. “But it’s actually not just ethically messy, it’s also personally messy. For what it’s worth, I didn’t know he was a managing director—”

“I bet he managed to direct you.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “I didn’tknow.”

She trailed off, but Gabi had no trouble picking up the conversation. “He’s the guy from the motel!”

“Gabi, we’re not exactly in private here.”

Gabi lowered her voice. “Sorry. I’m just fascinated. You had a one-night stand at a seedy motel—”

“It’s not seedy.”

“I’m staying there, my friend. It’s kind of seedy, which is not at all relevant. You had a one-night stand thinking you’d never see him again and then he turned out to be the man standing between your family and a massive inheritance.” She paused. “It’s like a romance novel.”

“It’s not like a romance novel,” Alice said. “In romance novels, it’s all a surprise to everyone. This wasn’t a surprise to him. He knew it was me!”

Gabi’s mouth went slack. “Asnake.”