Page 93 of One Last Time

Chapter Thirty

Noah hadn’t come back, but none of us were too worried about him. The mood down on the beach took a while to pick back up after the intensity of the volleyball game, but soon enough it seemed that everyone was enjoying themselves again.

“Everything okay?” Lee asked me as our friends cracked open some beers and Amanda explained the rules of some drinking game to everybody.

“Sure,” I told him, and plastered on a smile to prove it. There was no way I was going to let Noah—or Levi—spoil the rest of my final Fourth of July at the beach house.

As the evening drew on, Matthew and my dad set up the fireworks. June brought out desserts, with Amanda and Rachel and Linda helping. I’d decided to stay out of the way at that point. Too many hands and all that.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Noah?” Brad had asked me and Lee. “He can’t miss the fireworks.”

“How about we video them for him?” Lee suggested. I’d tried calling Noah, left him a message to say he should come home.

He ended up texting his mom, saying he was just out clearing his head.

I had an idea of exactly where he was but decided to leave him be. He’d come home when he was ready. And today was about all of us, about our final Fourth of July at the beach house, not about me chasing after Noah.

That evening, after all our friends had gone and Brad’s buddies had been collected by their parents and after we’d cleaned the place up a little, we piled into the rumpus room at the back of the house with drinks and plates of leftovers to snack on.

Dad was setting up Monopoly. The board was old, used so many times it frayed at the edges and felt soft to the touch. A lot of the cards and game money were faded, crinkled, and bent, some of them stained from our games as careless, messy children.

There weren’t enough pieces to go around for us to all play by ourselves, since we’d lost two of the tokens years ago. Rachel and Lee teamed up. Brad would be playing with Dad. June and Matthew were a team. Amanda, Linda, and I would play by ourselves.

“We get the race car!” Brad cried, grabbing for it.

“Not so fast,” Linda told him with a laugh. “We have to roll to pick the pieces.”

I pulled a face at Lee. Weneverrolled to pick pieces. We all had our own pieces. We just rolled to see who went first.

But, hey, fine.

Whatever.

I rolled a one when it was my turn. I didn’t really care, until Linda rolled a six—the highest of everyone—and said with a great big smile, “Looks like the honor is all mine! And I think I’ll pick”—her fingers danced over the pieces—“the doggy!”

My hand flung out before I could stop it, snatching up the dog.

“Sorry,” I blurted, realizing what I’d just done. “It’s just that I’m always the Scottie dog.”

“Oh, no, Elle.” Linda laughed, holding her palm out to me patiently. “Those are the rules. I get first choice.”

June gave me a sympathetic look from her spot next to Linda, but all I could do was scowl. I’d been so willing to give her another chance today, but this was where I drew the line.

My voice was biting when I retorted, “I don’t care.I’mthe Scottie dog.”

I knew I was being a brat. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t wipe the scowl off my face or compose myself or stop the irritation that boiled away in my veins the more I stared at her.

I knew I was being a brat, and I knew someone was going to try to talk me down, but Ireally,really didn’t expect it to be Dad.

“Elle, come on,” my dad said, sounding unusually stern. “Why don’t you just give Linda the piece?”

I scoffed, glaring athimnow in utter disbelief.

He was really going to take her side? On this?

I saw June wince, but she didn’t step in to defend me either. In fact, when she caught me looking her way, she gave me a small nod, with an expression that said,Go on, Elle, listen to your dad.

Well, fine.