Page 33 of The Parent Trap

I frown and laugh. “You? Yard work?”

She nods. “Me, yard work. I have an actual house of my own, Thai. With flowers. I also have a fireplace and I chop my own wood. I do adult things like that.”

I laugh. “Hey, I do adult things.”

“Have you ever mowed a lawn? Chopped wood? Weeded a flower bed? Bought your own groceries?”

“Believe it or not, I can actually cook rather well.”

She cackles. “Bullshit. You can not.”

“I can!” I point at her. “There’s a lot more to me than you give me credit for. What did you think I was doing the last ten years? I cancook. I was sick of living on takeout, you know?”

She shakes her head. “I would never have pegged you a cook. Takeout, maybe grill a steak at most.”

I snort. “Seems like you wouldn’t peg me for much of anything good.”

A nod. “That’s fairly true, actually.”

I laugh. “As long as we’re clear, I guess.”

“Any other surprises?”

I smirk. “Oh, plenty. But I’m gonna keep those secret, for now.” I grab the bottle and stand up, kick dirt over the dying fire; the light in the clearing fades until I can barely see her in the dim orange glow of the coals. “I just like that look on your face. Like, you’re so shocked I can do…literally anything at all other than breathe with my mouth closed.”

“Nah, I know that. You’re not Dell.”

“That’s not entirely fair.” I find my speaker, which is still playing jazz, and turn it off. “Dell’s just…a little lost, still.”

She doesn’t respond for a long time. “I don’t want to talk about Dell.”

“Fair enough.” I kick more dirt onto the coals until the coals are covered—now it’s totally dark in the clearing.

A memory occurs to me, and I laugh, thinking about it. “Remember when we played spin the bottle out here?”

“Yes.” Her voice is tight, angry. Pained.

That kills some of the humor I’m feeling. “I thought it was funny. We were out here, in The Spot. You, me, Dell, god who else was here that night?”

“Dane Couzens, Olivia Heffernan, Callie Bellows, Rob Prescott, and Leslie.” Her voice is quiet and cold.

I feel like maybe I’ve stepped onto thin ice, here.

“We played spin the bottle. It was harmless fun.”

She whirls on me, and I can feel her anger, even though she’s little more than a shadow in the darkness. “Harmless fun? Thai, that was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, thanks to you.”

“Thanks to me? What’d I do?”

“You don’t even remember?” She laughs, but it’s bitter and disbelieving. “Allow me to enlighten you. It was my turn, so I spun the bottle. It landed on Dane Couzens.”

Ohhhh shit. I’m starting to remember. “You had a crush on him, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. A major one. I thought I’d kept it to myself pretty well, because he was your friend and I knew if you found out, you’d do something mean, and also I knew Dane was part of your Big Swinging Dick club of assholes and idiots. He was just cute, you know? I was attracted to him physically. He had a nice smile, and when he laughed, it lit up the whole room.”

“His laugh was infectious,” I agree. “You couldn’t help but laugh when he did.”

“I still have no idea how you found out. But you did. And when I spun the bottle and it landed on Dane, I was, like…all mixed up. Giddy, because I’d get to kiss Dane without having to tell him I had a crush on him. But also scared that he’d find out. But the moment that bottle landed on him, you got this look on your face. It was the look you got when you were about to do something horrible to me.”