Chapter 6
The Moraleses’ mansion enjoyed an expansive green lawn that extended from the house to the banks of the Little River. Benny
and Lulu were already at those banks by the time the three of us hiked our way back to the double-decker dock sitting over
the river. A small motorboat was moored on one side, a couple of rope hammocks on the other. And at the front, two canoes
had been lowered into the water.
“Are these the same canoes we used back in the day to go to the cave?” I asked Benny when we walked out onto the dock.
“Yup,” he replied, tossing paddles into the long, sleek boats. “They both seat three, as you may remember. I figured Lulu
and I could take the red one, and you three can follow in the green one, since you’re down a paddle, with ol’ One Arm over
there,” he said, gesturing loosely to Jazmine.
“Only need one finger to show you how I feel,” she joked, flipping him the bird.
Benny snorted a soft laugh. “Everyone ready?”
“Ready and steady,” Seb said, quickly stepping into the red canoe before Benny could enter and dropping his backpack onto
the canoe’s belly.
“Dude!” Benny complained.
“We’re taking this one, Goth Boy,” Seb said, sitting on the canoe’s back bench. “Because you may remember that the green one has a slow leak, and I’d prefer to keep my shoes dry.”
“You’re such an asshole sometimes,” Benny complained, unserious.
“If you’re gonna do something, might as well do it well,” Seb replied with a breezy smile. “No time to waste. Let’s load up.
Punkin, come on girl.”
Jazmine took the front seat of the canoe, letting Punkin sit between her feet, and I dropped onto the middle bench while waiting
for Seb to untie us. Then he stepped behind me, tilting the canoe with his weight. When I gripped the sides of the boat to
steady myself, I glanced over my shoulder and found myself staring at the fine blond hairs on his bare legs. As far as male
legs went, they were pretty nice, golden from the sun and muscular.
What was wrong with me? Since when did I look at men’s legs?
“Problem?” he asked, squeezing into the space behind me to sit on the canoe’s back bench. “Or are you just checking me out?”
Oh God. I was, wasn’t I?
“Ha ha—so funny,” I said, trying to play it off. “I just don’t remember this canoe being this small. Since when did your legs,
like, double in length?”
A battered Converse sneaker appeared under my seat when he stretched out one of those legs. “Do you need me to explain the
finer points of puberty?”
I stepped on the toe of his sneaker repeatedly until he laughed and withdrew into the designated area behind me. When he did,
I could feel his knees brush against my back.
“Stop rocking the canoe,” Jazmine called out.
“I’m not taking any of your shit today.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Ha!” Benny called out from the other canoe as it floated past. “I forgot we used to call you that, Jaz.”
So had I, frankly. Jazmine had always been the voice of reason in the group when the rest of us were too giddy with harebrained
ideas to stop and think of the consequences.
“Mother, may I hunt for treasure?” Seb said to Jazmine over the top of my head.
“You may,” she answered, laughing. “As long as when we find it, I get my fair cut.”
“Let’s do this, then! Come on, Wags. Follow that clue!”
Silly, I know, but his words gave me a thrill. Just as it was when we were kids, the prospect of finding hidden treasure still
felt wildly exhilarating. Seb used his paddle to push away from the docks, and we glided across the water. It was disorientating,
being crammed in the canoe with him, so close that his knees eventually settled against my back and the scent of his soap
wafted when the breeze blew. Is he staring at the back of my neck?
My nerves jangled at that thought, so I distracted myself by concentrating on paddling. With Jazmine’s arm in a sling, all
she could do was hold on to Punkin, who was remarkably calm in a boat. Maybe calmer than me. It took a while to get into the
rhythm of paddling with a partner, but then it all came back. And other than Seb whistling random unidentifiable tunes, a
companionable silence settled over all three of us as Seb and I pulled the canoe through the water, squinting into warm sunlight.
The scenery on this stretch of the Little River was beautiful, green banks dappled with morning sun shining through pines
that dotted the banks. A dozen private docks extended on either side, but we didn’t see anyone outside this early.
At a sharp turn in the river, the McMansions disappeared and we headed into wilder territory.
Blueberry bushes lined one bank, train tracks on the other.
And at the point those tracks turned away from the river, we paddled past downtown—the back of it, anyway.
Three blocks of old brick buildings sat along the river with their fronts facing the road and their backsides lining the banks.
A couple of businesses had small river docks, but for the most part, bramble and underbrush blocked our view of downtown.
We paddled past it, listening to morning traffic for several minutes.
But downtown wasn’t big, and eventually the traffic noises faded away.
We passed a motorboat speeding in the opposite direction, and after that, it got much quieter.
Jazmine continually glanced back at the other canoe, first with curiosity, then with daggers in her eyes. I rotated on my
bench to see what was bothering her so much. Benny and Lulu were now lagging a little behind us. Benny was doing all the paddling,
clearly trying to impress his new girlfriend, who was dragging her hand through the water and laughing.
“Go faster, Benny-boo-boo,” Seb said in a high-pitched, breathy voice behind me, imitating Lulu. “You’re so strong, my favorite
oarsman.”
“Just don’t understand what he sees in her,” Jazmine said, unable to stop watching the couple.
“Not that hard, Jaz,” Seb replied. “She worships him. Simple as that.”
“Is that what you want, Seb?” I asked, tossing a look behind. “To be worshipped?”
Pale blue eyes blinked back at me. “By you? Hell, Paige. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
I quickly faced the front of the canoe, feeling thunderstruck, until I realized that he was just giving me grief.
Naturally. It’s what Seb did. He teased.
He used words as weapons while playing dumb, like some verbal agent of chaos.
But even though I knew this, I was caught off guard by long-dormant, unidentifiable feelings that now gripped my chest.
Maybe somewhere deep down I wanted what he’d said to be true.
Or maybe my brain was overloaded with everything that had happened since I’d gotten home, and I just needed rest. Whatever
it was, I tried my best to ignore Seb’s chaotic energy behind me and leaned forward in my seat to prevent bumping into him
again.
See? Problem solved. You’re just tired.
“Look, guys. Not far now,” Jaz said, pointing with her paddle. “There’s the big hill.”
Seb chuckled. “Remember when I tumbled down that hill and nearly fell into the water?”
“Never knew Old Man Keller could run that fast,” I said, smiling. “Thought there was a real chance he might kill you for stealing
all that meat.”
“I’ll never understand people who leave hundreds of dollars of food in a carport freezer, right in the open, where any criminal
can walk up and stock up.”
“You were that criminal,” I pointed out.
“Still am. We should hit up Keller’s freezer after we’re done. I could use a steak.”
Jaz laughed from the seat in front of me. “All those steaks you stole the first time ended up in the river anyway. If you
dive, you might still find ’em.”
“I was ten at the time,” Seb argued. “What was I going to do with an armful of steaks? I couldn’t even boil water. It was the thrill of being able to nab them, that’s all. Hey, there’s the final twist in the river. Almost there. Aww, lookie—a little duck family.”
While he whistled at a mama mallard duck and several ducklings that glided near the riverbank, our canoe rounded the final
bend in the river. I spotted our tiny island, along with the small sandy area near the cave where we used to park our canoes.
My heart fluttered. It had been so long since I’d been out to the island, but nothing had changed. The tiny island wasn’t
even big enough to have a proper name—what with it being uninhabited, about an acre in size, and mostly covered in trees.
But we never cared about that, because what it did have was Pinemoon Cave, the perfect hideout for four adventure-loving kids.
“Land ho!” Seb called out, one hand cupped around his mouth.
We paddled toward the stretch of sand and guided our boat onto land. We jumped out, Jaz grabbing the front of the canoe while
Punkin splashed onto shore, then we all hauled the boat onto the little island “beach” and waited for Benny and Lulu to do
the same.
“Dammit,” Benny said, stepping out of the canoe and shaking off his expensive white sneakers. “Fucking leak. Sorry, Lu.”
“I’m wearing flip-flops, silly,” she said, booping him on the nose with one finger and following that up with a kiss in the
same place. “It’s all good. Let’s have a beautiful day, okay?”
“Yes, let’s,” Jaz said sourly.
I squinted at her while she looked back at the happy couple with a mixture of pain and longing on her face, and like a bolt
from the blue, it suddenly all made sense to me. She was jealous of Lulu.
Did Jazmine have a thing for Benny?
Was that what she and Seb were whispering about this morning?
I continued watching her, but the more I did, the more I wondered if I’d gotten it wrong. After all, she hadn’t said but a couple words about him the entire time I’d been at Harvard. Maybe she just hated Lulu, or maybe there was some beef with Benny that I didn’t know about.
Why didn’t I know what was going on with my best friend anymore?
Seb pulled me out of my thoughts when his shoulder lightly bumped mine as he passed. “Sorry,” he said with a quick glance