Love at the Lake (Delaneys in Love #3)

Olivia

Chapter one

Islump against the passenger seat of my best friend Annie’s car, exhausted and restless.

“You ready for a summer of surprises?” Annie asks brightly, in acute contrast to my energy levels.

She’s driving us home from the airport. It’s a late Sunday afternoon in early summer and we just got back to Austin, Texas, from northeast Florida where we’d been attending my older sister Nicole’s wedding.

Annie was my plus one—there are certainly no men in my life worth the title.

Not that I needed a man. Annie was the perfect date, and we had a blast, hence my exhaustion.

I look at her now, sliding my sunglasses down my nose and scrunching up my face. “Surprises? If by surprises you mean sleeping in a cabin and keeping sunburnt, hyperactive kids occupied, then sure. I guess so.”

Annie quickly glances at me in the passenger seat before returning her eyes to the road. She smiles, but there’s an uneasiness behind it.

“It’ll be fun,” she insists, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. “Maybe even the best summer of your life.”

I take my sunglasses fully off now and stare at her profile. “Best summer of my life?” I repeat.

I leave tomorrow to work as the activities director for a kids’ sleepaway camp about two hours east of our hometown.

I’ll be there for thirteen weeks. Working at a summer camp is a fun way to earn money for the next few months—and definitely beats the patchwork of jobs I’ve been working for the last year—but I’m not sure why my friend would prophesy it being “the best summer of my life.”

I fold my arms in front of my chest. “What’s going on?”

Annie shrugs, conspicuously keeping her eyes facing forward. “Nothing. I’m happy for you—heading off on a new adventure. New experiences. You know?”

“Hmm,” I hum as I slide my sunglasses back on my face.

Annie’s being weird. Actually, she’s been a little weird for six months now, ever since we got home from an ill-advised trip to New Orleans.

We stayed with my oldest sister, Molly, and hung out at the Halloween parade with Annie’s twin brother, Gage, and his girlfriend.

I wonder if maybe something’s going on with Gage that has her so restless, but I can’t ask her.

Annie and I never talk about Gage. It’s been an unspoken rule of our friendship ever since the event that happened right before our high school graduation.

We’ve both silently agreed to never mention it again.

So her cryptic behavior now makes me think whatever she’s hiding is Gage-related.

We don’t have secrets from each other that don’t have to do with Gage.

Annie pulls into the driveway of my house in southwest Austin. Well, my parents’ house, though they’re still in Florida for a couple more days. I moved back home after I graduated college. A year later, I’m embarrassed to still be here with no plans or directions beyond this summer.

In a way, I kind of hope Annie’s right, and it will be a summer of surprises. My life could use some upheaval. Some direction. Some motivation. And yeah, some romance if it’s not asking too much. A summer fling could be exactly what I need. Or maybe that’s the last-single-sister melancholy talking.

Both of my older sisters—my smart, beautiful, successful older sisters—are married and thriving in their careers.

Nicole, who married her husband, Adam, yesterday, is an academic librarian at a cute little college in Florida.

Molly, who surprised everyone by eloping with her husband, Jonathan, in Las Vegas last Thanksgiving, started a new job a few months ago.

She’s a coastal environmental scientist running her own lab with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in Charleston, South Carolina.

Meanwhile, there’s me: a single serial dater teetering on the cusp of unemployment after barely graduating with my bachelor’s degree.

I’m happy for my sisters and so proud of them. They’re amazing. But I can’t help but look at their lives and look at my life and feel … deficient.

All through high school and college, playing soccer was my passion. I was the captain and best striker on my Division I college team, thriving on the pulse of the game, the consistency of the workouts, and the camaraderie of the team.

When that last season ended my senior year, I felt listless and directionless. I scraped through my last semester to graduate with my degree in exercise science, but I don’t know what to do with it.

I don’t know who I am now that I’m not a soccer player.

I’ve gotten by coaching weekly classes for a kids’ soccer program here in Austin, but the hours are limited, and the pay is low. I definitely don’t make enough to move out of my childhood home into my own apartment.

So when Annie found an ad from a sleepaway camp looking for an activities director for the summer and encouraged me to apply, I figured why not? It’s temporary, but it gives me more time to figure out my next step and a blessed reprieve from living with my parents.

I twist in my seat and grab my bag from the backseat of Annie’s car. Before I can reach for the door handle to get out, Annie stops me with a hand on my arm.

“Good luck tomorrow,” she says. “I’ll miss you this summer, but I know you’ll do great.

” She pauses, her nose scrunching up as if considering how to word what she says next.

When she speaks, it sounds suspiciously like a pep talk.

“Promise me you’ll keep an open mind about anything …

unexpected that may happen. And call me if you need anything or want to talk anything through.

You know I love you and want you to be happy. ”

I stare at her. It’s a supersweet sentiment and of course I love Annie, too, but everything about this conversation and her mannerisms screams suspicious. “What unexpected things are you expecting will happen?”

She darts her eyes away. “I don’t know. Poison ivy. Homesickness. Awesome camp crafts. A summer romance, maybe?” She laughs, but it’s pitched too high, the way she laughs when she’s nervous.

I narrow my eyes. I had a long day of travel after waking up a little hungover this morning from yesterday’s festivities.

I need to unpack, do laundry, and repack before I have to get up early tomorrow to drive to Camp Prairie Star.

I’m going to let this go for now. Annie is not as sneaky as she thinks, so I’m sure whatever she’s hiding will come to light sooner rather than later.

“Okay, I promise.”

Annie grins. “Thanks. Love you, Delaney.” She calls me by my last name, which she’s done since high school when I first asked her to.

“Love you, too.” I sigh and open the car door, dragging my overfilled duffel bag behind me.

The next morning, I toss the same equally overfilled duffel bag into the backseat of my hand-me-down sedan and drive east.

My parents bought my pale-blue clunker fifteen years ago when my oldest sister started driving. Molly passed it down to Nicole, who passed it down to me. A perk of being the youngest is that I get to keep the car, even though it had definitely seen better days by the time I started driving it.

I pat the dashboard. High mileage or no, Cammie has been good to me and is saving me from a car payment in my current era of underemployment. At least the Bluetooth connection still works, I think as my audiobook plays through the car speakers.

The drive to Camp Prairie Star takes about two hours, and when I spot a Buc-ee’s less than an hour from camp, I stop to fill up on gas for the car and snacks for me.

I notice a text notification on my phone. It’s from the group chat with my sisters. Considering Nicole got married less than forty-eight hours ago and is currently on her honeymoon, I hope it’s Molly texting.

Molly:

Headed to camp today?

Olivia:

Yep. Almost there now

Molly:

Have fun!

Olivia:

You know I’m not like going to camp, right? I’ll be working there

Molly:

Of course

Molly:

I know you’re an adult and stuff

Olivia:

Okay, good. Thanks

Molly:

Oh! Did you remember to pack Panda??

I sigh in frustration. Panda is a stuffed animal I’ve had since I was a baby. It’s a panda, obviously. I was not a kid who was very creative with names.

Right after Molly claims to know that I'm an adult, she asks about my old security stuffie. Figures. Of course, Panda is in my duffel bag, obviously, but still.

Olivia:

I’ll be fine Mol

Molly:

Okay, it’s just I know you can get a little nervous at night by yourself

I lean my head back against the headrest and groan, closing my eyes. I swear, it’s like I have two moms. Hazard of having a sister seven years older.

Nicole:

Stop blowing up my phone. I’m trying to sleep

Olivia:

Girl, set that thing to do not disturb and get back to your “sleeping”!

Molly:

Olivia!

Nicole:

Omg

I chuckle at their reactions. Messing with them never stops being fun. I think it’s a little sister thing.

Olivia:

Gotta drive byeee