Olivia
Chapter four
When Linda steps back into the room, she hands me a packet of papers and asks Brynn to give me a tour of camp on the golf cart. Thank the Lord she doesn’t ask Gage to take me.
Why is Gage here?
I ask Brynn to give me a minute before the tour, escaping outside ahead of her. I glance around before I scurry behind the camp office building with my phone.
I call Annie, and as soon as she answers, I hiss, “Anaya Gwendolyn Carter. What did you do?”
I was blindsided, seeing Gage here at Camp Prairie Star. With no time to prepare before seeing him, hearing his voice, it was like the air was sucked out of my lungs. I’m lucky I didn’t pass out.
He looks good, though. Too good with his hat on backward and those gym shorts that show off his muscular legs. Gage played baseball all through high school and college, and I always appreciated how all that conditioning honed him into the perfect eye candy. Look but don’t touch.
Annie’s words yesterday about “keeping an open mind” about anything “unexpected” that might happen this summer all of a sudden make sense.
“What do you mean?” she asks, a cautious note to her voice.
“Oh, you know exactly what I mean!” The volume of my voice rises, but I catch myself and return to a stage whisper so that no one overhears the conversation. “You’re supposed to use your plotting skills for your novels, not for my life.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line. “Would you believe it’s a coincidence?”
I laugh wryly. “Not for a second.”
“Okay, okay,” she admits. “After Gage got the job at Camp Prairie Star, I suggested that you apply without telling either of you about the other.”
Gage didn’t seem surprised, though. Or he hid it better than I did.
“And why, exactly, did you do that?” I demand.
“Because you two like each other, and this nonsense of keeping me in the middle has gone on long enough.”
I gasp, but try to keep my voice down. “We do not like each other!” I’ve barely seen the man in the last five years. I dart my eyes around now, as if he’s lingering nearby, listening to my every word.
“See, I didn’t think so either until …” She pauses dramatically. “Exhibit A: New Orleans!”
Internally, I groan. Seeing Gage with his handsy girlfriend at the Halloween parade had gutted me. I was glad he was happy. I wanted him to be happy. Maybe just not so in my face.
“What do you mean Exhibit A? Your brother and I hardly interacted on that trip.”
“Exactly! I saw the way you were watching Gage and his girlfriend at the time, whatever her name was, together before you claimed you had a stomachache and left the parade early. And I saw the way he looked at you.”
“He didn’t look at me in any kind of way,” I protest. “He had a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, who he broke up with the very next week after seeing you!”
That gives me pause. “Did he say something to you about me after New Orleans?”
“No! Neither of you ever talk to me about the other. Exhibit B!”
I sigh heavily. “I think all those rom-coms you read are going to your head.”
“Could be,” she allows, “but even if the two of you end up at least being friends again after this summer, I’m still winning.”
“Annie, this is … a lot. I wish you hadn’t let him catch me unaware like that. You should have warned me.”
When Annie answers, her voice is curious. “Why do you need a warning before you see my brother?”
“No, well … you know, because of everything that went down at graduation,” I stammer.
“Leave it in the past. I’m serious, Delaney. That was five years ago. You’ve both dated tons of other people since then. Surely you can try to be friends now.”
Gage has dated tons of women? I shake off the discomfort of that revelation.
“Okay, I’ll try,” I promise, “but I’m still mad at you.”
I hang up with Annie and meet Brynn back out front by the golf cart. I settle into the passenger seat and Brynn hits the gas, pointing out the sites around Camp Prairie Star. My mind wanders.
Unfortunately, I already gave up all my coaching time slots for the summer at my other job and I need the money, so leaving camp really isn’t an option.
But I can’t be here with Gage all summer because here’s the thing—Gage is exactly my idea of the perfect man.
He’s smart, playful, caring, handsome, athletic, protective, ambitious, and loyal.
I’ve seen the way he takes care of his sister, how he used to take care of me, too.
But I’m pretty sure I am not Gage’s idea of the perfect woman. At least, I shouldn’t be.
“So is Gage your ex?” Brynn asks as if reading my thoughts.
“No, we never dated,” I mumble.
“But not for lack of trying?” She must pick up on the … is that bitterness? … in my voice.
“Something like that.”
“Trying by who?”
“Him. Him trying. Me refusing. And pining.”
That’s not the whole story, but it’s plenty to tell a stranger.
I could never even tell my best friend I was in love with her twin brother.
No. Not love. We were in high school, for crying out loud.
It was a crush, I guess. What do you call it when you’re desperate to kiss someone’s face off but also really respect who they are as a person and know they’re too good for you?
Yeah, pining works.
“Olivia?” Brynn cuts through my thoughts.
“It’s Delaney,” I correct.
“Oh. Gage called you Olivia.”
“Yeah, he does that,” I mutter.
When I started high school, I decided to start going by my last name—Delaney.
It was an easy enough transition for the most part.
The only kids I knew well in our freshman class were Annie and Gage.
I asked Annie to start calling me Delaney and she did, no questions asked.
She slipped a time or two—breaking habits is hard—but she would quickly correct herself.
When I asked Gage to start calling me Delaney, he gave me a look of disgust and asked why.
As I tried to come up with a lie that would satisfy him, he wouldn’t break eye contact.
I swear it was like he was staring into my soul and seeing all my secrets, all my insecurities.
When I finally stuttered out some sort of half reason, he nodded his head.
“See you around, Olivia,” he said. He’s stubbornly refused to call me Delaney ever since.
Again, Brynn’s voice reminds me that I’m not alone. “Well, Gage is super hot. Are you going to try to get with him this summer?”
“Get with him?” I echo.
“Yeah. Do you have dibs? Or would it be cool if I gave it a shot?”
No! I want to shout. I have all the dibs on Gage Carter. But that wouldn’t be fair.
I turn my head to the right, away from Brynn, and stare at the trees in the distance. “Go for it,” I say flatly into the wind.