4
When I’ve finished my dinner around the campfire, I want nothing more than to crawl into my sleeping bag for some privacy and rest. But even though everyone has their own tent, the beach is so narrow that they’re pitched only twenty feet from where our chairs encircle the bonfire.
I’m not going to be getting any sleep until everybody turns in for the night, so I settle back in my camp chair.
To my right, Imani is scrolling through photos on her phone, her face illuminated by the screen’s blue glow. “Look how cute they are,” she murmurs, tilting her device toward me. It shows two boys holding bowling balls, dressed in matching bowling shirts labeled THING ONE and THING TWO.
“They are pretty cute,” I agree.
She cracks a smile but doesn’t take her eyes off the photo. “It’s a damn good thing, because they’re basically feral.”
I laugh, but can’t help thinking about the photos of Parker on my phone.
The ones I would never delete, not even the near-duplicates where his smile changes a mere fraction of a pixel.
He would have stayed awake as late as anyone tonight, soaking in every second of the first campfire.
And he’d be nudging me to notice the freckles of light dotting the sky.
Even with the half-moon shining overhead, the stargazing is incredible.
I lean back in my camp chair and try to lose myself in the velvet blue, identifying the constellations I know and searching the corners of my mind for the ones I’ve forgotten.
“Look, Kai,” Parker’s voice whispers. “There’s Orion. There’s the Summer Triangle.”
When I bring my gaze back to the flickering fire, my eyes accidentally lock with Gracie’s as she hands out steaming bowls of blackberry cobbler. “Beautiful, right? Tonight’s not the best for stargazing, but on a dark night, you can see the whole Milky Way.”
“Nice,” I say, embarrassed to hear my voice cracking with emotion. I clear my throat and add, “Dinner was amazing, by the way. Thanks.”
“River Jesus is the master chef,” Gracie gushes loudly. “We just serve what he cooks.”
Josh looks up from where he towers over Bryan, supervising as the newbie scrubs gunk off the dinner dishes. When he grins back at Gracie, she flashes him a shy smile in return. Then she suddenly turns her head, looking sharply across the fire, stiffening like she’s been bitten.
I haven’t been paying much attention to the conversation around me, but now I tune in as I follow Gracie’s gaze.
The scattered side-chatter hushes until I can only hear one animated exchange—between Allie and a younger woman with a red pixie cut and a crop top over her bikini.
The redhead must have been on the other raft, because I don’t recognize her.
I realize I still don’t know everyone’s name.
“Right? Girl, I hated that movie,” the redhead is saying, pushing her spiky bangs beneath the rim of her MAMA TRIED baseball cap. “Those rumors it started are fucking ridiculous.”
Allie’s hands fly to her face dramatically. “Holy shit, right? I moderate one of the big subreddits, and people lost their shit. Oh my god, Nikki, I’ve been dying to talk to someone about it in real life—”
“Yeah, like I said earlier, let’s not talk about any of that,” Macy interrupts, striding up the sandy shore from the direction of the beached rafts.
“Is this about Camas Creek again?” someone asks.
It’s Pam, the stout middle-aged woman with the severe auburn bob.
She turns around in her chair to look at Macy.
“What even happened? Can somebody just tell us? Apparently I’ve been living under a rock.
” She sighs. “My husband wanted to watch that Blood in the Water movie when it was streaming on Tubi, but I see enough tragic stuff at my vet clinic.”
I study Pam more closely, surprised. With the designer swim shirt, I’d sort of been expecting a Beverly Hills trad wife. Now I see short, practical fingernails and weathered creases around her eyes that hint at long days working outdoors, not spa treatments.
“We’ll just talk somewhere else,” the woman named Nikki says flatly, standing abruptly from her chair and tugging on Allie’s arm. It’s almost funny because there’s really nowhere to go out of earshot. Allie looks around and cracks a smile, clearly thinking the same thing.
“I’d like to know what happened,” I volunteer. Because hell, I really would.
Macy shoots me a surprised look but keeps her mouth clamped shut.
That’s when Josh strides over to the fire, leaving Bryan to finish the dish washing.
He crouches in the sand at the edge of the circle, firelight dancing wildly across his beard.
“It’s fine, Mace. The company just doesn’t want us scaring any kids.
But there aren’t any kids on this trip.” He motions for Nikki to take her seat again.
When she does, he nods at Pam, who has traded her Palm Beach swim shirt for a fluffy purple sweatshirt that looks way too elegant for the outdoors.
“You all really wanna know? You won’t be able to forget it. Believe me.”
A few of the fire-lit faces nod as Josh raises his eyebrows and looks around, clearly relishing the suspense.
Nobody protests.
Allie and Nikki look positively thrilled.
“Well, I’m not helping you terrify our guests,” Macy says acidly.
With a huff, she pulls Gracie in by the arm, whispering in her ear.
They move away from the fire together, making their way toward the rafts beached along the shoreline.
It’s the first time I’ve seen either of them appear anything but chipper.
Josh watches them leave and then closes his eyes. “The girls get scared talking about it,” he says softly. “And I don’t blame them.”