Chapter 19 #2
Noa rolled onto her back and gasped up at the sky. “Dead last.”
“Second to last. We beat your parents.” Maddy pointed out, still catching her breath.
Noa turned her head, eyes streaming. “My mother stopped to do laundry mid-race. That doesn’t count.”
“It’s on the board. It’s a historical fact now.” Maddy let herself enjoy this moment. She’d been worried about how long it would take to get their old friendship back, but it had come back instantly, like no time had passed at all.
They finally got up and made their way over to the scoreboard. Aspen and Maisie had finished third, just behind Lena’s daughters who had taken second, and Olly and Jake who had taken first.
A few minutes later, they began the egg-and-spoon relay race, which demanded the one thing Maddy had never once done well: to go slow.
Balanced egg, balanced spoon, and the entire strategy of the game was no sudden movements.
Don’t lunge. Don’t surge. Maddy crossed with her egg miraculously intact, and feeling like she’d aged five years in those twenty yards.
They came in second, behind the Amazons. Grace had been their secret weapon on this particular race with her perfect yogi balance and unrushed patience.
Maddy was studying the scoreboard when a water bottle appeared in front of her face. “Here. Drink.” Aspen said. “You need to replenish.”
Maddy looked at the bottle. Then quickly cut a glance at Noa, six feet away, getting cheered on by Holli, paying them no attention at all.
Aspen caught the hesitation, and the corner of her mouth tipped up. “Unless you’d rather get a cramp again and cost us the Cup. Your call. I’m just the medical professional standing here with a preventative solution, but what do I know?”
A low blow, but a good one. Maddy took the bottle. “You’re insufferable.”
Aspen smiled. “I’m attentive.”
Maddy took a sip, expecting plain water, but it was flavored. Aspen had poured grape electrolyte powder into it. Her favorite flavor. She gave Aspen a sidelong glance as Aspen stood beside her, eyes on the scoreboard.
She had no idea how Aspen would know grape was her favorite flavor, but Maddy brushed it aside and drank her delicious-tasting water.
* * *
By the time the kayak heats were called, the sun was straight overhead, and Maddy was grateful for those extra electrolytes.
The kayaks were two-person, and Maisie had specifically requested Maddy as her partner—well, demanded, was probably a better word for it—and she’d done it in a tone that Maddy found slightly alarming.
The starting line was a buoy a hundred yards out, and the pairs paddled toward it in varying states of disaster.
Jake and Marion kept turning in a slow, helpless circle while Marion bit out something short and lethal in French.
Hank was telling Diane to “dig” not “slap” the paddle, to which Diane slapped the water with her oar again and called back “I am digging, Hank!”
Jake’s brother and cousin were drifting slightly off shore with their legs dangled over the edge of the kayak, drinking beers.
Further out, Aspen and Noa hadn’t so much paddled to the start line as much as locked into a premature rowing war with Lena and Zoe.
Maddy and Maisie found their rhythm, because Maisie, for all her chaos on land, was unnervingly competent on the water. They drifted past Olly and Chloe, and Maisie waved excitedly. “Hi, Mom! Hi, Grandpa!”
“Lookin’ good, Mais!” Olly cheered.
“Did you reapply sunscreen on your nose like I asked you to?” Chloe called after them.
“Yes, Mom.” Maisie said with her eye-roll evident in her voice.
They were halfway to the buoy, the noise of the beach thinning out behind them to just the dip and pull of the paddles, when Maisie looked back over her shoulder. “Can I ask you a question?”
Maddy’s stomach clenched. She had a suspicion Maisie had an ulterior motive for wanting to be Maddy’s partner and had been bracing for what it might be. “Sure.”
“Remember when we were all at dinner a few weeks ago…” Maisie started.
Oh boy, Maddy had a feeling she knew where this was going.
“And Grandpa said Aunt Aspen came out of the ocean all soaking wet with her clothes on, and everyone laughed, but nobody ever said why she was in the water.” Maisie kept paddling, facing forward. “So what really happened?”
“Well.” Maddy slowed her paddle. “Part of what Bunny said was true, your aunt beat me in the kayak race that year. Barely. And I was mad that I lost, so I told her I wanted a rematch, and we agreed to meet back at the beach the next morning at six thirty, before our parents woke up. And that morning, I’d grabbed my dad’s hat on the way out the door—his favorite one that he wore every day and when I teased him about it, he told me it had sentimental value.
I guess I thought it would bring me good luck or something if I wore it.
Anyway, so we get to the beach, paddle out, and start racing, and a big gust of wind comes through and blows my dad’s hat straight off my head. ”
Maisie looked back over her shoulder, eyes gone huge. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes.” Maddy continued. “The waves had started to pick up, and the hat was getting pulled further out to sea quicker than I could paddle, and I started to panic. And before I could even decide what to do, your aunt went straight over the side of her kayak and swam after it.”
Maisie’s paddle had gone still, and she turned fully to look at Maddy. “Did she get it?”
“She did.” Maddy paused her paddling too.
“She dove under a giant wave and came up on the other side with my dad’s hat in her hand.
But when she tried to get back in her kayak, it kept flipping, so I had to tow her and her kayak in, and your Grandpa Olly happened to show up right as your Aunt Aspen was walking out of the water fully clothed while I climbed out of my own kayak, totally dry.
Everyone assumed I pushed your aunt in because I lost. And I didn’t want to get in trouble for stealing my dad’s hat, so I just… never corrected them.”
Maisie narrowed her eyes at Maddy. “So let me get this straight. Aunt Aspen jumped into the ocean in all her clothes, after your dad’s hat, that you stole, because you were upset. Then she lied about it so that you wouldn’t get in trouble?”
Maddy’s chest squeezed. Fuck. She had honestly never really thought about it that way before, but that was exactly what happened. “Yeah. She did.”
Now, she felt a little bit like an asshole.
She had never even told Aspen thank you.
She had been too panicked about getting back to the house and drying her dad’s hat before he found out, and then too annoyed by everyone saying Maddy had pushed Aspen in, and Aspen not denying it.
Which, of course, Maddy had also blamed Aspen for.
She hadn’t really considered that Aspen never corrected them because she was protecting Maddy, the same as Maddy was doing for herself.
She had definitely never considered why Aspen jumped into the ocean in the first place.
But now she was.
They drifted into place at the starting line, and Maddy sat with her paddle across her knees. She thought about all of the sweet gestures Aspen had made over the past five weeks that Maddy had brushed off as coincidences.
The intake reports. The coffee order. Volunteering to be Maddy’s muscle and letting Maddy boss her around. Always being on time. The jersey. Seat thirteen. Clearing her schedule. Coming to Maddy’s aid. Keeping Maddy hydrated. Her favorite flavor.
Holy shit. Had Maddy been a complete fucking idiot this entire time? Too busy keeping score to catch what was really going on?
Her head spun. She glanced down the lineup of kayaks and found Aspen, whose eyes were already on her, a slight furrow between her brow. She mouthed you okay?
Maddy didn’t know. Was she okay? She felt like her entire world was tilting on its axis. She turned back ahead. Maddy thought this was something new—for both of them. But what if it wasn’t? What if—
From the shore, the sound of a whistle blew, followed by a frenzy of motion around her.
“Maddy. Maddy! Paddle!” Maisie’s voice cut through her thoughts. “We’re gonna lose. Paddle!”
Shit. Maddy grabbed her oar and paddled as hard as she could.
They lost—sixth place. Aspen and Noa took it by inches over Lena and Zoe, the two boats dead even the whole way in; Olly and Chloe took third; Ava and Grace fourth; Mia and Bella fifth.
Jake and Marion never cleared the start line, last seen rotating slowly in place like a very furious French compass.
At least they’d beat three other teams fair and square.
When they got to the shore, Aspen came over and pulled their kayak further up the beach so Maddy could get out on dry land.
Maddy held her palm out for Aspen to give her hand, which seemed to catch Aspen by surprise.
She quickly grabbed Maddy’s hand and pulled her up and out of the kayak, so they were face-to-face.
“Hey,” Aspen said with a smile, still lit up from her win.
Maddy didn’t immediately let go of her hand. She had about a million questions she wanted to ask Aspen. She needed clarification. She needed to know if she was reading too much into something that wasn’t there. But she knew now wasn’t the time.
So instead, she tipped her lips into a teasing smirk. “Not bad, St. Claire.”