Crescendo

I handed her a tube of sunscreen, maybe just a little too hard. “Put this on my back, and don’t miss any areas.”

“I think I’m going straight to oil,” Vee said, slapping sunscreen across my back. “A little burn is better than spending a whole day at the beach and leaving it as white as when you came.”

I craned my neck over my shoulder but couldn’t tell how thorough Vee’s job was. “Make sure you get under my straps.”

“Think they’d arrest me if I take off my top? I really hate tan lines.”

I spread my towel under the umbrella and curled up beneath its shade, rechecking to make sure my feet weren’t hanging out in the sun. Vee shook her towel out a few feet away and lathered her legs with baby oil. In the back of my mind, I conjured up images of skin cancer I’d seen at the doctor’s office.

“Speaking of Patch,” Vee said, “what’s the latest? Is he still hooked up with Marcie?”

“Last I heard,” I said stiffly, thinking the only reason she’d raised the question was to goad me further.

“Well, you know my opinion.”

I did, but I was going to hear it again, whether I wanted to or not.

“The two of them deserve each other,” Vee said, spraying Sun-In through her hair, misting the air with chemical lemon. “Of course, I don’t think it will last. Patch will get bored and move on. Just like he did with—”

“Can we talk about something other than Patch?” I cut in, pinching my eyes closed and massaging the muscles at the back of my neck.

“You sure you don’t want to talk? Looks like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

I rolled out a sigh. No use hiding it. Obnoxious or not, Vee was my best friend and deserved the truth, when I could give it. “He kissed me the other night. After the Devil’s Handbag.”

“He what?”

I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. “In my bedroom.” I didn’t think I could explain to Vee that he’d kissed me inside my dream. The point was, he had. Location was irrelevant. That, and I didn’t want to even think about what it meant that he now seemed capable of inserting himself into my dreams.

“You let him inside?”

“Not exactly, but he came in anyway.”

“Okay,” Vee said, looking like she was struggling to come up with a decent response to my idiocy. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’re going to swear a blood oath. Don’t give me that look, I’m serious. If we swear a blood oath, you’ll have to keep it or something really bad will happen—like rats might gnaw off your feet while you’re sleeping. And when you wake up, all that will be left are bloody stumps. Do you have a pocketknife? We’ll find a pocketknife, and then we’ll both cut our palms and press them together. You’ll swear never to be alone with Patch again. That way, if temptation strikes, you’ll have something to fall back on.”

I wondered if I should tell her that being alone with Patch wasn’t always my choice. He moved like vapor. If he wanted alone time with me, he was going to get it. And though I hated to admit it, I didn’t always mind.

“I need something a little more effective than a blood oath,” I said.

“Babe, get a clue. This is serious stuff. I hope you’re a believer, because I am. I’ll go hunt down a knife,” she said, starting to rise to her feet.

I pulled her back down. “I have Marcie’s diary.”

“Wh-what?!” Vee sputtered.

“I took it, but I haven’t read it.”

“Why am I just now hearing about this? And what is taking you so long to crack that baby open? Forget Rixon—let’s drive home right now and read it! You know Marcie’s talked about Patch in it.”

“I know.”

“Then why the delay? Are you scared about what it might reveal? Because I could read it first, filter out the bad stuff, and just give you answers, straight up.”

“If I read it, I might never speak to Patch again.”

“That’s a good thing!”

I looked sideways at Vee. “I don’t know if it’s what I want.”

“Oh, babe. Don’t do this to yourself. It’s killing me. Read the stupid diary and allow yourself closure. There are other guys out there. Just so you know. There will never be a shortage of guys.”

“I know,” I said, but it felt like a cheap lie. There had never been a guy before Patch. How could I tell myself there’d be one after? “I’m not going to read the diary. I’m going to give it back. Marcie and I have had this ridiculous feud for years, and it’s getting old. I just want to move on.”

Vee’s jaw dropped, and she sputtered a little more. “Can’t moving on wait until after you’ve read the diary? Or at least given me a quick peek? Five minutes, that’s all I ask.”

“I’m taking the higher road.”

Vee rolled out her own sigh. “You’re not going to budge, are you?”

“No.”

A shadow fell over our towels.

“Mind if I join you lovely ladies?”

We looked up to find Rixon standing over us in swim trunks and a tank, with a towel thrown over his shoulder. He had a gangly build that appeared surprisingly tough and resilient, a hawk nose, and a shag of inky hair that fell across his forehead. A pair of black angel wings was tattooed on his left shoulder, and combined with a heavy five o’clock shadow, he looked like he was employed by the mob. Charming, playful, and up to no good.

“You made it!” Vee said, her smile lighting up her whole face.

Rixon collapsed on the sand in front of us, elbow down, cheek propped on his fist. “What’d I miss?”

“Vee wants me to swear a blood oath,” I said.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds serious.”

“She thinks it will keep Patch out of my life.”

Rixon tilted his head back and laughed. “Good luck with that.”

“Hey now,” Vee said. “Blood oaths are serious stuff.”

Rixon laid his hand intimately on her thigh and grinned affectionately at her, and I felt my chest ache with envy. Weeks ago, Patch would have touched me the same way. The irony was, weeks ago, Vee had probably felt the same way I did now whenever she was forced to hang out with Patch and me. Knowing this should have made swallowing my jealousy a little bit easier, but the pain cut deep. Responding to Rixon, Vee bent forward, placing a kiss on his mouth. I averted my eyes, but it didn’t dilute the envy that seemed to hang like a rock in my throat.

Rixon cleared his voice. “Why don’t I go buy us some Cokes?” he asked, having the sensitivity to notice that he and Vee were making me uncomfortable.

“Allow me,” Vee said, standing and dusting sand off her bottom.

“I think Nora wants to talk to you, Rixon.” She made air quotes around the word “talk.” “I’d stay, but I’m not a big fan of the subject matter.”

“Uh—,” I began uncomfortably, not sure what Vee was hinting at, but acutely aware that I wasn’t going to like it.

Rixon smiled at me expectantly.

“Patch,” Vee said, clarifying things, only to make the air seem ten times heavier than it already was. With that out of the way, she marched off.

Rixon rubbed his chin. “You want to talk about Patch?”

“Not really. But you know Vee. Always there to make an uncomfortable situation ten times worse,” I muttered under my breath.

Rixon laughed. “Good thing I’m not easily humiliated.”

“I wish I could say the same thing right now.”

“How are things?” he asked, trying to break the ice.

“With Patch, or in general?”

“Both.”