Halfway through Erin’s Italian homework, Felicity broke the silence.
“Erin, Hank’s here.”
When she saw him, she couldn’t stop smiling at his charming, crooked teeth. “Hey.”
“Hi. I wanted to talk. I could have called but …” He dug his toe into the blue carpet. “I like seeing you.”
Felicity excused herself. Pippa’s eyes focused squarely on her book, but her pen wasn’t moving; her ears were on Erin and Hank.
Hank said, “I thought maybe we could spend the day together. Doing something alone. Saturday? Climbing? Picnic? Swimming lessons?”
Hank here was no Ben. Ben had been slick and suave and had made reservations for their first date.
“I wish I could say yes,” Erin said.
Pippa hopped between them. “She already has a date with me!”
Erin wrapped her arms around her would-be little sister. “She’s right. We’re having a sister day.”
“Bring her along!”
Pippa’s body went rigid.
“Sorry,” Erin said. “Sisters only.” Just as Erin needed time alone with Hank, Erin understood Pippa deserved time alone with her.
There would be time for Hank later.
Hank grinned. “All right then. Can’t blame a bloke for trying.”
Pippa vibrated with excitement. “I win!”
“Today we have homework. I’ll walk you out.”
She and Hank stood just outside the front door.
“Homework?” Hank said.
“Some. Pippa’s kind of having a rough week. I’m here for moral support.”
“I’m sure she appreciates it. So, when are you going to teach me butterfly?” Hank asked.
“Sometime, I promise.” She wrapped her arms around Hank’s waist and kissed his soft, warm lips. He tasted like peppermint.
“More gum?” she said.
He blushed. “I was hopeful.”
They kissed under the porch light for a long time.
“Sunday?” Erin asked.
“I’m here for guitar Sunday afternoon. Morning?”
“Yes. And climbing Thursday.”
“I can pick you up after school, if you like. Any time.”
“I now have a very expensive bike I plan to use every single day to amortize the cost,” she said. “Tomorrow I’m at Marama’s house for the afternoon. They’re having trouble with Roa again.”
“Yeah, I’m trying to help, too. He’s pissed every night now.”
“Why?”
“No reason.”
“People don’t just get mad for no reason.”
“He’s not pissed off, he’s pissed. You know, from drinking the piss.”
“Ew.”
“Beer. Piss is beer. Drink too much and you’re pissed. Drunk.”
Erin giggled. “I’m so sorry. It’s not funny, but it’s hilarious.”
“Okay,” Hank said. “Wednesday, then?”
“Wednesday.”
She walked him to his car, where they kissed for another long time.
“Back to homework,” she said.
“Catch you later, Erin.”
She turned toward the house and straightened the line of shoes outside the door. They didn’t have a plan for Wednesday, but they’d figure it out.
Pippa was still grinning when Erin slid into her chair. “We’re still on?”
“Of course!” Maybe Erin would’ve been a different person if she’d had a sister all along. “If there’s only one thing you learn from me, Pip, it’s that you should never trade time with your girlfriends for time with a guy.”
Pippa beamed.
“What?”
“You think of me as a friend, not just a sister?”
Erin said, “I don’t even know which of those is better. You, my love, are both.”
Erin had always paid attention to how people made her feel, but for most of her life, she had wanted people only to feel that they liked her. Giving her full attention to Pippa made Pippa feel special, and making Pippa feel special made Erin’s heart soar.
At eleven, Erin admired her grandmother’s ring and the light it scattered across the ceiling.
“Your Grampa gave it to me when I turned seventeen, and when you turn seventeen, we will give it to you.”
“Really?” Erin asked.
Tea nodded. “And perhaps, someday, you’ll have a granddaughter who would like it when she turns seventeen.”
“Thanks, Grandma Tea. Thank you so much.”
Grampa flung open the door and stumbled into the house.
“You are the most important person in the world to me,” Tea said.
“Hey now,” Grampa said, through heavy breath. In an instant, Tea’s hand was over his heart.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. I’m fine. But I thought I was the most important person to you? Never mind. I was running; the Boutwell boys and their friends are fixing to race to Summer Island.”
“Someone get a new Jet Ski?” Tea asked.
“They’re swimming,” Grampa said. “I thought our Fish might give ’em a run for their money.”
Grinning, Erin ran out the door, Grampa and Tea close behind.
“Hold up! Wait!” they cried to the Boutwell gang.
Grampa and Tea followed the race in their motorboat. When it was over—once Erin had beaten the brothers to Summer Island—they gave her a lift back to the house.
“I wouldn’t have missed that for the world,” Tea said.
SIXTY-THREE
Erin had spent half her life in pools, but Pippa wanted to swim, so Saturday morning the bus dropped them at Pioneer Pool. Its lazy river, wave machine, and pool toys were a stark contrast to Erin’s lap pools.
Pippa was in heaven. They paddled in inner tubes to the lazy river and held hands while the current pushed them in circles. An alarm wailed and Pippa gave their inner tubes to what Pippa called little girls, though they couldn’t have been much younger than she was.
Pippa pulled Erin to the wave pool, where rough water churned swimmers into human soup. When the waves ceased, Pippa instructed Erin on the rules of Shark.
Erin closed her eyes until the count of ten and turned to find Pippa near a waterspout. Erin dove and headed for her, and she was eight years old again, with the freedom of unbound hair, water rushing over her scalp. Restrained by swim caps for the past ten years, she had forgotten that feeling.
She loved it.
She used to love swimming, playing in the pool, being underwater. Going swimming used to mean going to play in a pool.
Pippa squealed as Erin’s shark hands nipped lightly at her heels.
“Be the shark again!”
“In a minute. First I want to show you my favorite game.” She led Pippa to the deep end. “We’re going to be mermaids. First, we’ll go under, and you can try to restyle my mermaid hair. Okay?”
In goggles, Pippa moved Erin’s curls around in the water, but they
