The Unexpected Everything - Morgan Matson Page 0,112

hadn’t let myself remember it in years and years—that my dad had been more to me than the last five years. That at one point we’d been really close, and the dog he flew across the ocean with had become my favorite because it was from him.

We walked without speaking for a few minutes, as I concentrated on making sure leashes weren’t getting tangled and that everyone was getting along. It was a beautiful day out—sunny but not too hot, and the street we were on was tree-lined, the sunlight filtering through the leaves. “So what do you think?”

My dad reached over and scratched Bertie’s ears, then patted him on the top of his head. “I think . . . ,” he said, looking around at all the dogs in the sunshine, and then smiled at me. “I think you picked a pretty great way to spend your summer, kid.”

“Yeah,” I said, tugging on the leashes in both hands, more relieved than I’d realized I would be to hear this. “It has its moments.”

TOPHER

So who is this guy?

ME

You don’t know him

TOPHER

Try me

ME

His name’s Clark. Do you know any Clarks?

TOPHER

CLARK?

ME

Told you

TOPHER

What, did he time travel here from the 1930s?

ME

Ha

TOPHER

Well, call me when you’re free again.

Or have your old-timey boyfriend send a carrier pigeon.

ME

Talk to you later, Topher.

• • •

I dipped my toes into the hot tub and looked over at the very intense Ping-Pong game that was going on between Palmer and Clark on the lawn. Wyatt was in the pool, Toby was perched on the edge near him, and Bri and Tom were both floating on the oversize rafts Clark had bought last week, shaped like donuts and pretzels. None of this was a new or unusual sight because, as I’d predicted, my friends had pretty much moved in.

We still went to the Orchard and other people’s parties, and movies when Bri could sneak us in for free, and there had been a week when Palmer had been determined to try out all the mini golf courses in a fifty-mile radius, and Wyatt had hit a hole in one into the clown’s mouth and we’d all gotten free ice cream. But most nights, no matter what we did, we ended up back here, hanging out in the pool, watching movies on the couch, or lying on the lounge chairs under the stars. We’d even spent the Fourth of July there, everyone lying on floats in the pool and watching the fireworks we could see overhead from the official town celebration. Well—everyone else had watched the fireworks. Clark and I had taken turns sitting with Bertie in the laundry room, since Bertie hadn’t realized all the explosions were just for pretend and had spent the night trembling and whimpering.

“Hey.” I looked down and saw that Bri had floated up to the edge of the hot tub in her pretzel. She nodded over to where Toby was, and I could see in her expression that she was worried.

“She’s fine,” I said, though without a ton of conviction in my voice. Toby was wearing a new bathing suit, and she’d gotten her hair blown out straight, which was why she’d avoided getting in the water all night. She was wearing much more makeup than you normally did if you were going to be hanging out and swimming, and there was a kind of fixed desperation in her smile as she watched Wyatt in the pool.

“I don’t know,” Bri said as she pushed off the wall and steered her pretzel closer to Toby.

“So, Wyatt,” Toby called in what I’m sure she intended to be a casual voice, but just came out strangled. “Wyatt,” she repeated when he still didn’t look over at her.

“Sorry,” he said, giving her a quick smile, but not making a move to go any closer. “What’s up?”

“So,” she said, her voice coming out too fast and rehearsed, as she smoothed her hair down with one hand, “I was thinking about how you were saying you needed a new band name? And I came up with—”

“That’s okay,” he said with a shrug as he started to swim into the deep end. “We decided it might be better to just be unnamed. More mysterious, you know?” He ducked under the water, and I watched Toby’s smile falter.

It didn’t get any better over the next hour—Toby moving around the pool, clearly trying to be closer to wherever Wyatt was and Wyatt either not noticing or avoiding her on purpose, but either way, barely