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"I should take you sailing soon," Brooks said, "before the weather changes" Brooks was a great sailor--unlike Eureka, who could never remember which way to crank the levers This was the first summer he’d been allowed to take friends out on the boat alone She’d sailed with him once in May and had planned to do it every weekend after that, but then the accident happened She orking her way back to being around water She had these night in the middle of the darkest, wildest ocean, thousands of miles from any land

"Maybe next weekend?" Brooks said

She couldn’t avoid the ocean forever It was as

"Next time, we can leave the twins at ho the twenty miles north to pick up Eureka in Lafayette, since her car was still in the shop When he got to her house, guess who begged and pleaded and pitched s? Brooks couldn’t say no to the So Eureka spent the next half hourcar seats frogling with twenty different buckles and infuriating straps Then there were the beach bags, the floaties that needed blowing up, and the snorkel gear Willia froined there were no such obstacles when Brooks spent tiined Eiffel Towers and candlelit tables set with platters of poached lobster springing up in fields of thornless red roses whenever Brooks hung out with Maya Cayce

"Why should they stay ho Claire fashion a seaweed ot kiddie life jackets"

"Because They’re exhausting"

Brooks reached into the basket for the étouffée He took a forkful, then passed Eureka the tub "You’d bethem"

Eureka lay back on the sand and put her straw hat over her face He was annoyingly right If Eureka ever let herself add up how exhausted by guilt she already was, she’d probably be bedridden She felt guilty for how distant she’d groith Dad, for the unending wave of panic she’d unleashed on the household by sing those pills, for the s to fix so that she could hold the expense over Eureka’s head

She thought of Ander and felt h to believe he’d take care of her car Yesterday afternoon, Eureka had finally worked up the courage to dial the number he’d slipped inside her wallet A thick-voiced woman named Destiny picked up and told Eureka she’d just hooked up her phone service the day before

Why drive to her house just to give her a fake nu on Manor’s cross-country team? How had he found her at the lawyer’s office--and why had he driven away so suddenly?

Why did the possibility of never seeing hiain fill Eureka with panic?

A sane person would realize Ander was a creep That was Cat’s conclusion For all the nonsense Cat put up with from her various boys and men, she didn’t tolerate a liar

Okay, he’d lied Yes But Eureka wanted to knohy

Brooks lifted a corner of the straw hat to peek at her face He’d rolled over onto his stomach next to her He had sand on the side of his tanned cheek She could smell the sun on his skin

"What’s on ht about how trapped she’d felt when Ander had grabbed Brooks by the collar She thought about how quick Brooks had been to make fun of Ander afterward "You don’t want to know"

"That’s why I asked," Brooks said "Because I do not want to know"

She didn’t want to tell Brooks about Ander--and not just because of the hostility between them Eureka’s secrecy had to do with her, with how intensely Ander made her feel Brooks was one of her best friends, but he didn’t know this side of her She didn’t know this side of her It wouldn’t go away

"Eureka" Brooks tapped a thumb on her lower lip "What’s up?"

She touched the center of her chest, where her otten used to its weight around her neck Brooks reached out and ers on the locket’s face He held the locket up and thued it free, not wanting him to break it

"Sorry" He flinched, then rolled away onto his back Eureka eyed the line of muscles on his stomach