“Mmm,” he said, straightening up and leaning around Amanda. “You’re back again? I thought we finally got rid of you.”
“Lee,” Noah huffed.
“Guess you didn’t try hard enough,” Amanda told him, waving her spatula before going back to easing the pancake away from the edges of the pan.
“Pancakes?”
“Happy Fourth of July!”
Lee turned around to look at us. He arched an eyebrow, catching my eye and whispering loudly, “She knows what this holiday is all about, right?”
I felt a rush of relief at how normal he was acting.
“I’m not convinced, so we’re doing a whole reenactment for her later. I get to be Jefferson,” I told Lee. “You can be John Adams.”
“Aw, man. Can’t I be Franklin? I’ll get the old kite out of the den and everything. I will even throw in the Twinkie I found under my seat in the car yesterday.”
“Hmm. You drive a hard bargain, Lee Flynn.”
“You know, Noah,” Amanda announced, “when you told me they were a pair of freaks, I was like, ‘Nah, he’s just exaggerating, he doesn’t mean it,’ but, oh man, did you mean it.” She finished planting another pancake on a plate, then delicately decorated the stack with blueberries, chopped strawberries, and a flourish of whipped cream before handing Lee the plate. “Voilà.”
“Hey! Red, white, and blue! Nice!”
“I’m glad someone appreciates it.”
“We appreciate it,” I told her, my mouth full of pancake, gesturing my fork between me and Noah.
“Is Rachel up?”
“She’s taking a shower,” Lee told Amanda, who set about making even more pancake mixture.
With Lee sitting next to me eating his breakfast, the crackle of tension I’d been expecting appeared between us. The cracks that had been there a couple of days ago when I forgot about the trip to Berkeley were back. His elbow knocked mine while we ate, but he felt a million miles away in that moment.
It was only afterward, when the two of us were doing the dishes, that he said, “Noah told me, you know. That you guys changed your plans.”
“I thought you weren’t leaving till seven,” I mumbled. “You were gone when I got up.”
“We were ready early, and…I didn’t know we were supposed to be waiting for you.” He nudged me, catching my eye again—looking at me properly for only the second time that morning. “I’m sorry, Shelly. I really am.”
I shook my head, focusing on the plate I was drying off. If I looked at Lee too long, I was kind of worried I’d start crying. “You’re right. You didn’t know. How could you have known? I should’ve, like, I don’t know. Texted you. Or something.”
“Maybe we can go another weekend. Just us two. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great day with Rachel, and Ashton gave us the grand tour, and his girlfriend’s great, too, but it wasn’t the same without you there. We should go. I can re-create Ashton’s tour and everything.”
He made my heart melt.
“That sounds perfect. Thank you, Lee,” I whispered, resting my head on his shoulder.
Maybe, at least for today, I could keep both Noah’s and Lee’s plates spinning steadily.
* * *
• • •
June and Matthew showed up midmorning. June, Rachel, Noah, and Amanda headed straight back out to buy some extra supplies for the day, while Lee, Matthew, and I got to work tidying the place up and getting things ready for the party.
Lee’s parents had brought a big white folding table. We set it up outside, rearranging the rest of the furniture to fit it in. I laid out stacks of paper plates, plastic cutlery, and napkins, while Lee hung a string of flags around the porch to decorate. Matthew got started making a vat of potato salad—his mom’s recipe and a Fourth of July tradition for us.
When the others got back, Amanda was decked out in a big glittery blue cowboy hat with a red ribbon tied around it and a sprig of white stars sticking out of the top, and she had a huge plastic flag that was probably intended to be a tablecloth tied around her neck like a cape.
“This is my first time celebrating this holiday,” she argued. “I’m going all out. Chances are, I won’t be back next summer.”
“Oh, sweetie, you’re welcome to spend holidays with us anytime,” June told her warmly. “Elle, what time are your dad and brother getting here? He’s got the ribs and the fireworks. And Linda’s bringing pie.”
“I…I thought you were making pie.”
Although, now that she’d said it, I hadn’t seen any and I guessed we had enough to get by without making pies as well.
“Well, I was planning on it, but Linda offered, so…It’s nice! Don’t you think?” June smiled at me. “She seems really great, Elle.”
“You’ve— Wait, you met her?”
“We all went to dinner last week. Your dad didn’t tell you?”
“I guess he forgot.”
I gritted my teeth and went back to prepping salad. Fine, great, Linda was bringing pie. Whoopee. Good for her. They wouldn’t be as great as June’s, but…fine.
Much as I wanted to stay out of her way, I knew I’d run into her at some point. At least it couldn’t be as awful as last time, right? Or anywhere near as awkward and weird as the first time I’d met Amanda?
But I couldn’t be the only one who thought it was all moving a little fast, right? A month ago, I’d had no idea about her, and now she was bringing over pies to spend the holiday with us.
No, Elle, come on. Not today.
I did my best to shake it off. Today was supposed to be something special. Not just because all of us were getting together to party and eat way too much food, not just because all our friends were coming over, but because it was the last Fourth of July at the beach house. It was special. It mattered.
So I’d swallow whatever feelings I had toward Linda (none of which, I hated to admit, were particularly favorable) and enjoy the day. Hell, I’d even enjoy her damn pies.
Besides, I’d only just gotten a grip on things with Lee and Noah. I didn’t think I could handle any kind of emotional turmoil over anyone else right now.
We took a break long enough to get changed. While Amanda was almost aggressively red, white, and blue with her extra accessories, Rachel kept it simple in a pair of denim shorts and a cute T-shirt. My outfit was a happy medium between the two: while my shorts were bright red, the loose cami I threw on over my bikini was pale blue, and I finished the look with a pair of dangly silver star earrings. And while Noah, like Rachel, wasn’t particularly dressed up, Lee had a pair of American-flag swim shorts on, paired with a white T-shirt with a gray star pattern. We did love a theme, after all.