“C’mon in, the water’s fine,” she called once she broke through the surface once more, the hot sun burning her cheeks.
“You have a death wish, don’t you?” he shouted back.
She shook her head and brushed wet hair from her face. “’Course not. Now stop being a scaredy cat.”
“I’m not scared!”
“Then jump.” At his disbelieving look, the hesitation, she rolled her eyes. “You trust me, right?”
Her words, to her surprise, spurred him into action. He let the cigarette box fall to the ground beside her glasses then mimicked what she’d done. Rett saw the wide eyes, the tight jaw, as he dropped toward the water. Her chest clenched at what it meant: He actually trusted her. He listened and had faith that she wouldn’t steer him wrong. He believed she would never allow harm to come to him.
With his dark hair plastered to his forehead, eyes lit up with the thrill of what he’d done… Rett had never wanted to kiss someone more.
She didn’t kiss him like she wanted to, though. Instead, she waded toward the bank, and he splashed through the water behind her. Her mind raced—he trusted her. Somethingfluttered in her belly at the thought. They’d known each other for less than a month, and already he seemed to know she would never do anything to hurt him or lead him astray. Rett would never—God, she could never—but how could he possibly be so assured?
The days passed, and the two stayed by each other’s sides. They spent the last three days of the week indoors at Georgie and Charles’s in a futile attempt to stay out of the heat and sun. The old cooling system hadn’t been able to keep up with the temperatures, breaking two months prior, and Charles had never gotten around to fixing it. They were all too used to the summer weather for it to ever have been a priority. Calum grumbled the entire time—Rett didn’t blame him. Box fans could only do so much. So she wasted away the hours lying on his bed with him, a rackety air conditioning unit in the window that did little more than blow warm air through the room. Neither Rett nor Calum did much; they only talked lazily into the afternoon about everything and nothing. He had dreams of going to college and becoming an architect. It was something he’d never told anyone else before. Rett closed her eyes against the burning.
He trusted her.
He doubted he would ever make it. He’d messed up too many times. She only told him to shut up and believe in himself. He laughed, and she settled back down with a self-satisfied smile. For his admission, she told him of her own plans to travel the country, see what lay beyond the town borders, then come right back home. Oak Creek would always be the one place she belonged. Nowhere else would do.
“I’ve always wanted that,” he confessed, finger running along her arm. He wouldn’t meet her eye as he explained, “A place to belong, I mean. I have my family, I know that, but it’s just… It’s so much responsibility. I just want to be Calum for a while.”
“As long as I’m concerned, that’s all you are,” she whispered back.
He grinned, eyes narrowing and nose scrunching up. Rett didn’t kiss him then, either, though she wanted to. She wanted to know if he tasted as good as he smelled. But she quelled the urge and poked his stomach instead. They weren’t at the kissing stage. They never would be. His laugh was good enough, if she couldn’t kiss him.
Rett’s birthday arrived just as hot as any day before it, despite it being the beginning of September. The air pressed down on the town, thick and heavy with moisture. She ate breakfast with her parents before speeding across the two streets to Calum’s front door. They walked to the bus stop together, much like they had for the past month, and she ached to lean into his side. That was too much a ‘relationship’ thing. The friendship was more than she could have asked for only a month previous.
She never imagined he’d even talk to her, let alone trust her.
“I’m older’n you now,” she said through the smoke in her lungs after school, letting her feet swing back and forth against the trunk. She could almost hear Calum’s eye-roll from where he sat on the branch beside her.
“You’ve been older than me.”
“Yeah, but now I’m a whole eighteen years old. You’re still only seventeen.”
He laughed and reached for the joint. “You—you realize that has no bearing on our age, right? You’re always gonna be three months older than me.”
“What do you wanna do foryourbirthday?” she asked instead of commenting on what he said. “I’m sure Miss Maudie—”
“Don’t say it.”
“—would love to have you over—”
“Loretta.”
“—for tea and sandwiches.”
“Okay, that’s it. Friendship over.”
Rett giggled so hard, she nearly fell to the side. She tightened her legs around the branch, fingers scrabbling for purchase on the bark, and caught her breath as she shifted more securely onto the limb. When she glanced at Calum, it was in time to see the slight hitch to the corner of his lips. The amusement that resided in his eyes as he stared out into the woods. She followed his gaze and cocked her head at the sight of the rusted trailer further into the copse of trees.
“We should explore it,” she announced.
“Why?”
“Ain’t you the least bit curious? I mean, it’s been there as long as I can remember, but I never seen it up close.”
