Vivi walks to the stove. Fills the kettle with water and correctly guesses the cabinet we use for coffee and tea. One cup of tea for me, one for her. She sets them in front of us and sits back down beside me. We sip in the quiet. When we’re done, she pours more tea in a new mug and sets it in front of me. I take it up to my mom, who apologizes for crying earlier. I almost duck back out, to give her privacy. To not keep Vivi waiting. But somehow I know she won’t mind. So I tell my mom all about our Slip ’N Slide day, even though I know Leah already did.
By the time I come back down, Vivi has washed all the dishes from this morning’s breakfast and loaded them in the dishwasher. I wait for her to give an excuse—some reason to sprint away from my complicated family. I wait for her to ask questions. Instead, she holds out one hand to me, the other clutching scraps of paper.
“Scavenger hunt clues,” she says.
This is where I can’t keep up. This is where I see that our summers will be too different. That our lives are too different. “I wish I could. But I have to grocery shop today. We’re almost out of paper towels. And I need stuff for dinners this week. And—”
“Well, give me a minute, why dontcha?” she says, smiling. “Do you have a pen?”
The edited scavenger hunt leads the littles to Patterson’s grocery store and keeps them occupied while I fill the cart. When I’m done, I find them in the seasonal aisle. Vivi spots me and the full cart. She snatches a Hula-Hoop from off the rack and announces, “To move on to the next clue, one of you must dive through this Hula-Hoop like a dolphin!”
“Me!” Isaac hurls himself forward, stumbling a little as he lands on the other side.
“You move on to the next phase!” Vivi announces, as Leah claps. “The clue is . . . in the grocery cart! You have to help Jonah load everything onto the conveyor belt or you’ll never find it!”
They barrel toward me—even Bekah, who usually acts too cool for things like this. Vivi gives me an exaggerated shrug and a smile. She’s making this up as she goes.
At home, Silas gets caught up in the scavenger hunt, too. We spend the day following clues around town and then catch a late movie at the theater in town. Vivi pays, insisting that it was the scavenger hunt prize. When we leave the theater, the world has gone dark around us.
“That,” Leah announces, “was the best movie I’ve ever seen.”
She says that after every movie.
“Me too,” Vivi says. “It had everything! Adventure! Sword fighting! Magic! Romance!”
We wander home, stomachs stuffed with popcorn and soda. The littles are pretending to be characters from the animated movie—a knight, a princess, a sorceress—and Silas is egging them on. Without warning, Vivi jumps on my back, urging me forward like a steed in the film. The others gallop beside us, laughing.
At the edge of town, we pass Officer Hayashi, in uniform but without his dog. We all stop running. Isaac pushes his glasses up, and Silas stands up straighter.
“Good evening,” he says evenly.
“Good evening,” we mutter—all but Vivi, who says, “Evenin’, Officer!”
He looks at Vivi on my back, his mind calculating something. “You taking up with this troublemaker?”
Shit! He thinks I’m a troublemaker? My eyes go wide, but Vivi scoffs behind me, offended.
“Oh, am I taking up with her?” I sputter. “Yes, sir. I am.”
“Careful there. Full of mischief, that one.”
“Yes, sir, she is.” How does he even know her?
“Yeah, yeah.” Vivi laughs a little, her chest pulsing against my back. “See you tomorrow.”
When we’re out of earshot, I whisper to Vivi, “You’ll see him tomorrow?”
“We eat breakfast together sometimes.”
Before I can even ask, Bekah jumps in front of us. She pretends to cast a spell on Isaac, who dodges.
“I want to be the sorceress!” Leah exclaims.
“You can’t be the sorceress. You’re the princess. Now, silence!” Bekah moves her hands in a billowing motion, as if calling magic against Leah.
“Silas!” Leah shrieks. “It’s not fair! She’s being mean!”
I wait to feel Vivi slide to the ground. Because, really, who wants to spend their summer listening to this? Who wants to witness Silas try to break it up without tears? But Vivi only tightens her hold around my neck, shimmying her legs up higher on my waist. She stays.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Vivi
Here is something I never expected to feel: love at first sight for an entire family. But life surprises you. It tells you to close your eyes and blow out the candles, and then sometimes smashes your face into the cake before you can even make a wish. But! Sometimes, every once in a while, you get your wish in. You wish for a boy to spend the summer with, and instead life gives you his whole beautiful family.
It’s a good thing I’m so crazy about them because they’re always, always around. In the week since I kissed Jonah, we’ve been alone together exactly once, and it was not the right time. Now, as he smiles over at me, hitching the beach bag up on his shoulder, the sun feels even hotter on my face.
The second our feet hit the beach, Leah and I take off running, kicking up sand. We squeal as we hit the water, and I lift her up and spin her so that her toes skim the ocean in big circles. When we get too cold, we turn cartwheels in the sand with Bekah. Jonah’s setting up the beach umbrella, which Isaac has planted himself beneath, already reading his book.