Grady pulled up and Mac ran down the walk and hopped in. She gave him a quick hello kiss and looking toward the house, said, “Hurry up and go.”

“I thought you said it was okay?”

“Well, it’s easier to say ‘sorry, thought I could’ than give them a chance to say no.”

Grady pulled away from the curb and headed east toward town and the reservoir beyond. Mackenzie loved how every time Grady finished shifting gears, his hand automatically went back to holding hers.

“Grady?” Mac said. He glanced over at her and smiled. God, he was gorgeous. Sometimes she couldn’t believe he loved her. Her stomach flipped over. Mackenzie wanted to know who was at his swim meet but didn’t want to come off as one of those naggy jealous girlfriends. But she had to know.

“So who else was there today?” She said it lightly, like, just making conversation over here Grady, I could actually care less, Grady. Yep, just curious is all.

It worked, too, because he said, “You know, the usual people. A couple of guys who want to try out next year, the kid I’m coaching this summer for the town team, my family.”

She was relieved, though she’d never admit it to him. There were a lot of swim team groupies and she was happy he hadn’t made any comment about them, which meant he wasn’t paying attention to them.

He drove through the village, and nudged Mac when they went by I Scream Ice Cream. Mac shook her head even though she knew Grady never met a double toasted almond he didn’t like. They’d passed the multi-colored row of Victorian buildings that housed the other exclusive shops in town by the time she spoke again.

“Cool that your dad could come.”

“Yeah, they had a good time.”

“They?”

Grady gave a half-smile. It looked more like he was fighting a painful gas bubble. Mac stared at him, waiting.

He cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, he brought Julie. This is top secret, but they’re uh, they’re getting married.”

Mackenzie waited for him to crack a joke, but none came.

“Ew,” she said finally.

“Nice, Mac,” Grady said. He shifted gears. His hand stayed on the gearshift.

Mackenzie said, “Well, it’s just kind of weird, you know, considering the only reason they met was cause you went out with Sophie.”

“So?”

“So your dad is marrying your ex-girlfriend’s mom. Which means your ex-girlfriend will be sleeping down the hall from you. As your sister. I can just see you all having family dinners together,” Mackenzie laughed, but she choked on it and it came out more like a cough.

“You don’t have to be jealous, Mac. Soph and I are just friends. And don’t tell anyone, because it’s supposed to be a secret still.”

She didn’t like how he called her ‘Soph’. Nobody called Sophie “Soph’. Just like nobody called Mackenzie ‘Mackenz’. Except Grady.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. When they got there, Grady parked by the side of the road and they walked through the woods to the water’s edge. He untied the line and held the boat steady while Mac climbed in. They pushed off from the shore, and glided out a ways before Grady picked up the oars. It was quiet; the earth was dark, but above, it glowed. The crickets were starting up, and birds flew in swoops and turns, silhouetted against the still-light sky.

The air smelled like the new earth of spring; Grady and Mackenzie both heaved a huge sigh at the same moment. They smiled at each other and the knots in Mac’s stomach relaxed. He loved her. It didn’t matter that Sophie and Grady would be living in the same house. He was totally over Sophie. Anyway, he had broken up with her. Besides, she’d be his sister now. So all bets were off, right?

If only I could be sure, Mackenzie thought.

***

“Grady, stop. Stop!” Mackenzie sat up, tugged at the bottom of her shirt, and tucked it into her jeans. Grady sighed. He rolled onto his back, his arms flung above his head. He groaned. The blanket they’d brought in the boat was spread out on their rocks, the one that crowned the closest island in the reservoir.

“Jesus, Mac. You’re going to give me blue balls. Can’t we at least do something? I don’t know one other guy whose girlfriend won’t at least go down on him.”

“Don’t be gross.” Mackenzie buttoned her shirt to the top until it looked like she was wearing a turtleneck. “I just can’t. I just … I just … can’t.”

Grady sighed again. “Mackenz, we’ve been going out for what? Almost six months already? That’s a record. It was okay in the beginning, but c’mon. Now you’re just not being fair.”

“How am I being unfair? Just because I don’t want to do that with you?”

Grady said, “But don’t I have any rights? You look so beautiful, your hair, your long legs… do you have to be so hot?” Grady rolled over onto his stomach and pressed into the rock. He groaned again. “It’s just so frustrating.”

“I’m sorry Grady, but…”

He sat up and put two fingers against her lips. He brushed her hair out of her eyes, and stroked her head. “No, it’s okay. I love you, Mackenz, I do. You’re just so tempting.”

He stood up and started gathering their things. “I’ll take care of things when I get home.”

Mackenzie shoved his shoulder and said, “Ew. Do not even go there!”

“Hey,” Grady said, “A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.”

* * *

Mac hung her jacket on the hook next to the front door and went through the unlit hall toward her room.

“Mackenzie?” Her father called from the den. His voice echoed in the quiet house.

“Yeah?” She paused.

“Please come here, sweetheart.”

She went and leaned against the door. The den had always been his domain, and was decorated as though he were the only one who lived in the house. Even during the daytime it was dark, filled with leather furniture and brass lamps with green glass shades. There was one window, but he’d put his chair between it and the desk, so he always faced the door. Like a guard dog, he never missed anyone walking by. Bookshelves lined the walls on either side of the room, and on them were dozens of photos of him and Mac when she was little, before he married Barb. There were pictures of him with Barb and Lily too, but Mac never seemed to be around when they took those. It was like his before family and his after family.

Once, when Emily came over, she had joked about how lucky Mac was that there were no embarrassing pictures of her, documenting the worst of the awkward years, post-cuteness.

The next time she went to Em’s, Mackenzie noticed how Emily’s mom and dad had taken a picture of each of their kids every year on the first day of school, and hung them in chronological order on the wall along the stairs. As you climbed to the second floor, it was almost like watching the kids grow up. They had framed wedding photos on the big piano in the living room, along with other, extended family photos.

Her dad was at his desk, staring at something on the laptop in front of him. The only illumination in the room came from the glowing monitor, making his face look ghoulish.

“What?”

“Where were you?”

You rock, Lily! You kept my secret! She thought. Aloud, she said, “Nowhere.”

“You mean you evaporated for the last two hours and were floating within the atmosphere?” he said, his tone even, which instantly put Mac on alert. She wondered if she was misreading the situation. Was that supposed to be one of his stupid jokes?

“I was with a friend.” She said. “I finished my paper, so what’s the big deal?” She knew enough not to mention Grady. Her father didn’t like her to go out with boys.

“Which friend? Dante?”

“Yeah,” she said, nailing the correct answer. “It was Dante.”

Stan closed his computer, and Mac couldn’t see his face in the sudden darkness.

“Next time make sure you ask first.”

She didn’t want to get into a tug-of-war because she’d never win. Finish and be done as soon as possible had always been her best exit plan. “Sorry,” she said. Why was he letting her off the hook just like that? He was acting so totally weird.

“Hmmm?” He was back looking at his laptop.

“I said, ‘sorry’, Dad.”

Then she remembered the packet Otis had given her. “Listen, I have to give you the trip forms. You need to fill them out.”

“Hmmm?” He was lost in the work he was doing.

“Dad? My bike trip this summer? The forms have to be filled out or I won’t be allowed to go.”

“Of course you’re allowed to go. I said you could, didn’t I?” Stan looked up and smiled.

Mackenzie walked around the desk and stood behind him. She looked over his shoulder to see what was so distracting. It was the site for their country club on the Cape. The page for the annual Father-Daughter dance shimmered with animated fireworks. Geez, this was unbelievable. The thing wasn’t until after she left on her trip, but he was all ‘the dance! The dance!’

Stan clicked on a link and up popped a photo from the archives. A little girl beamed up at her daddy as he twirled her around the dance floor in her beautiful polka-dotted party dress.

Stan chuckled. “Look honey. I never saw this shot before. You were so cute! And there’s the dress. Too bad you ruined it.” Stan paused, lost in a time when Mackenzie didn’t go out with boys, and only had eyes for her daddy. “God, it brings back such memories. Maybe we did store it at the beach house?”

She looked more closely at the photo on the laptop. She remembered the dress being red and white, but not the way it looked in the picture. She recalled her dad telling her she put on too much ketchup on her hot dog, and then dropping the whole thing in her lap. She remembered crying about the dress being ruined, but when Barb had described it at dinner, there had been no mental image of anything close to a frilly polka-dotted dress. She felt like she was in an alternate universe, or that Twilight Zone show her dad watched, where her reality isn’t the same as the rest of the world’s. Like, she’s standing in the pouring rain, freezing her butt off and everyone else is saying what you talking about? The sun is shining and it’s hot as hell out here.

Mackenzie shuddered.

“You cold, sweetie?” Stan rubbed Mackenzie’s arm, but she flinched and snapped awake, making her way back around the desk.

“What’s your problem?” Mackenzie’s dad asked, folding his arms across his chest. He leaned back in his chair and stared at her.

Mac sighed and looked down at her feet. “Is it okay if I sleep at Emily’s this weekend?” When her father muttered his approval, Mackenzie headed toward the door and said over her shoulder, “I’ll leave the forms by the front door on your briefcase.”

Before she was out the door, Mac heard her father say quietly, “Say another word to your sister about that dance, and you’re going to be a very unhappy girl.”