47. Under the Influence II
The Endeavor delivers the ladies back to Straight Wharf at four o’clock.
Caroline expects Hollis to be waiting at the dock with a tray of iced tea and perhaps some homemade gougères as an apology for missing the sail. But her mother is nowhere to be seen. She checks her phone—and there’s an alert of a text from Isaac.
She feels a jolt of adrenaline at seeing his name. Has he realized he’s not in love with Sofia after all, did the picture Caroline posted of herself and Dylan make him jealous, are his feelings for Caroline too strong to be denied?
As long as she doesn’t read the text, the answers to these questions can still be yes.
She calls her mother but she’s shunted straight to voice mail. Fine, she thinks. They’ll take a cab.
Caroline watches the others disembark. All three women seem caught up in their own thoughts.
Tatum is thinking that, at this time tomorrow, she’ll know the answer. She also thinks how excited she is to tell Hollis that Dru-Ann finally apologized.
It only took twenty-five years, but now we’re good. More than good. Against all odds, Tatum and Dru-Ann are going to be friends. Because the truth is, Tatum kind of likes Dru-Ann.
Dru-Ann is thinking about how miraculous it is that Phineas Pine, ranked number 127 in the world, has won the British Open. (She went to the head and checked her phone.) This is why Dru-Ann loves sports—competition is fun and exciting and unpredictable. Everyone loves an underdog.
Brooke is thinking how easy it was to tell James she was gay. She tried to tip him when she got off the boat, but he pressed the money back into her hand and said, “You already gave me a gratuity. Thank you for sharing your news
with me.”
Honestly, what a cutie.
As Caroline is walking by Provisions, she sees a guy sitting at the café table out front who looks, from behind, like Dylan. When she gets closer, she sees that the chick sitting across from the guy looks like Aubrey. Then she sees the little kid between them with a piece of bacon hanging from his mouth.
Dylan, Aubrey, and Orion are having lunch—or an early dinner before Dylan has to go to work—at Provisions.
Caroline feels a hand on her arm. It’s Tatum, pulling her in the other direction.
“You don’t want to end up with another drink on you,” she says. “Let’s just pretend we didn’t see them.”
A minivan from Roger’s Taxi idles at the curb in front of the Club Car.
Caroline climbs in, and Brooke and Tatum follow. Before Dru-Ann ducks in, she hears someone calling her name.
She looks across the street to see Gucci Bex and Laura Ingalls pop out of the Blue Beetle—and Gucci Bex is waving her arms. “Dru-Ann! Wait!”
You want me to wait so you can publicly ridicule me in front of my friends? Dru-Ann thinks. No, thank you.
“Dru-Ann, I’m sorry, we’re sorry!” Gucci Bex says. She runs across the cobblestones in a pair of platform Mary Janes. “We were wrong, you were
right.”
Dru-Ann blinks.
“About Posey,” Laura Ingalls says. (Another day, Dru-Ann notes, another prairie dress.) “What about Posey?” Dru-Ann says. Her boyfriend pulled off the biggest coup of the year, Dru-Ann thinks. He’ll be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week for sure. It’s crazy.
“Are we going to Squam or what?” the taxi driver says. “It’s so far away, we need to leave now to get there by nightfall. And I hope you brought
snacks.”
“Get in, sis,” Tatum says and Dru-Ann can’t help but smile. Sis!
“Check Twitter,” Gucci Bex says. “And again, our apologies.”
“Whatever,” Dru-Ann says. She climbs into the taxi and slides the door
shut. The taxi bounces up the street.
“Were those fans?” Brooke asks.
Dru-Ann rolls her eyes. “Influencers.”
“They’re so stylish!” Brooke says. “What are their accounts? I’m going to follow them.”
