“Zoey. Elizabeth. Benton.”
“Mom, I’m joking.”
“You and your jokes.” Zoey could hear the head shake of disapproval over the phone.
“This isn’t going to create any drama at the wedding, is it? I hope Caroline knows what’s she’s getting into,” her mother rambled on the other line.
“Jonathan and I have already talked, and it’s fine.” Did two-minute conversations count?
“He’s single?” her mom asked.
“Yes,” Zoey said.
“Oh, Zoey. This is not good. You cannot be alone with him. Avoid him.”
“Why should I?”
“You know how you get. You lose your head when you’re around him. You cannot control yourself. He could get his hooks in you again and hurt you even worse than the last time…”
“Mom, I’m out with Caroline. I’ll see you tomorrow at the wedding, okay, bye!” Zoey ended the call with a button press.
Zoey felt her anger rise. “My mom saw Jonathan with the guys at breakfast.”
Caroline pulled her phone out from her leggings and touched her phone screen. “Brady just texted me. Makenna was there too.”
Zoey laughed. “Makenna totally set that up.”
“She can be a sneaky bitch,” Caroline said.
“Runs in the family,” Zoey said.
“We’re not blood-related!” Caroline said. “You should be thanking me.”
“For manifesting the true nightmare of every woman?” Zoey said. “You did a great job of that.”
“You’re very friendly with the two exes you see a lot.”
“Not Jonathan. Did you get tired of keeping him away from me?” Zoey asked.
Caroline grew silent and then said, “Frankly, yes.”
Zoey sat down on the sand and supported her arms on her knees. “When did that happen?”
“He started asking about you again when the divorce looked like a sure thing two years ago. You’re single. He’s single. I didn’t want my future hubby not to have his best friend as his best man because my best friend can’t handle it. Jonathan even skipped the engagement party since you would be there. For you.”
Zoey vaguely remembered the party in February where she outright refused to come if Jonathan was there. Caroline had told her he couldn’t make the trip, and that’s when she’d agreed to go.
“So, you think I should just forgive and forget everything and fall back in love, like nothing happened.”
Caroline shrugged. “I’m not saying that. I’m saying you can get over your shit and be friends. I saw you two laughing last night at the barbecue.”
“I couldn’t even look at him that long last night. I am still very attracted to him. This could be bad, Caroline. Bad.”
“Oh, is that why you turned your back on him?” Caroline asked with a laugh.
“Absolutely. It’s still there.”
Caroline sat down next to her on the sand. “He really has changed, you know. He’s a lot more considerate. He sent me flowers when Brady and I got engaged.”
“No fucking way.” Jonathan had given her flowers exactly once, and they were from a gas station on the way to school after he said something stupid and Zoey reacted violently. She didn’t even remember what it was about.
“He was also really worried about seeing you again. He didn’t want you to feel cornered or anything.”
That was actually kind of sweet. Zoey shook her head at that thought. Zoey Elizabeth, stop that nonsense, she thought.
“My mother doesn’t think I can control myself around Jonathan,” Zoey said. “She doesn’t want me to be around him. It kind of makes me want to go to lunch with him.”
“I really think you should,” Caroline said. “This Zoey you’ve turned into is scared of everything. I’m supposed to be the neurotic one in this friendship. We can’t both be neurotic.” Caroline bent over and touched her toes. “Take a risk.”
“Oh really? I’m scared?” Zoey said, looking at the water. The water was probably an ice bath, but she needed to prove her best friend wrong. Just because she didn’t want to talk to Jonathan did not mean she didn’t take risks. She took risks all the time. The other week she had ordered a new thing on a date since someone else was paying for it. That date was also a risk since he was not her type and was only twenty-two years old. She was gifted a blue lipstick and had already worn it once. She took risks.
“Watch me take this risk,” Zoey said, jogging down the beach after kicking off her shoes and socks, dropping her phone in one of the shoes. Zoey stripped off her bright orange tank top and ran into the lake in only a pair of shorts and a sports bra.
“You’re going to freeze your ass off!” Caroline screamed after her. Zoey’s toes hit the water, and daggers pierced her toes and numbed her calves. As she waded in waist high, she couldn’t feel her vagina.
“Son of a bitch, this is cold!” Zoey shouted with a laugh. Caroline stood on the edge where the beach’s waves reached out into the sand.
“Are you fucking crazy?”
“You said I’m scared of everything.”
“You just need to go out to lunch with him, Zoey.”
“Fine, I’ll go to lunch with him.” Zoey floated onto her back with tiny splashes. She felt numb and she could see her breath, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.
“Okay, fine,” Caroline said, taking her shoes and socks off as well as her shirt and wrapped her phone in her shoes. Caroline waded in slowly with bent arms spread to the side.
“Polar bears are warmer right now! On the polar caps,” Caroline shouted.
“Your body gets used to it,” Zoey said.
“Now I know how Rose DeWitt Bukater felt,” Caroline said.
“This is what Jack should’ve done,” Zoey said, dunking Caroline under the water with all of her body weight. Caroline exploded from the water, her mouth in a large O, like a fish. “The door is mine now, Rose!”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Caroline sputtered. She then dunked Zoey under the water until they were giggling and laughing, splashing each other until they crawled up on the beach like drowned rats, exhausted and happy to trudge back to the vacation rental as their wet feet squished in their shoes.
“Did I hear you announce that you would go to lunch with him?”
“Yes,” Zoey said. “You all win.”
6
A still-soaked Zoey and Caroline walked through the door of the vacation rental with their socks in hand. It was a long two miles back to the house, and their clothes had only marginally dried. Zoey’s curly hair got bigger as they walked. They left their shoes on the porch and entered, finding the guys sitting in the front room, having already cracked some beers. At eleven in the morning.
“There’s so much beautiful nature outside, and you’re all inside drinking?” Caroline asked, pointing at the beers in the guys’ hands.
“Nature-schmature,” Dan said as he clinked bottles with Jonathan.
“At least drink on the patio,” Caroline said.