Page 101 of Drop Three

“Sailor! Get your ass in the pool, girl!”

I jump, and the sound of Crew yelling for me pops the bubble Bodhi and I find ourselves in.

I force myself to shake off the heaviness of Bodhi’s admission.

Despite his actions in Fiji, I believe him now. Except, it doesn’t change anything. He’s made no effort to show me he feels differently than he expressed that day, and I can’t let my hopeful idea of his unspoken feelings blur the lines of reality.

And the reality is: Bodhi doesn’t see me as more than Callaway’s little sister. He told me so himself.

I’m better to remember that.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I toss my purse in the hammock beside me and turn toward Bodhi one last time. “I’m being summoned.”

He doesn’t hesitate. “Navy, it’s freezing out. Even in a heated pool, you’re hardly wearing enough to keep you warm.”

A slow smile creeps up my face. “Don’t go worrying about me now, catcher. I’ve survived worse.”

I have, and I know I have a long life ahead of me with more challenges to come. But today, I choose to live in the moment with the people who chose me.

Right now, that’s the people in this pool I’m about to spend the rest of my night with. As I join him in the water, Crew asks me if I’m okay, having noticed my attention on Bodhi, and I decide to play it off and let my focus be on him.

At least in the pool, breathing feels much easier.

And my heart? Well, it’s much too far away.

30

BODHI

“It’sgood to see you, Bodhi. How are things?”

“Things are…fine,” I tell Dr. Banks.

I don’t know if fine is necessarily what I would call it, but I do feel better than I did six months ago.

“Okay, that’s progress. Why don’t you tell me what your highs are?”

I stare at Dr. Banks in question. “Doc, I haven’t gotten high in ages,” I find myself chuckling.

A small smile escapes her. “Not that kind of high, Bodhi. I mean yourlife high—the good things to be grateful for lately.”

Ah. That makes more sense.

I ponder her question for a moment, twirling the fidget spinner between my fingers. “Well, the new season starts next month, pre-season at least. I’m ready to get back at it.” Dr. Banks nods as I continue. “My sister is coming to visit this weekend, and hopefully my dad too.”

“Are you close to your sister?”

“Not as close as we once were, but we also don’t live near each other anymore.”

That’s part of it; the other part is because after everything that happened with Gwendolyn, I knew Penelope helped her pick up the pieces and I couldn’t handle it, so I pulled away from her.

I would give anything to be close to her again. When I see the relationship Cal has with Navy, it makes me really fucking sad to be missing out on that with Penelope.

“Her coming here to visit seems like a good place to pick up where you left off, yes?” Dr. Banks asks.

“I guess, yeah. She’s staying with me for a couple of days.”

“Do you think your relationship with Penelope is strained because of the accident and her involvement with Gwendolyn’s recovery?”

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