Page 61 of The Rules

She chewed on her lip to keep her tears from spilling over. As much shit as she liked to give her, Cat being happy was all she wanted and instead of being really, really happy like she should be, Dani just felt really, really sad.

Dylan reached around her and tugged her ponytail, probably to remind her that she hadn’t said anything remotely congratulatory yet.

She cleared her throat and turned to Josh. “Is Cat okay?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah. It was just the cake. She hasn’t even been able to smell coffee without getting nauseous.”

“Poor Cat,” Sonya groaned. If there was one thing Cat loved as much as she loved Josh, it was coffee. She must have been miserable.

The sound of leaves crunching whipped everyone’s head toward the footpath, and Cat appeared wearing a new shirt, her hair tied up.

Dylan slid his hand onto Dani’s shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze. She let herself lean into it. No one was paying attention to them anyway.

“Cat.” Minnie rushed to hug her. “Congratulations, sweetie.”

Cat’s face twisted in an uncomfortable expression. “Thanks.”

Minnie let her go, and Cat and Josh had a little tiff with their eyes. Cat looked like she was going to burst into tears, and for some reason, Josh looked unhappy with her.

Cat rubbed her arms. “I just came back to say thanks for dinner and sorry for puking in front of your cake. I’m going to turn in.”

Dylan nudged Dani’s shoulder, and she stepped toward Cat. She was pissed, and Cat still smelled like puke, but she gave her a hug anyway. “Congratulations, Kit Cat,” she whispered. “I hope you feel better.” She braced herself for a wooden hug, to feel the disappointment of their distance up close, but instead, Cat squeezed her back. It was tight and needy, and Dani had the sudden urge to wave everyone else off and pull Cat somewhere quiet and talk this out.

But Cat broke away and headed to her tent. Alone.

Twenty-three

“You know, there’s a deckof cards and a bottle of gin just through those trees,” Dylan said. “You don’t have to drink alone.” He dropped into the chair beside Dani and crossed his arms over his chest, studying her face.

After Cat had left and they’d cleaned up from dinner, Dani had claimed she needed a sweatshirt from her tent. Thirty minutes later, he’d begun to doubt the cover story. He’d seen her shoulders fall when Josh told everyone about Cat. As much as he’d tried to keep it light, use it to cheer her up, their “secret mission” game was real life to Dani. He hadn’t missed the way her eyes were shining when she gave them that sweatshirt story.

Sure enough, he’d found her sitting in a camp chair at her own site, sulking over a beer.

“I can’t play drinking games with Shawn and Josh,” she said. “I’ll die of alcohol poisoning.”

“What about me?”

“I can beat you.”

He laughed, her biting comeback easing his worry a little. But her voice was still flat, plaintive. Seeing her usual spark dim made a place inside his rib cage ache. He wanted to take it away, and since he couldn’t go back in time and fix whatever girl drama was happening between her and Cat, all he had left was distraction.

“Come on, Dani-pie. Don’t be sad.”

“I’m not.”

He poked her side and she batted his hand away. “Then don’t be mad. Let’s go for a swim.”

“It’s like fifty degrees out.”

“Yeah, but the water in the inlet stays warm from the sun. It’ll be like a hot tub.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“I swear. Please?” The sound of Minnie and Sonya laughing echoing off of the rocks and trees seemed to worsen her mood.

She didn’t answer, just picked at the label on her bottle of beer with her thumbnail.

Time for the big guns. He stood up and scooped her from the camp chair, and she squealed, pounding her fist into his bicep.

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