Page 87 of Keepsake
“Fine. Have you seen Daphne? She was supposed to relieve Dylan and drive the tourist cart.” On weekends, a couple of the Abrahams’ Percheron horses drove tourists up into the orchard to pick apples.
“Well, I think she might be in her room.”
“No way. That’s just mean.” May darted out of the room in a huff, heading for the stairs.
“Wait.” I jogged after her, catching up to her on the stairs. She turned around, surprised. “She might be upset,” I said in a low voice.
May’s eyebrows flew up. “Because of you and Zach?”
“He and I were having a moment in the kitchen. Nothing too interesting.” My cheeks were heating, which made me feel like Zach. “But that’s when she walked in, and…” I cleared my throat. “Seemed like a big surprise.”
May’s face fell. “Ouch.”
“Yeah.”
One of the bedroom doors flew open, and Daphne appeared on the landing, her eyes red. “What areyoudoing up here?” she spat at me.
“Hey,” May warned. “Don’t cop an attitude with Lark. She didn’t do anything to you.”
“The hell she didn’t!” Daphne said, her voice shrill. She faced me. “Go home to your fancy house in Boston already. We all know you’re just slumming it here for the season. First you freak out May so bad she goes on a bender and loses her scholarship. Then you waltz in here and—”
“What?” I gasped, my mind stuck on that last bit.
When I turned to May, her eyes were bugging out. “Enough!” she shrieked at her sister. “You arewayout of line.”
“Me?” Daphne squeaked. “All I ever did was hold your hair when you puked. And tell the truth, which you’ll never do.”
“Daphne,” May said, her voice weirdly shaky.
“You don’t want Lark to know you’ve been in love with her forever? Whoops, sorry! And now she’s withhim…” That last word came out sounding like pure pain. She whirled on me. “That must be fun for May to watch. I hope you take better care of him than you do of the rest of your friends. Because—” A sob heaved from her chest. “—he’s the best there is.”
The slam of Daphne’s bedroom door was like the exclamation point on the end of a very long, very confusing sentence. May and I were left there on the stairs together while my brain quietly imploded. “What was she…?” I didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
“Don’t listen to her,” May whispered.
“But…” I studied my friend with fresh eyes. “What did she mean about your scholarship?” And then there was that other really troubling implication I didn’t know how to address.
May cleared her throat. “This spring I didn’t show up to take an exam. It was a pretty big deal, and it complicated my life. But that’s not anyone’s fault but mine.”
The pressure in my chest argued otherwise. “Was that, uh, while I was missing?”
“Yeah. I didn’t handle that too well.” May hung her head.
“Why?” I pressed as the pieces of the puzzle began to slide into place. “What did Daphne mean when she said—”
“No.” May raised a hand in the air. “We aren’t going to talk anymore about my freak out.”
“But, um.” I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. “Once again I’m missing something important here. Aren’t I? Why won’t you just level with me? I’m sorry I’m so slow.”
May pinched the bridge of her nose, and then wiped tears from both eyes. “You’re not slow. There’s just no point to discussing it further.”
My eyes began to sting, too. “Isn’t there always a point? I care about you, and I want to hear what’s in your heart.”
“But maybe it embarrasses me to tell you,” she said quietly.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” A tear ran down my cheek. “Because I love you and I don’t ever want to cause you pain.”
“Sometimes we cause each other pain without meaning to.” May sniffed. “Excuse me.”
