Page 54 of Later Bloom

“Ah, yes.”

“And he wasn’t twelve years old?”

Aubrey tries very hard not to smile. “Obviously not.”

“Okay.” He turns away. “Well next time that happens you just—you let me know. Okay?”

“Sure.” She’s not sure why she agrees to this request. He waves her goodbye and climbs behind the wheel as she lets the cold in.

Chapter Sixteen

Ten years earlier

Aubrey wears her new checkered mint dress to Simon’s eighteenth birthday party. Maggie’s mom drives them both to Simon’s place, a house on the edge of a cliff on a warm spring afternoon. Aubrey’s and Simon’s birthdays are only a week apart, and they often laugh about how Simon’s older but only by a little. For a week, he teases her and Aubrey rolls her eyes and reminds him she’ll catch up soon.

It’s windy and beautiful at Simon’s family home. The house is big, white, and square, with dark shutters and many windows. It sits on a large property that overlooks the water, high waves that roll in and crash on sharp rocks far below. The half-hour drive to this place feels like going on vacation.

It’s only the second time Aubrey’s ever been here. Last time was for a similar occasion, an end-of-year party that got only somewhat out of hand.

Some of the windows are open, and white curtains catch in the wind from inside. When the car pulls up in the half-moon driveway, Maggie whistles. “Holy shit.”

Aubrey laughs. “I know.”

Other than Simon and Maggie, Aubrey doesn’t know any of the people gathered on the lawn, dressed in nice outfits that make them all look like adults, red plastic cups in hand. In Aubrey’s lap sits her phone and a gift bag with powder blue silk paper. Maggie, on the other hand, didn’t wrap her present—a gift card to some game shop—and she keeps it in her back pocket, which is very like her. Simon won’t care at all.

“I’ll be back here tomorrow morning at half-past seven,” says Maggie’s mom, Charlotte, as the girls nudge the doors open and climb out of the car.

Maggie leans over to the driver’s window and presses a quick peck to her mom’s cheek. “You’re the absolute best.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Charlotte calls as she pulls away. Aubrey and Maggie stand there, in new dresses and intricate hairstyles. They each brought a backpack with drinks and a change of clothes. It feels oddly childish.

The front door sits wide open between two impressive ferns. Inside, the house is drenched in sunlight, and the breeze passes right through to the backyard, visible from the entryway. A few people are scattered here and there between the front and the back door, chatting in pairs or trios. Maggie’s hand on Aubrey’s arm steals her attention away from the striking decor. “You ready to have fun?”

Aubrey’s “Mhm, yes,” isn’t very convincing.

Maggie hooks her arm over hers and leads her forward through the house, past a large cream kitchen and many overgrown, unruly houseplants. “What are you thinking?” She asks with pointed curiosity.

“I don’t want to say it out loud.”

“You’re scared for nothing. Maybe he won’t say anything at all.”

“He said like three times that he’s got something important to tell me.”

Outside, the sun is blinding and the grass is a deep shade of emerald. Shadows from the trees dance on the lawn, blankets are laid on the ground, tables sit full of snacks and buckets of ice. It’s ridiculously lavish, nothing like a party for teenagers. The whole thing is both odd and thrilling, like this is the kind of event Aubrey sees in movies.

“Thank god you’re here,” she says in an exhale to Maggie.

“So what if he does tell you what we already know? Could be a good thing, yeah?”

“I don’t know.” She breathes in, then out. “I don’t know.”

Aubrey scans the crowd but he sees her first, waving at her from the opposite side of the yard. She waves back. Maggie asks through the smile she flashes at Simon, “Don’t you like him?”

“He’s great, yeah.” It almost sounds like a question, the way Aubrey says it.

“Mm, calm down, you might convince me too hard.”

Aubrey pivots to face Maggie. “He’s coming over here.”