The Body Finder

And then it was over. He released her hands, and as she stood there, dazed, he handed her a clean towel to dry them on.

When she turned around to face him, she realized that she had been the only one affected by the moment, that his touch had been completely innocent.

He was looking at her like he was waiting for her to say something, and she was suddenly aware that her mouth was still open. She finally gathered her wits enough to speak again. “Yeah, well, maybe if you hadn’t done it right in front of the cashier, we might have gotten away with it. Instead, you got both of us grounded for stealing.”

He didn’t miss a beat, and he seemed unaware of her temporary lapse. “And some might say that our grounding saved us from a life of crime.”

She hung the towel over the oven’s door handle. “Maybe it saved me, but the jury’s still out on you. I always thought you were kind of a bad seed.”

He gave her a questioning look. “Seriously, a ‘bad seed,’ Vi? When did you turn ninety and start saying things like ‘bad seed’?”

She pushed him as she walked by, even though he really wasn’t in her way. He gave her a playful shove from behind and teased her, “Don’t make me trip you again.”

Now more than ever, Violet hoped that this crush of hers passed soon, so she could get back to the business of being just friends. Otherwise, this was going to be a long—and painful—year.

CHAPTER 4

THE LAKE HOUSE WAS CROWDED WITH TEENAGERS, and they seemed to be coming and going in waves. The lawn leading down to the water was littered with towels and blankets, water bottles and pop cans, bags of chips, and kids of all shapes and sizes basking in the warmth of the summer heat as they soaked up the last of the season’s sun.

The house belonged to the grandmother of Gabrielle Myers, a friend of theirs from school. Violet didn’t even recognize all of the kids who were there that day, and she doubted that they all knew Gabrielle or her grandmother, but instead were tagging along with friends, or friends of friends, who had invited them to come.

Violet had carefully chosen some long-hanging, loose-fitting basketball shorts to wear over her swimsuit, in hopes of keeping her injuries at least partially hidden. But it didn’t take long before one…and then two…and then at least twenty of her friends had noticed her bandages peeking out from beneath the swishing fabric, and she was forced to recount her morning accident.

Jay loved hearing her tell the story, and every time he heard her talking about it, he would come over so that he could interject, and of course embellish, his role in the events. In his version, he was her champion, practically carrying her from the woods and performing near-miraculous medical feats to save her legs from complete amputation. Violet, and annoyingly every other girl within earshot, couldn’t help but giggle while he jokingly sang his own praises.

Violet happened to walk up just in time to hear Jay recounting his version once more to a group of eager admirers.

“Hero? I wouldn’t say hero…” he quipped.

Violet rolled her eyes, turning to Grady Spencer, a friend of theirs from school. “Can you believe him?”

Grady gave her a concerned look. “Seriously, are you okay, Violet? It sounds like it was pretty bad.”

Violet was embarrassed that Jay’s exaggerations were actually dredging up real sympathy from others. “It’s fine,” she assured him, and when Grady didn’t look convinced, she added, “Really, I just tripped.”

She reached out and shoved Jay. “Will you knock it off, hero? You’re making an ass out of yourself.”

Jay laughed and followed her to a spot away from the crowd on the lawn. But even as they began to settle in, several of the girls who had already spread out their towels and blankets in other places casually began to migrate in their direction. She found that even she was getting more attention than usual from his crowd of admirers, and she felt conspicuously like she was being used in their attempts to get closer to him.

But Jay’s fans were easy enough to ignore, especially since several of her real friends were already there. Violet left Jay among his groupies and headed toward where Chelsea and some of her other friends from school were sunning themselves.

Chelsea scooted over when she saw Violet coming, making room for her on the big, colorful beach towel. “What’s up? I heard you practically broke your legs this morning.”

Violet sat down next to her friend, who looked like perfection personified in her deep purple bikini, her body well toned from sports. “Ha-ha,” Violet mumbled, curling her lip in a mock sneer. “It was nothing.” She flashed the tops of her gauze-covered knees from beneath the hem of her shorts. “See? Just a couple of scrapes.”

“Well, to hear Lissie and Valerie tell it, Jay practically saved your life.” The way Chelsea said the other girls’ names reminded Violet that Chelsea didn’t care much for the cheerleader crowd. In fact, she didn’t try very hard at all to hide the fact that she thought they were vapid and useless.

Violet knew she liked Chelsea for a reason other than her friend’s obvious athletic talents.

“Nah, it was just me being clumsy as usual,” Violet admitted, smiling.

“Yeah, well, good thing Jay was there to catch you.” Chelsea leaned back on her elbows and looked out at the lake. “You gonna take a turn on the Wave Runners today?”

Violet followed Chelsea’s gaze and saw one of the brightly painted watercrafts pulling up to the dock. There were actually two Wave Runners, both belonging to Gabrielle’s parents, who left them at the house for most of the summer, where they stayed available and were used frequently. Violet loved riding them out into the water and trying to catch the cresting waves that were spit out in the wake of a boat speeding by, while the wind whipped at her hair and face. It was exhilarating.