Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Ripley shrieks with glee.
“Oh, honey, you’re going to make so many friends this week and have so much fun.”
“Will I get to ride a horse?” Ripley asks breathlessly.
“A pony. It says so right here.”
Ripley screams with joy at the top of her lungs and hugs my legs. “Tank you, Maxy. Tank you.”
As Ripley hugs my legs, Marnie says, “It says here they’re gonna give you riding lessons this week, and then you’ll get to show off your new skills in a pony parade for all the adults to watch at the end of the week.”
“A pony parade!” Ripley shrieks. She looks at Marnie and me, gripping both cheeks with her little palms. “I’ve always wanted to be in a pony parade my whole entire life!”
I laugh, but Marnie tears up.
“I’m so happy for you, love,” Marnie says, her voice breaking. She wipes her eyes and addresses me. “I had no idea this place would be this amazing. It’s a little slice of heaven. Actually, no, a really big slice.”
“I want to live here forever!” Ripley shouts. She runs to her mommy and embraces her legs, so Marnie crouches down and gives her a big hug. When Ripley pulls away from the hug, she’s bopping in place. Ready to keep exploring. She says, “Can we go next door to see Grampy and Gigi’s cabin and tell dem about da pony parade?”
“Why don’t you go,” I say. “We’ll meet you there in a couple minutes.” I’ve been dying to get Marnie alone all day, so we can clear the air about last night, or whatever caused the frost I’ve been detecting from Marnie all day.
“Can I, Mommy?”
Marnie smiles. “Go for it.”
Clomp, clomp, clomp, and away little Ripley goes in her too-big cowgirl boots, shrieking happily as she goes. Our cabin shares a deck and wall with the one-bedroom cabin next door. In fact, Henry and Mom’s front door for the week is literally ten feet from ours. But Marnie nonetheless stands in our doorway to observe her daughter’s short journey. After a few seconds, I hear the sound of a door opening. My mother saying, “Well, hello there, cowgirl. Would you like to come inside?” I hear Ripley’s voice, chattering away, along with the clomp, clomp, clomp of her too-big boots again, and the next thing I know, Marnie is turning away from the opened door, crossing her arms over her chest, and leveling me with an icy glare.
“I thought we should have a private conversation before the opening party,” I explain.
Marnie folds her arms over her T-shirt. “About what?”
I sigh. “Whatever I did to make you barely look at me all day.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s been happening.”
“Are you upset about last night—that I suggested we sleep instead of having sex?”
“Of course, not. It’s your right and prerogative to decide what to do with your body. You didn’t want to have sex with me? Great. No problem. Like I said, I was going to suggest the same thing. In fact, I think maybe we should go back to the no-sex rule for the whole week.”
It feels like a gut punch. “Is that what you genuinely want?”
She thinks about it. “I don’t know, to be honest. My head is spinning. This place is incredible. And Ripley’s excitement is already making me want to weep tears of joy. I think I’m going to be highly emotional in this place.” She chews the inside of her cheek. “Before we got here, I had a strong hunch I might have a hard time playing happy family by day and then having supposedly meaningless sex with you by night. And now that I’m here, I can see the risk is even bigger than I thought. This place feels like an alternate universe. A fantasy. A bubble. It’s the kind of place that makes a person let down their guard. The kind that makes a person’s heart believe what they’re feeling is real, even though their brain knows they’re in a little vacation bubble without a care in the world.”
I try to process all that through the racing of my pulse. “Yeah, that makes sense. Now that I’ve come to care about Ripley so much, I definitely don’t want to do anything to lead her on or confuse her. Same goes for you. I don’t want to hurt you, Marnie. I hope you know that.”
She exhales. “I do.” She pauses. “If we get too cozy and comfortable with each other—for real—then we’re bound to slip up and get too touchy-feely around Ripley. She might see that and assume we’re like the rest of the families here at camp—real. And then she’ll fall even more head over heels in love with you than she already has and expect the same level of attention when we get home. I can’t stand thinking about the heartbreak she’ll suffer when that doesn’t happen.”