“I’d rather have salad with you guys,” Hope said.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Grace said. “We have gardening issues to discuss.”

Gardening issues? Was her mother serious? She wasn’t willing to include Hope in these lunches, despite her near-constant pleas that both Hope and Allegra spend more time with her?

“Fine,” Hope said. “A ham sandwich is fine.”

Allegra’s end-of-the-year grades were piss poor: low C’s in chemistry, trig, and American history and a D in English, but a 79 in chorus—which, she pointed out, was nearly a B (the grade in chorus was impressive, Hope thought, since Allegra couldn’t carry a tune to save her life). In an uncharacteristic display of backbone, Eddie informed Allegra that she would not have driving privileges for the summer. This was okay when she was out with Ian Coburn in the red Camaro, but to see Brick she either needed to take the shuttle (which came out to the Polpis Road only three times daily) or she had to beg Hope for a ride.

Hope agreed to chauffeur more than she might have, if only to see Brick. Brick seemed miserable. He was working part time at Nantucket Bank as an “information assistant,” which, he announced, was the dullest of indoor jobs. He greeted people, he directed them either left, toward the tellers, or right, toward the loan officers; he was also in charge of showing people how to use the Penny Arcade, which sorted and counted change and spat out a receipt that customers could trade in for paper money. Brick looked bloated and pale; he had lost the luster and verve he’d possessed only a few weeks earlier.

There was a full week of graduation parties, and Allegra and Brick were invited to all of them. Hope wasn’t invited to any, although whenever they pulled in the driveway, Brick would say, “Why don’t you come in for a while, Hope?”

“No, thank you,” Hope said.

At more than one of the parties, Ian Coburn’s red Camaro was already parked out front, and Hope thought, How does she pull this off on a nightly basis?

One day, when Benton was working in the rose bed, Hope ostentatiously threw herself across the hammock, brandishing the copy of Lolita that she had recently purchased.

She opened the book with a loud sigh, hoping Benton would notice her, but for a long time, he was consumed with cutting back the roses.

“Ow!” Benton said. He’d hit a thorn.

“Are you okay?” Hope asked. She was up and out of the hammock in a flash. “Do you want me to get you a Band-Aid?”

“Oh, Hope!” Benton said. “I didn’t see you there. You’re quiet as a mouse.” He then noticed Hope’s book. “Hey! You’re reading Lolita!”

Hope blushed. “Yep.”

Benton stepped out of the rose bed and wiped at his forehead with an orange bandanna. “I keep promising to get you that list of a hundred books, but I’ve been so busy.”

“You have clients other than Mom, right?” Hope said.

“Right,” Benton said. “I work on six projects at a time.”

“You have five other clients?” Hope asked. “It feels like you’re always here.”

“Well,” he said, gazing back at the house, “this one is my personal favorite. And I have a manager and ten college kids working for me.”

“I don’t understand why you’re a gardener if you were a literature major,” Hope said.

Benton laughed. “Life happens, Hope. I was on a work-study scholarship at Ohio State, and they put me on the grounds crew. I liked it. When I graduated, it was more appealing to me to work outside with yards and gardens, parks, green spaces. It’s not that I don’t dream of being an English teacher someday—I sort of do. But I guess I just prefer this kind of work.”

“Did you read all the time when you were a teenager?” Hope asked.

“I read secretly,” Benton said. “Late at night. During the day, I did regular teenage stuff. I played rugby, I drank beer in the woods with my bozo friends.”

“You were sort of a combination of me and Allegra,” Hope said.

“Maybe?” Benton said. “I don’t really know your sister.”

Hope felt happy about this. Most people liked Allegra better because she was outgoing, like Eddie. She could converse, tease, flirt, and make instant friends. If Benton met Allegra, he would prefer Allegra, or so Hope feared.

But maybe not. Allegra wouldn’t tolerate a long discussion about books.

“She’s nothing like me,” Hope said. “She’s beautiful and shallow.”

Benton didn’t flinch at this assessment. “You’re beautiful,” he said.

Hope shrugged. She could tell when someone was saying this just to be nice. “She’s more beautiful. She and her best friend, Hollis, are the most popular girls in the school. Allegra has been dating Brick Llewellyn since the start of sophomore year, but now she’s bored with him, but instead of just breaking up with him, she’s been hanging out with this kid named Ian who goes to BC.”

“BC,” Benton said. “Good school.”

Clearly, Benton hadn’t heard Eddie’s joke.

“She’s not cheating on him,” Hope said quickly. As much as she was aching for Allegra to get her comeuppance, she couldn’t seem to be the one to turn her in. “But she isn’t being very nice.”

“And that bothers you?” Benton said.

“I want her to act like a decent human being,” Hope said. She wished all this sounded less like an episode of Degrassi and more like painful, complicated real life. “Do you have any advice?”