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glee. Massie bent over to comfort Bean, but the pug tore across the lawn to her doghouse—an exact replica of the estate, only mini.
    “Ellie, are you a nocturnal mammal?” Massie asked, the corners of her mouth curling in anticipation.
    “No.” Ellie giggled nervously.
    “Then why are you badgering me?” Massie gripped her side-pony and twirled it around her finger.
    “OMG, Massie!” Ellie bit her flaming-red chapped bottom lip. “Your hair is
totally
KHBC.”
    “Katie Holmes Before Cruise?” Massie lifted an arched eyebrow.
    “Yes! You’re so on it!” Ellie air-clapped.
    Massie rolled her eyes and scanned the crowd for something— or some
one
—better. In the distance, atop a Balinese bed by the pool, Lindsey Kearns and Kimmi Redmond lay with their legs tangled. They were giggling at the passing waiters who, as per Kendra’s request, wore nothing more than formfitting Speedos and earth-colored body paint.
    Massie turned on the heel of her silver Sigerson Morrison peep-toe slides and made her way over.
    “Who does your hair, anyway?” Ellie bounced along behind her, following Massie along the candlelit stone path that led to the pool. “My guy moved to Vermont to marry his life partner, even though I told him I’d need a trim before starting sixth. So now my hair is, like, homeless.”
    Ignoring her, Massie marched onward, swatting Ellie’s words away like a malaria-carrying mosquito.
    In the flickering candlelight, the green- and brown-dressed partygoers looked like swirling trees. Or was that the day’s emotions catching up with her? Massie was suddenly so overcome with exhaustion she contemplated sneaking up to bed and starting fresh tomorrow. But it was too late for that now. Lindsey and Kimmi were waving her over.
    “Hey.” Massie stood over them, unsure whether she should commit to sitting. It was still too early to tell.
    Lindsey immediately untangled herself and sat up. “Super-sweet party.” The blonde’s center-parted frizzy dry hair was begging for rain, and her olive Roxy halter dress and J.Crew flip-flops were daytime casual. She was in desperate need of a beauty mentor.
    “Yeah, and those tiny cheesecakes are tooo cuh-yoot.” Kimmi licked her wax-coated, berry-colored lips. They were the only part of her face that wasn’t dotted with cheap drug-store glitter. She looked like she’d been hit in the face with a snow globe. “What are you doing back from horsey camp?”
    Massie accepted a virgin piña colada from a silver waiter and took a long sip. “You mean Galwaugh
riding
camp?”
    Kimmi nodded enthusiastically.
    “I left.”
    “Why?”
Lindsey widened her waterlogged eyes. “I heard that place was
the
best.”
    “It used to be.” Massie straw-stirred her icy drink. “But it wasn’t challenging me anymore,” she lied. What business was it of theirs why she was back? They should be lip-kissing her silver-sandaled feet that she was even talking to them. “So, what are you guys up to this summer?” she asked, hovering above them.
    “Surf clinic.” Lindsey lifted three fingers. “Third summer in the ocean.”
    Hair doesn’t lie.
    “Can you
believe
? I think waves are, like, the scariest things ev-er.” Kimmi tugged her dark girly braids, her wide brown eyes fixed on Massie, waiting for her to agree.
    But Massie couldn’t. Nothing was more frightening than Kimmi’s second-grade style.
    “I’m babysitting,” Ellie proudly volunteered. She collapsed onto the bed as if raiding someone’s fridge and watching cable was backbreaking work. “I already have sixty-eight dollars saved.”
    “Two more and you can afford a decent pedicure,” Massie hissed at Ellie’s unpolished toenails.
    Lindsey and Kimmi cracked up. Finally! After the day she’d had, Massie was starting to feel like the only person on the planet with a functioning sense of humor.
    “Move!” Massie shooed Ellie to the edge of the bed and sat.
    “Are
you
working this summer?” Kimmi rolled onto