Read No Such Person for Free Online Page B

one thing. She is always interested in a hundred. She does not mind doing poorly in anything as long as she gets to try it all.
    This summer, while she is doing nothing, her high school friends commit to fascinating volunteer work, exciting paid work, demanding summer camps and challenging study abroad. Friends who normally visit the cottage for a week, a weekend or a day don’t show up. They are too busy.
    But Miranda Allerdon is lazy and loving it.
    Early Friday morning, six days after the barge disaster, another barge is on the river, coming downstream and riding high because it’s empty. It is pushed by the tug
Susan and Jane.
For once, Miranda does not race outside to wave. It’s too early. She’s too comfy on the chaise lounge. But it does remind her of that people search for Jason Firenza.
    Having failed to find a Jason Firenza, she decides to find out more about Derry Romaine. Using her iPad is satisfying. She feels less lazy, even though the search engine is doing the work.
    There is exactly one Derry Romaine in America and his first name is Derek, not Derry. He is decades older than the Derry Romaine who nearly drowned.
    Miranda tries to think of a credible reason for two young men who clearly exist, breathe and own a boat to have names that don’t exist.
    Over breakfast—Henry and Hayden show up; really, do their parents ever do any parenting? Is food ever served? Does conversation ever take place?—Miranda’s mother says to Lander, “Are you and Jason going somewhere today?”
    Their mother has planned this question carefully. It must not be too invasive. It must show interest, but not start conflict. Her parents always tiptoe around Lander. Well, so do I, thinks Miranda. We don’t want to be on her hit list.
    “Yes,” says Lander, smiling. Her vision of Jason is so wonderful she can’t sit. She gets up and dances.
    Out the window, Miranda sees Geoffrey approaching the dock stairs. Since Miranda goes to school in West Hartford, and Geoffrey goes to school here, she does not know anything about his high school life or his friends. He does swim a lot but today he doesn’t descend the stairs and slide into the water. He lifts one of the big heavy wooden lawn chairs, moves it closer to the steps and sits down heavily. Is he going to fish off the bluff instead of the dock? Is he taking in the view? Does Miranda care?
    Lander dances on. Miranda tries to imagine herself dancing at the vision of Geoffrey in her life. It doesn’t play. “How is Derry Romaine doing?” she asks Lander. “Do we have news about him yet?”
    “Well, of course, Jason visits him constantly. He’s sitting up and they’re making him walk around, but he’s dazed from medication and isn’t talking much. They’ve done one surgery and another is scheduled. Jason is so thankful that Derry is probably going to be okay.”
    Miranda wonders about this.
Is
Jason Firenza thankful?
    Lander is certainly spending a lot of time with Jason. Jason himself does not appear; Lander goes to meet him. Once she kayaks across the river. Twice she takes the Zodiac.
    It’s creepy. People throng to the cottage. They can’t get enough of the porch, the view, the dock. Why does Jason never even show up, let alone hang out?
    Even now Stu is carrying his inflatable orange kayak over to the stairs. It’s the only kayak Miranda has ever seen with a cup holder. He’s got the foot pump and the seat under his other arm and a daypack over his back.
    Stu and Geoffrey nod to each other, but do not speak. They are a remarkable contrast: Stu is as thin as a plastic fork and Geoffrey as solid as a baseball bat.
    Miranda believes that Geoffrey will grow into a pretty normal decent guy; he just needs time and maybe fewer pounds. But Stu is twenty-three and probably already is what he’s going to be. Not much.
    One weekend, Stu asks Lander out, and either she’s extremely bored that day or believes Stu has possibilities. It’s a short date. Lander comes home