"Look at this custom made, traditional Sari dress that I made for a girl at school," Bernie said while we were on FaceTime later that evening. I was sitting on the sofa in the living room, finding some quiet while the antics outside had turned up, fuelled by alcohol. In fact, from what I could see, Lucas was buried up to his neck in sand and Milly was sitting on his head while she sipped on white wine. The fuck? "She's going to her sister's wedding later this month and she asked me if I would make something for her. So, voila."

The screen panned to Nattie who stood on Bernie's step box in the most exquisite Sari that I had ever seen. The bandage crop top was a pale pink, as well as the long flared skirt which was detailed with thousands of little white, gold and red beads that created intricate patterns from top to bottom. The sash was red and had the same white, red and gold beads that seemed to shimmer when the light caught them. The fabric was a matte satin and swayed soft and gentle, like it was choreographed to ripple with perfection as Nattie did a slow turn.

"Nattie is just modelling the dress for me," Bernie explained from behind the screen while her best friend grinned. "She's a similar size to Arpita, I might need to make some adjustments but no big deal. Nattie has been here so much that she's almost fluent in Spanish. She's been doing my assignments for me while I work on this around the clock."

Nattie's porcelain skin ignited into a bright red as she smiled. "It's no big deal."

"False!" Bernie shouted. "Huge deal. Huge."

"Bernie, that Sari is perfect. How long have you been working on it?"

"Close to a month."

"But— how?" I pulled my legs up under my bum and settled into the sofa. "That bead detail. How has that not taken forever?"

Bernie flipped the screen around so that I could see her proud grin. "Well it is summer vacation. I haven't left the house, at all. I haven't slept. I have beads under my fingernails at this point."

"Dedication," I jostled with excitement. "That is why you're the best. It's perfect. You might be able to save enough cash and get your butt to California for a week this summer."

She rolled her eyes as she held out her hand to help Nattie down from the step box. "I could vacation for a month in Greece if I wanted to."

"Excuse me?"

She laughed. "Maybe not. But I do have a savings account that is growing and growing and growing and dad has been showing me how to manage my finances and set aside for tax and what to put back into product, all of that adult stuff that bores me to death but like, I have to listen or I'll end up in trouble and do you know what I hate? Tax. It's like, my money is right there and I can't spend it because—"

"Wait, you're earning enough that you have to pay tax?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I don't know. Dad makes me put like five dollars per sale into a tax account."

"Oh," I laughed. "He's probably just putting that there for future purposes. Because eventually you could have to pay tax and it'll help to have some money set aside for it. That's super cool of him. He's helping."

Bernie stared into the distance for a short while and then her jovial smile zoomed in on me again and she threw a thumbs up. "Well that's great. To be honest though, I have to admit, I don't love charging my friends for outfits. It feels bad man. Like, I should just give it to them, because we're friends."

I was about to give her a stern talking to when I heard Nattie's soft tone of disapproval. Bernie watched her, all I could see was the intent expression of focused listening on her face. Which I didn't see often. Most of the time, even if Bernie was listening, she was doing something else at the same time. Pinning a skirt, flipping through her schedule, sketching designs.

"I don't think real friends would expect hand outs, B. That's not fair. You spend so much time and money on these clothes. How would you keep up a business if you weren't earning enough to at least buy new fabric and all of that."

"I made you a swimsuit this summer, no charge."

There was a slight pause and Bernie raised her brow with a little grin.

"That's different," Nattie replied so quietly that I almost didn't hear her.

"She's right," I interrupted. "You can't hand out freebies all the time. No successful business starts out like that. Perhaps one day, when you're a millionaire with stores all over the world, you can hand out freebies to whoever you choose, but not right now."

Bernie grinned, her little overbite peeping over her lips, it made her look so young, which reminded me that she was. It was easy to forget that she wasn't the same age as the rest of us, what with her intelligence, talent and wit.

"Alright," I said. "Can you please send me a good photo of that Sari? Am I allowed to post it? Or are we waiting for the client reveal."

"Yeah Arpita hasn't seen it, so could we wait?"

"Of course," I nodded and switched my cellphone into the other hand, I was getting finger cramp. "You could send me the photo and I'll just edit and schedule it to post at a later date, when she's seen it. Also, did you see Harriet's comment on that photo of new bralettes?"

"Yes!" Bernie squealed and bounced up and down. "I've memorised it. Outstanding design and craftsmanship, you're doing incredible things, I can't wait to meet you, Bernie."

Bernie had created a plus size bralette for women with bigger boobs. She felt like there wasn't enough selection for girls who had bustier chests. So she made one that was durable, strong enough to provide some lift without a wire and was still true to the thin lace design of a traditional bralette. She nailed it, of course she did and we'd had an influx of comments and interest ever since we posted the photo.

"You have to meet Harriet as soon as possible. It'll be more than a stepping stone. It'll be a freaking leap in your career. I'm so excited."

"Will you come back to New York when I do get to meet her? Or? You're in California now?" Bernie said, her bottom lip jutting out.

"Yeah don't even stress. We have a private jet, Berns. I'll be there."

She jumped up and down again, as she so often did and I returned her smile.

Lucas came in through the sliding doors, sand stuck to his chest and neck, he scuffed his feet with a plate of food in his hand and shuffled around to the back of the sofa so that he could get in the shot.

"What's up Bernie? How's it hanging little one?"

Her expression dropped and then the call disconnected.

"What the hell?" Lucas slurred as I laughed and he came around to sit beside me. "Is she still mad?!"

"Na," I set my phone down. "I think it's just an ongoing joke with her now. She's over it."

Lucas chuckled with a mouthful of fried chicken and he sat so close that the sand on his arm started scratching my shoulder, I frowned at him and then he shoved the plate towards me.

"You eaten today? Club sandwich?"

I narrowed my glare. "You're not being subtle."

He scoffed. "Not trying to be. I'm worried you haven't eaten. Now fucking get this in your stomach or I'll shove it down your throat."

As stupid as he was, I kind of liked that he was straight to the point and refused to tiptoe around his words. So I took the sandwich and had a dramatic bite while he watched me with a droop in his lids. So drunk.

"And for the record," I said, swallowing. "I have eaten today, thanks."

"Dick don't count, Abs."

"You are honestly the worst person that I know."

He leaned his head on my shoulder. "You meant the best, I know it."

I gave him a pat on the head. "Yeah alright. But don't let it go to your he—"

"You hear that," he sat up and shouted towards the door. He was shouting so hard that he strained over some of the words and sounded breathless. "She said I'm the best. Ha. Eat it, Max."

All I could see from outside was the shadow of dancing flames from the brazier and the top of Max's head as he twisted in his seat and raised a brow, not having a clue what was going on.

I slapped Lucas' bare tattooed chest and he winced, rubbing the spot.

"Bro, I'm sunburnt."

"You've been monitoring Milly's sunscreen application all day but not your own?"

He scoffed and picked his chicken up off the floor where it had landed while he was screaming at the top of his lungs. "She's important."

I smiled.

"And white as fuck. I'll tan. She'll blister."

"Sun damage is sun damage, Luc."

"Your mom is damaged," he cackled and dropped his entire plate this time, it landed upside down on the floor as mom walked inside with her fed up expression aimed at Lucas.

"You are pushing it kid."

Lucas stood up and squared his shoulders, walking toward mom with his arms swinging and his stance in fight mode. "Square up momma."

She swung out, stopping right before she made contact with his nose and Lucas ducked, squealing the most pathetic squeal that I've ever heard as he guarded his face.

"Mhmm, that's what I thought."

Lucas stood up straight again. "Oh true," he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, jumping up and down so hard that even I felt sick watching it.

Mom grunted and shouted out for dad. "Your son is abusing me!"

"Oh shit," Lucas dropped mom and ran across the living room toward the corridor so fast that he was a blur, dad came tearing through a moment later and almost kneed me in the face as he high jumped over the couch.

Mom rubbed her stomach but laughed as we listened to feet pounding through the house and Lucas screaming like a little bitch. Flynn walked inside and slipped past mom, holding an empty plate and bottle.

"Thanks for the never ending dinner, Dallas, it's great," he said and mom gave him a pat on the shoulder as she slipped outside again.

I waited for Flynn to dispose of his plate and bottle in the kitchen and then settled into his side when he sat beside me. I think that he was about to say something when Lucas sprinted past us and ran outside, dad close behind. That wouldn't stop until someone surrendered and neither of them were the sort of wave the white flag.

"You alright?" Flynn asked. "How's Bernie?"

"Good," I grinned and sat up, twisting so that I was on the edge of the couch, facing him. I picked up my phone. "Look at what she just finished creating. Hold on, hopefully she's sent me a photo."

He waited while I went into my messages and sure enough, there was a photo of Nattie on the step box in the Sari. Before I left, I'd gifted Bernie the latest iPhone so that she could take decent photos while I wasn't there. She used it well. The photo was outstanding and captured the colour and detail of the dress better than the FaceTime had. I was awestruck all over again.

"Wow," Flynn held my hand which clutched my phone. "That's awesome. She's so talented."

"Isn't she? I'm obsessed."

I hadn't realised how long I was staring at the photo until Flynn cleared his throat and gently took my hand, lacing our fingers together.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"Uh," I put the phone down and peered past him for a moment when I saw that dad had Lucas in a headlock outside. "Yeah. What's wrong?"

"No nothing. I just— well I've noticed something since we arrived last month." He took a deep breath. "You've been happier than I've seen you in a long time. And I love it. I do. But you light up in a different sort of way when you're talking business with Bernie. It's something that I haven't seen since you started modelling."

"Well, I love it. She's so talented and she's inclusive of everyone. She wants to create for all shapes and all sizes and there's no prejudice. After everything, I want to be part of that. You know? Making a difference. It's inspiring."

He smiled and exhaled a deep breath. "You should be part of that. Which is why I think you should move back to New York next month."

I stilled, staring at him. "What?"

"I think that's where you need to be right now."

I didn't even want to argue because truthfully, that's where I wanted to be too. "But what does that mean for us?"

He drew me onto his lap so that I was straddling him and held my waist. "We'll be fine. We can do the long distance thing. But, at the same time, I think we're strong enough to focus on ourselves, you know? I'm secure enough in how we feel about each other, that I know, no matter what happens, it's all for the best. I don't think that our lives need to revolve around us does that make sense? I'm struggling with how to word this—"

"No," I cupped his cheek and leaned in. "I understand. I know what you mean and I agree. I love you so much and I thought that our worlds did need to revolve around each other but I'm starting to feel like maybe I need to get to know who I am post high school, post— trauma. I feel sort of lost and I think I need to fix that."

"I think you do too," he put his forehead against mine. "I don't want to be selfish with you. I just want you to be happy."

"I want you to be happy too, Flynn."

"Trust me," his lids closed, causing a tear to slip down his cheek. "I know you want me to be happy. You'd put your own needs aside to be here, with me, making me happy. But that wouldn't be what's best for you and I can't be happy if I know you're not."

My thumb brushed over the tear on his cheek and I had to bite down on my lip to stop mine from falling too. "Are we breaking up?"

His eyes opened and they were red, glistening and breaking my heart. "Nope," he smiled and sniffed. "That'd be impossible because we're connected here," he touched his heart and then mine. "We're just putting ourselves first for a bit. I don't know where that will take us. But I could never not love you, no matter what the future holds."

I kissed him, holding his face and tasting his tears.

"Besides," he said when I leaned back. "We have the rest of summer."

"Perhaps not," I inhaled a deep breath and let it go. "The trial for Avery starts next week and I— I think I want to— I think I'm going to go back to New York and testify against him."

Flynn's mouth parted as he stared at me with obvious shock. "You are?"

"I think I have to," I nodded, my fingers tugging on the hair at the back of his neck. "It'll eat away at me if I don't. I think it might be the first step toward healing and I didn't want to admit that but it's sort of obvious to me now."

His cheeks quivered as he smiled and a fresh fall of tears welled in his gaze. "You're so damn strong baby."

His words touched me and for the first time in a long time, I believed him. It wasn't because I was doing something that required strength, it was because I realised that even strong girls had struggles and demons and that was okay. It didn't make us weak, it made us human and I felt overwhelmed to have lost the ideal that being strong meant that you never felt struggle.

In the morning, I woke up beside Flynn, our naked bodies tangled under the sheet. I showered and dressed in a simple lavender sundress but left him snoozing in our bed, peaceful features and parted lips. So beautiful.

Out in the corridor, I could hear voices in the kitchen downstairs and someone was in the main bathroom. But as I wandered past Lucas' bedroom, his door was open and Mills was nowhere in sight. My brother however was half hanging off the bed, still dressed in his swim trunks. As evil as it might have been, I couldn't resist messing with him.

I crept into his bedroom, tiptoeing across the carpet and went over to the edge of the bed that he wasn't on. As I bent down to grip the mattress, I heard, "want a hand?"

"Shit, Milly!" I whispered and clutched my heart. She must have been in the en-suite. She stood beside me with her hands on her hips and raised a brow.

"Well? I assume you're about to flip this mattress over on top of him. Want a hand?"

"Can you whisper?!"

"Darling, I live with this twit. I could blow an air horn and it might stir him enough that he rolls over. But that's about it."

"Oh," I shrugged. "Yeah alright. Grab that end."

We slipped our hands under an end of the mattress each, counted down from three and then lifted it so fast that Lucas flew off the edge, landed on the floor with a thud and the mattress fell on top of him.

"What the fuck?!" His muffled voice came from under it and Milly had succumb to laughter so hard that she was a crumpled mess on the floor too. I quickly jumped across the bed frame, bounced on the mattress and ran out of the door.

"Who the fuck did that?! Milly?!"

I heard her response as I skipped toward the stairs. "Yeah? Oh bugger, what's happened here babe?"

I giggled all the way downstairs and found mom, dad, Spencer and Nathan in the kitchen.

"Ahh!" I squealed and ran straight for my Aunt who threw her arms wide and hugged me tight. "I didn't know you were coming here. How are you?"

"She's drunk and it's ten in the morning," dad was sitting on the bench with mom standing between his legs.

Spencer glared at him. "You shoved a martini at me as soon as I walked inside."

"You're more fun when you're drunk."

Spencer sighed and Nathan gave me a hug next. "How's it going kiddo?"

"Not bad. How's the team?"

"Hopefully not slacking while I'm gone."

I grinned. "Give them a break, it's summer."

He laughed and dad snorted. "Summer just means more hours to train."

Nathan pointed at him. "Exactly."

"What was all that racket upstairs?" Mom asked.

"No idea."

I caught Spencer staring at me and she quickly smiled. "You're looking so good, sweetheart. Beautiful. That dress is perfect."

Spencer always used to fuss and tell me that I was gorgeous and so much like mom was when mom was younger, so it was irrational for me to feel walls going up, to guard myself over something she meant sincerely. But it was harder to accept compliments these days. It always felt so forced, as if it was just being said so that I didn't end up sick again. I knew that wasn't how it was meant, but it was how I received it.

"Thanks," I smiled, forcing myself not to get defensive about it. "How's Liam? Still being trouble?"

"He just graduated actually," Spencer looked at Nathan with relief. "We knew he could, he's so smart. But with his behaviour, I was beginning to worry. He's doing so much better now though. He wants to do a history major in college."

"Nerd alert," dad shouted and earned a back hand in the chest from mom. "Shit, I'm kidding woman."

"So," Spencer ignored dad and smiled at me. "Mom said that you're moving back into this house with Flynn. Excited?"

"Actually," I tucked my hair behind my ear and gave them a sheepish smile, dad was already on high alert, watching me. "I'm not. I'm going back to New York. Flynn and I talked last night and I think— no, I know that we're both on the same page about, spending some time apart. Not like a break up. Sort of but not, anyway, we agree that it might be best to figure a few things out and right now, I'm really passionate about this project in New York. So that's where I want to be."

"Honey," mom's flip flops slapped the kitchen floor as she walked forward and hugged me. "I'm so proud of you."

"And," I added, feeling a slight tremble in my hands after mom let me go. "I'm going back to put in a statement about Avery. I wanna tell my truth."

Dad slipped off the bench and beelined straight for dining room, we just heard a sniff and saw him wipe his face as he disappeared through the dining room sliding doors and onto the deck.

"He didn't want to pressure you sweetheart," mom said, holding my hand. "But you getting justice and being able to come forward was so damn important to him. You're doing what his sister never could. He's just feeling it right now."

Spencer and Nathan watched me with pride as I weaved around the island and followed dad. He was standing on the deck, looking out at the sea. I couldn't see his face but the hunch in his shoulders was obvious and as soon as I touched a hand to his arm, he spun around, engulfed me in a hug and cried so hard that it almost broke me.

"It's okay, dad," I sobbed into his T-shirt. "It's going to be okay."