Chapter 5 #2
“Oh right, my mom mentioned her the other day. I had no idea.” Anita forehead furrows and a tiny frown tugs at her mouth when I say this, but she doesn’t respond.
When the conversation turns to local gossip, I get out of my seat and head to the cooler for a drink.
I open the can of soda and lean over the railing of the deck facing the ocean.
It’s almost dark but I can see the white caps on the crashing waves. The wind picks up, and I shiver.
“Want my sweatshirt?”
I turn to find Justin leaning next to me. “No, I’m okay.”
He unzips his hoodie anyway and stands before me bare-chested. I eye the tattoo on his arm. I can now see that it’s kind of a combined sun and moon. “What does that mean?”
“Harmony. It’s how I feel when I’m out on the water.”
I snort.
He tilts his head. “What? You making fun of me?”
“No, I just wish I felt that way in the water. If anything, it’s the opposite. Pure, unadulterated fear.” A gust of wind blows past us and I shiver again.
“You’re freezing. Take it.”
“Now you’ll be freezing.” I want the jacket though. I want to smell it, to know what this beach boy smells like and if his scent is as delicious as everything else about him.
“I’m pretty hot-natured. Anyway, I’ve got another shirt in my car. Here,” he says placing it over my shoulders. “I mean, we’re like third cousins once removed, right?”
I make a covert attempt to sniff his jacket. I’m hit with the warm scent of laundry detergent and sunscreen. Better than I hoped for.
“Are we?” I ask trying to do the math of how illegal it would be for me to kiss him.
“Nah,” he laughs. “I don’t think so. Although, your mom does know my uncle Richard.”
“Oh, I met him. He’s nice. I mean, he tried to get me drunk. Not in a creepy way,” I promise. “It was a nice gesture. I was trapped.”
Justin tips his head back and laughs, flashing his teeth in the dark. They’re nice. White and only a little bit crooked. Why am I looking at his teeth? I shift my eyes to his lips. Then, his smooth shoulder blades…I look at the water.
“I suspect he was around during those late-night adventures Anita was talking about.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Definitely. There’s been whispers about the one that got away for years. It’s all starting to make sense.”
“Wow. I’m having a hard time believing that. About my mom, that is.”
“Really? Why’s that?” he asks.
“The last crazy thing my mother did was ditch the Junior League tea for a book club hosted by the mayor’s wife.”
He gives me a funny look. “Your mom lives in a shiny rocket ship trailer. Around here that definitely is crazy.”
“How is that crazy? All of you live in the same place—hers is just silver.”
He shrugs, his bare shoulders catching light. “Yeah, but we’ve all lived here forever. It’s not every day a best-selling author and her daughter move in. That’s big news.”
“I guess.”
“Well, Summer, what do you plan to do with your summer other than fight over campground water, sunburn yourself to peeling skin, and hanging around?” He reaches over and peels a strip of skin off my back. We both watch it flutter away in the breeze.
“Gross! And that water thing was your fault.”
“Maybe.”
“Completely.”
“So?” He’s still waiting for an answer. I remember what Anita said about his persistence.
I look out at the water and confess, “I’m not sure, I thought I’d just relax and have a little vacation but between Anita dragging me all over the place, my mom making me work and all the stuff I keep finding out about her; the family, the history.
It’s like she’s been hiding all this from me and I never would have known if I hadn’t crashed her trip. ”
“Maybe you tagging along was a good thing then.”
I glance up at the small smile playing on his lips and try to figure out his angle. I’m not convinced I want to know.
“I guess we’ll find out,” I say. He doesn’t respond but there’s that feeling in the air. The one where everything gets electric. I’m afraid of that feeling, so I just smile and walk away while I can.
We’re packing up when I overhear Maggie and Anita whisper-arguing about something. I hear the word “Summer” which could be my name or the season and I try to squash my paranoia, but it’s followed by other words like “Justin” and “The Pact,” and curiosity gets the best of me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, carrying two chairs back up to the deck. Maggie smiles and takes them from me.
Anita eyes me suspiciously. “What did you hear?”
“Not much. My name. Justin’s name.” My eyes dart to Ivy helping the guys. “I’m not into him, if that’s what you think.”
“Look, Summer,” Maggie says, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to warn a girl off the Ocean Beach boys—”
“Then don’t,” Anita snaps, interrupting her.
Maggie rolls her eyes. “I know we’ve just met and there’s no reason for you to trust me, but those guys…they’re in their own world. They’ve got this deal between them, they call it ‘The Pact’.”
“The Pact? What kind of deal is it?” I glance over and watch the four of them douse the fire and pick up trash.
“It means they’re not dateable. Not for a nice girl like you.”
Nice girl.
If she only knew.
“Well the good news is that I don’t want to date any of them. I don’t want to date anybody.”
Maggie looks relieved. A sharp line creases Anita’s forehead but she doesn’t say anything.
“Good,” Maggie says. “They’re good friends but they do not make good boyfriends. Trust us on that.”
I nod, hearing the warning. The Ocean Beach Boys and whatever their Pact involves are off limits. I’ve got zero problem with that.