Those Two Words (Sutton Bay #1)

Prologue

prologue

PATRICK

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO

“ We can’t be in here,” a hushed voice says from behind me. I fumble to open the door as quietly as possible, but the jangling of keys is going to get us caught soon if I don’t hurry up.

Turning around, I shush my best friend, who scowls back at me. Annoyingly , she’s two inches taller than me, and I only know this because our moms measured us against the stockroom door frame this afternoon. I’ll be taller than her soon, though, because Mom says I take after my dad and he’s really tall. Plus , I’ll be seven next month and she’ll still be six until August .

“ I know that, YoYo , but there’s no more candy left at the buffet. I’m sure there’s some Starburst in my dad’s desk.”

“ My name is Johanna , for like the gazillionth time, you dork.” She’s trying to whisper but isn’t doing a good job.

I try to hide my giggle. Obviously , I know her name, but teasing her is my favorite thing to do. Well , after playing with my Hot Wheels .

I try another key, and when it doesn’t get jammed in the lock, I let out a little cheer. “ AH - HA ! Quick , come in before someone hears us.”

“ Well , they have now, Patrick . You’re like a foghorn,” she says as we hurry into my dad’s office, and I push the door shut behind us. Hoping the loud music from the party covers up any noises of our break-in, I turn to face Johanna . Her long blonde hair is up in two twisty things with some shiny stuff wrapped around them. I told her she looked like an alien bride, and she told me I smelled like her grandma’s one-hundred-year-old cat. She’s wearing a sparkly silver dress and shoes to match her hair. She’s very shiny, but I suppose she looks kinda pretty . My mom put me in a long-sleeved button-up shirt, tie, and pinchy shoes. She said I look handsome, but I feel dumb, and the tie around my neck is starting to strangle me.

It’s New Year’s Eve and the first ever party being thrown at our dads’ new restaurant. It’s fun and all, but they keep playing really old music about love and other mushy things.

It’s dark in here, but Johanna glows in the corner of the room as I tiptoe over to the desk. Her dark blue eyes glare at me, hands fisted at her sides—she looks a little mad. “ I’ll only help you look for the candy if you let me have all the orange-flavored Starburst .”

“ Fiiiiine . But I want to be the first one to hold a sparkler at midnight. Deal ?”

“ Deal .” She walks over to me and holds out her hand. I spit into mine to seal the deal, but before I can close it around hers, she jerks away.

“ Ewwwww ! Gross , Patrick ! I’m not shaking it now. You’ll give me cooties,” she cries. My other friends think it’s weird my best friend is a girl, and I get it when she doesn’t like to do cool stuff like this. But most of the time she’s pretty awesome.

“ I will not, and like it matters, anyway, when we’re husband and wife, you’ll have to do lots of gross things with me. Like holding my hand and trimming my nose hairs. That’s what Mom does for Dad ,” I say with a shrug.

“ Yes , but that’s when we’re married. I can’t hold it now, silly, you haven’t asked me yet.”

What’s the big deal? I think as I wipe my hand on my pants.

I walk around my dad’s desk and pull out the chair tucked underneath, revealing the drawer hopefully full of candy, and pray he forgot to lock it. Taking a deep breath in, I pull with all my strength. I have a lot of it because Mom says that I eat more vegetables than Graham , so he won’t be as strong as me. Booth eats lots of vegetables, but they’re blended up since he’s still a baby. I must not have eaten enough green bean casserole tonight, because when I pull on the drawer, it doesn’t budge.

With a frustrated sigh and sad expression, I look up at Johanna . “ I’m sorry, I think he locked it.”

“ I did,” a voice booms from the shadows.

“ AHHHHHHHHH !” Our high-pitched screams bounce around the small office.

A deep chuckle comes from the now-open doorway. Johanna’s and my parents are standing there laughing at us, but I can’t tell if my dad’s angry face is serious or not.

My palm slaps against my forehead when he holds up the set of keys I left in the lock.

“ What are you two weasels up to this time?” Johanna’s mom, Valerie , asks.

She’s tucked underneath the arm of Johanna’s dad, George , and rests a hand over her big round belly that looks like a basketball. Johanna hopes it’s a girl, but I think it’s a boy, which would be great. I’m so glad it’s just my brothers and I , no stinky sisters for me.

My dad has a sleepy Graham in his arms, while my mom has Booth strapped to her chest. I have no idea how they’re both sleeping with the party going on.

I peek over at Johanna , who looks so nervous she might puke. She kinda looks like Casper , the ghost from that movie we watched the other week. I quickly try to come up with an excuse as to why we’re in here.

“ Umm … YoYo had to go number two, so I said she could use the toilet in your office.” Good save.

“ PATRICK !” My shoulders shoot up to my ears at Johanna’s screeching.

Oh , maybe not.

Our parents try to hold back their laughter, before ushering us out of the room, and my dad locks his office back up. I look at him guiltily, but he just chuckles and ruffles my hair as he pockets the keys.

“ C’mon , you two, it’s nearly midnight and you don’t want to miss the celebrations,” my mom says as she walks ahead with everyone else.

We walk back to the party and my dad pulls Johanna and me into his side. I think he’s about to tell us off, but then he presses something into my hand. I look down at the yellow wrapper of my favorite flavor of Starburst before grinning up at my dad.

He is so cool.

“ Patrick , you can’t be telling people about a lady’s…business,” my dad says quietly—probably talking about when I told everyone Johanna needed to go poop.

“ I’m sorry, Johanna ,” I mumble and peer around my dad at my best friend on his other side. “ You forgive me, right?”

“ Hmmm .” She thinks for a second and then smiles. “ Yeah , but only if you let me have the first sparkler now.”

“ Okay ,” I agree, because that seems to make her smile, and I like making my friend smile.

Everyone is still dancing around the room when we get back to the front of the restaurant. The tables have been pushed aside, people are singing at the top of their lungs about some summer that happened a long time ago, and the lights from the DJ booth flicker across the room and reflect off the disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The room is covered in a hundred specks of light, like the dance floor is made up of little stars.

I think it’s pretty cool that our dads own a restaurant, because we get to hang out here after school and eat as many lobster rolls as we want. Johanna and I decided we would run this place together when we’re older. She’s my best friend, so who else would I do it with? Plus , I don’t like any other girls but her, so it makes sense that we’ll be married too.

“ Okay , kids, let’s take a picture of you both and then you can run off to cause more trouble. The clock is about to strike midnight,” Johanna’s mom tells us and makes a shooing motion with her hand as my dad stands in front of us with his Polaroid camera. “ Huddle up close.”

We stand in front of the big driftwood bar in the restaurant, ready to pose for the picture. Once we’re standing next to each other with smiles on our faces, I whisper in her ear, “ I know how I can make it up to you.”

“ For what?”

“ For saying what I said back there.”

“ How ?”

“ Close your eyes.”

She looks confused but after a moment she closes her eyes and stands there.

“ Okay , keep them shut,” I command.

“ Ten ,” everyone begins to shout around us. I realize we’re seconds away from midnight, so I need to act fast.

“ Patrick , what are you doing?”

“ Nine . Eight .”

“ I know we’re not married yet.” I have to shout over everyone counting down.

“ Seven .”

“ But I won’t embarrass you like that when we’re husband and wife.”

“ Six . Five .”

“ We’ll be a team when we run this place.”

“ Four . Three .”

Ignoring my clammy hands, I lean in closer to her. I really don’t want her to be mad at me.

“ Two .”

“ One .”

People around us cheer and the flash of the camera goes off right as I kiss her on the cheek. Her eyes shoot open when I pull away and I smile at her nervously. She looks a little shocked. We saw a couple kiss like that in a movie once and Johanna said it was cute.

“ See . I can be a good husband, like my dad is.” She still looks confused, but then giggles, so I guess she liked it. Which is good, because I’m not doing it again—it was gross, and she smelled like flowers.

Our parents are cheering around us and kissing each other now. Yuck .

“ I’m your best friend and you’re mine, right?” I ask, checking for sure that she isn’t mad anymore.

She gives me her biggest smile and it lights me up like the fireworks flashing outside in the street. Flashes of blue, red, green, and yellow streak across her face, turning her into a rainbow. Her eyes are bright and shining, and seeing her smile like this has my own cheeks hurting as I smile back.

“ Yeah , Patrick .” She throws her arms around me and squeezes tight. “ I’m yours.”