Chapter 5
SUMMER
Itried to focus on what Mia was saying about her neighbor’s new boat rather than on the man standing twenty feet away talking to half of Surfside’s permanent population.
He knew everybody. Of course he did. The Andersons had been coming here since before I could tie my own shoes.
He’d been building a reputation on this beach since he was a kid.
Twenty years ago, fifteen-year-old Colt Anderson was the golden boy of the shoreline.
I was eight years old when he was charming the whole damn town.
I didn’t even know who Colt Anderson was until that night seven years ago when some drunk kid tried to drown himself while no one was paying attention.
I still saw him in my dreams sometimes. And after seeing him jogging shirtless on the beach, those dreams were going to be crossing some serious lines.
I would need to remember to lock my bedroom door.
I didn’t want my niece or nephew stumbling in and finding me writhing in bed in the middle of an erotic dream.
And there would be many, many dreams coming my way. I wasn’t mad about it.
Get it together, Banks.
“You’re staring,” Capri said into her drink.
“I’m looking at the fire.”
“The fire is over there.” She pointed left. “You’re looking over there.” She pointed directly at Colt, who was laughing at something Rick had said. “Completely different direction.”
“They’re both in my field of vision.”
“Summer.”
“What?”
“He could eat crackers in my bed,” she said, very matter-of-factly, like she was commenting on the weather. “Like, crumble them up. Scatter them everywhere. I would not say a single word. He could snore—as long as he was naked.”
I choked on my drink a little. “Capri.”
“I’m just being honest. Don’t act like you’re not thinking about the same thing. I can’t even blame you. I’d eat escargot off his stomach, and I don’t even like escargot.”
I licked my lips thinking about my tongue on those abs. “I like escargot.”
Capri laughed. “So much for old and crusty, huh?”
“Stop,” I hissed.
“I’m looking. You’re looking. We’re both looking. Every female here is looking, even Meg and she’s eight months pregnant.”
“He looks good. That’s never been the problem.”
I heard him laugh again and I was thrust into a flashback of him naked in bed with me trying to tickle him.
Lord, I needed to get a grip.
Suddenly, Bodhi materialized at my right with his buddy Jake trailing behind him the way Jake always did. Bodhi’s less attractive shadow. Bodhi nudged me with his shoulder. I took a casual half-step sideways.
“Hey,” he said, putting his face way too close to mine.
“Hey,” I said back.
Bodhi was always like this, but I knew why he was making sure he positioned himself next to me.
He was trying to put on a show. And maybe I didn’t hate the idea of making someone a little jealous.
Not that Colt would ever be jealous of Bodhi.
And I was sure Colt probably had a stable full of women back in Texas.
Colt was close enough for us to have a conversation, but he was doing his best to pretend I wasn’t there. That was fine but now Jake was trying to draw him in. It was going to happen. I felt it coming. Rick turned and suddenly it was the six of us in a half-circle holding our drinks.
“So what are you really doing in Surfside, Anderson?” Bodhi asked.
Colt briefly met my eyes. Me? No. I had no illusions that’s what brought him back.
Colt didn’t get the chance to answer.
“Rumor has it you’re here to rip up the shoreline.”
I stood a little straighter and looked at Colt. What the hell?
Colt shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but I saw a lot in that shrug. It was a big deal. “Maybe at first,” he said. “Then I’ll make it better than it was before.”
“What do you mean?” I blurted out.
He flinched, his jaw setting. There was an expression on his face. Not guilty exactly. More like a man who knew he was about to ruffle some feathers.
“We’re breaking ground on a new port,” he said. “First of the year. Once we get the head office up and running on Front Street.”
I stared at him. “A port.”
“A cruise port.” He almost smiled. I could see the excitement that he was trying to temper.
His hands came up. His voice changed. I could hear how excited he was about his little project.
“It’s not like anything on this stretch of coast. We run a coastal cruise.
Strictly California. Small fleet, curated experience, premium everything.
You’re not getting on a floating casino with four thousand strangers.
You’re getting the coastline the way it’s supposed to be seen—from the water.
Surfside becomes a port of call. People come here, they spend money here, and they fall in love with this place. ”
“And then they tell everyone they know,” I said.
He paused. “That’s the idea, yeah.”
I understood every word. I could even follow the logic of it, the neat little business equation he’d been running in his head. Tourism dollars. Economic growth. Surfside on the map. Rising tides lift all boats and all that shit. He’d get a little richer. A lot richer if it went well for him.
But what I saw was something else entirely.
I saw the parking lots that would have to be expanded.
The infrastructure that would get bulldozed to make room for docking facilities and passenger terminals.
I saw the surf spots I’d been riding since I was nine years old choked with boat traffic and wake.
My family’s house was already dwarfed by the mansions that were quickly taking over the shore properties.
I thought about the marine life and what a fleet of cruise ships sitting on the horizon did to a coastline. To the waves. To the view I had been waking up to my entire life. Those boats would come with obnoxious people on jet skis tearing up the waves people like me loved.
I thought about my students and all the kids I put in the water every single morning.
What it meant to teach someone to love the ocean and then watch the ocean get loved to death by a few thousand visitors at a time.
Our little bonfires would be no more. Right now, it was fine but once the population exploded, there would be more laws because people couldn’t behave themselves. Litter would be everywhere.
I thought about the Salty Anchor. The little surf shop on Third that had been run by the same family for thirty years. When the big money moved in, the small folks moved out. We’d be swallowed up by the corporate world.
My chest felt tight.
“You okay?” Colt asked.
I opened my mouth to tell him every one of my objections, but nothing came out.
Bodhi snorted, his arm moving around my shoulder.
“Of course she isn’t, City Boy.” His voice had lost all its usual lazy warmth.
“She just found out you’re about to pour your money all over everything that makes Surfside great.
” He tilted his chin up as his arm pulled her closer.
The possessiveness was evident along with the challenge. “Maybe you should reconsider.”
Colt looked at him like Bodhi was an annoying fly buzzing around his face. Colt could swat him away and honestly I wouldn’t blame him. But in this one thing, I was on Bodhi’s side.
“The deal is done,” Colt said. His voice was almost gentle. “Cruises start summer after next. You’ve got time to plan for it.”
Time to plan for it.
Like we were supposed to be grateful for the runway.
Like we should start drawing up the welcome banners and figuring out where to put the overflow parking.
Or pack our bags and abandon our homes if we didn’t like it.
He just came in with his big, fat checkbook and that was that. Get on board or fuck all the way off.
I set my can down on the nearest cooler.
“I’m done,” I said. “I’m going home.”
I moved to where I’d planted my board in the sand and yanked it free. The fire crackled behind me. I could feel eyes following me the way you always could at a party when someone made an exit that wasn’t entirely smooth. I wasn’t flouncing, but I was definitely making an exit.
“Here.” Bodhi was at my elbow. “Let me carry that.”
“I’ve got it.”
“It’s a mile up the beach, babe. Let me help you.”
“I’ve got it, Bodhi.”
“I can walk with you.” Colt’s voice came from my other side. Of course they were both standing there like bookends I hadn’t asked for. “I’m headed the same direction.”
I looked at one, then the other.
“Pound sand,” I said. “Both of you. I can carry my own damn board. Never needed anyone to carry it before and don’t need it now.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I tucked my board under my arm and walked.
The music faded behind me as I put distance between myself and the fire.
The further I got, the quieter it became, until it was just the ocean and my own thoughts.
The sand was cool under my feet. The breeze coming off the water was much cooler than it had been.
Or maybe I was just chilled to the bone.
My house came into view. Next door, it was obvious the Anderson clan was in residence.
Usually, a few security lights illuminated the massive house, but now all of the lights were on around their property and I could see lights on inside the house.
I shook my head, thinking about the beginning of the end.
I walked through the gate of our property, propped my board inside the small shed, and let myself in through the back door.
The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep and completely unaware of the changes coming our way.
My sister and her two children, along with me, were going to get squeezed out.
Everyone in Surfside had long suspected it was only a matter of time before our little town got swallowed up like every other place along the coast. My niece and nephew were going to have to find somewhere else to call home.
We wouldn’t be able to afford the cost of living in five years.
I headed upstairs, doing my best not to feel like the world was falling down around my shoulders. But I could see the writing on the wall. Colt Anderson was going to break my heart again for very different reasons.