The Summer We Celebrated (The Destin Diaries #6)

Chapter 1

I think one of the things I love most about Destin is that you can start out the day with absolutely no plans and somehow still end up stumbling into something that feels like it belongs in a movie.

We weren’t even planning to go anywhere special.

Just riding and talking and getting reacquainted with our fave Destin places as we start another summer.

We’re going to be seniors next year, so we have so much to talk about—college apps due in the fall, which AP classes Kate will ace, how many hearts Tessa will break.

When we got to the public beach access by the big white house with blue shutters, we noticed chairs set up in the sand.

Rows of them, all facing the water. At first, we thought maybe someone was having a party, but then we saw the arch covered in white flowers and long pieces of lacey fabric that were blowing in the wind like sails.

A wedding! Right there on the beach.

We had to watch! We leaned the bikes against the fence so we could lurk behind the sea oats like spies.

The bride wasn’t there yet, but the guests were all starting to arrive. Women in bright summer dresses, men in navy suit jackets and khakis. Really pretty music played from speakers, and everything looked like a picture against the water. It almost didn’t seem real.

Kate, of course, did a risk analysis of the weather problems that could have ruined this wedding, but the skies were blue and the sun was shining. She still said she’d never take the chance of letting weather dictate her day.

Not Tessa. She went all swoony and said this was her dream!

Her dream? Tessa dreams about getting married? In what world? Imagine the hearts that would shatter if she were off the market. But she went on and on about how nice this wedding was, but hers would be better.

It probably would be, because she’s so good at seeing just how to set up the perfect party.

She said she’d want a long wooden aisle built right over the sand so she didn’t have to worry about her dress getting messy, and white roses everywhere, and lanterns hanging from arches all the way down the beach so that when the sun started setting everything would glow.

And she apparently had given some thought to a dress, because hers would be a princess thing with lace sleeves and a veil so long it would blow behind her in the wind like in one of those dramatic movie scenes. Yeah, like when she ran away from the groom because she met another guy, I teased.

But she just shrugged it off and blabbed on about doing this imaginary wedding at sunset, so the sky would be all pink and gold and the water would look like glass.

Color me surprised—and not just because she said I could be a bridesmaid. Of course, Kate would be maid of honor.

“It better not rain,” Kate cracked.

But seriously, what a weird thing for a girl who sure acts like she doesn’t believe in fairytale stuff. Maybe I’m wrong about that.

While we were on the wedding subject, Kate said she would want something smaller for her wedding, just somewhere pretty with flowers and music and her family there. She said she’d want it to feel happy and relaxed and not like one of those stiff fancy events that’s trying to impress people.

I said I wasn’t sure yet, but the truth is, I could picture it a little too easily. Well, I could picture the groom.

When the music changed, everyone stood up, and we stomped over more sea oats to get a better look at the bride.

She came floating down the white paper over the sand with her father, holding this giant bouquet of pink flowers, and the wind kept lifting the edge of her veil so it flowed behind her like a cloud.

It was really magical.

If anyone had asked me yesterday which one of us would secretly be dreaming about lace sleeves and lanterns glowing on the beach, I would have said me. Or possibly Kate.

But not Tessa.

Maybe she’s been hiding a romantic heart all this time.

While we watched, I couldn’t help imagining what it would feel like to be that bride. And who might be waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

Here I am, seventeen this summer, and still crazy about Peter McCarthy. I guess some dreams die hard. I hope Tessa’s doesn’t. I hope she gets that floaty veil and sunset wedding. I hope we all do.

We stayed until the bride and groom kissed and then got donuts to celebrate those strangers who fell in love.

Love,

Viv