Chapter 66
Katie
“Katie, hey. Can you hear me? Wake up.”
I groaned, then threw a pillow over my head. The mattress shifted. And then, there was a tap on my shoulder. A squeeze of
my arm.
“Katie, come on. Wake up! The sun’s going to be out soon!” Another squeeze. And then, a shake. “I packed you a swimsuit, but
we need to go! I planned a whole day! We’re going to be late!”
I opened my eyes. Through the darkness—it must’ve been three or four in the morning—Tyler stood there, pacing. I clunked around
for my phone and confirmed the time: 4:08 a.m.
“Have you slept at all?” I said. “What are you even talking about, you planned a whole day? Did you finish your book? Is that
why you’re being totally insane?”
He dragged me out of bed, then lugged me into the bathroom and told me to brush my teeth. “I finished the book, and then I
talked to Meredith, and . . .” He was behind me in the bathroom mirror and hadn’t stopped moving. “I want to spend the day
with you! The first ferry leaves in an hour, and . . .”
“Ferry? What ferry?”
“I wanted to take you somewhere that wasn’t the Big Duck! I’ve never been to Shelter Island—I thought maybe we could do that.
Would you want to do that? Does that sound okay?”
I turned around and kissed him, my toothbrush still hanging out of my mouth. “There’s only one thing in the world I want to be woken up for,” I said. “And it’s you, taking me on a convoluted, ferry-dependent, romance-novel worthy and completely manic extend-a-date.”
“Then come on! I want to see the sunrise! Throw on a dress! Maurice is driving us to the boat! I don’t want to be late!”