Summer's Kiss (The Boys of Ocean Beach 1)

“Pretty good,” I tell her. I’m at my camper and sit down on one of the orange canvas chairs my mother has placed around our ‘patio’. “How are you?”

“Just packing and trying to get everything ready.”

“That’s right,” I say. “You leave in a few weeks.”

“Yep. It’s been crazy but I think I finally have it all together. I had to get a couple of new dresses. It’s cooler there.”

“Good,” I reply, hoping the jealousy isn’t evident in my voice. “You guys will have a lot of fun.”

“Not as much as we would with you.”

“Cathe…”

She sighs into the phone. “I know you’ve made your decision, but you can still change your mind! Mason really wants you to come. We all had dinner the other night and he told me he’s been trying to contact you.”

“Yeah, he’s been trying.”

“You should hear him out,” she says.

I look out at the water. It’s already warm and I want to get in my bathing suit and hit the beach. Not deal with this drama. “I’ve heard what he has to say.”

“He and Nicole broke up, did you know that?”

Hearing her name almost makes me gag, but at the same time, hearing the news of their separation sparks something in my chest. It also explains why he’s been calling so much.

I drop my head in my hand. Jesus, I’m a fucking mess.

“Great,” I say. “I’m officially the cause of a broken relationship.”

“That’s one way to look at it. Or that he wants you back enough to leave her.”

I wonder for a moment how I ever found Mason attractive. “It doesn’t matter. He lied to me. And I lied to everyone else. I can’t believe you’re pushing me to do this. A few weeks ago, you were worried about me.”

“That was before I heard his side of the story,” she says. “I was wrong. What you guys had was romantic. He could be your OTP.”

“OTP?”

“You know, One True Pairing? Like Romeo and Juliet?”

“You realize they both died. But you’re right, I was happy,” I tell her. “And it was doomed. Him breaking up with his girlfriend doesn’t make it any better. Really, it just makes it worse.”

“You have a week, Summer. He’s kept your name on the list so you can still go with us.”

I’m trying to formulate a response to this when I see Justin’s Jeep pull down the gravel drive to our camper. At second glance I see it’s not him inside, but Whit. He jumps out and my heart thuds at the sweet, sexy smile he shoots in my direction. My heart reacts to seeing him with more than a spark; it kicks into gear. “Catherine, I need to go.”

“Okay, but think about it—promise me.”

“I…” Whit looks good this morning. His shaggy hair is messy and cute. I hold up my hand to him, to let him know I need a minute.

“Think about it.”

“Fine, I’ll think about it—I really need to go,” I say to get her off the phone. I disconnect and stash the phone in my pocket. My heart pounds in that crushy kind of way and in that keeping-a-secret kind of way. Both equally dangerous.

“Hi,” Whit says, walking under the shady canopy. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just talking to my friend from school. She’s about to go on this big trip to France and thinks I need to know every detail.”

“Sounds fun.”