The Other Side of Tomorrow

I smile against his lips. “Thank you,” I breathe. “This is all thanks to you.”

He rests his forehead against mine. “No, you did this. That was all you. I only helped.”nbsp;

I place my hand over one of his, still pressed to my cheek. In that moment I can only look at him because there aren’t words to describe how I feel in this moment. But the way he looks back at me … he knows.nbsp;

Letting me go, he says, “Next one is mine.”

Two hours later we tumble from the water, laughing and unable to stop smiling. My fingers are crinkled and shriveled from the water but I don’t care. I managed to catch two more waves but wiped out on most. I’m so happy to have caught one, let alone three, that the times I fell don’t matter.

We head back to his Jeep and he loads the boards before we take off the wetsuits and pull on our clothes over our swimsuits.nbsp;

“I’m going to text Meredith and see if she’s still here,” I tell him.

He nods, wiping his hair with a towel.

Willa: Hey are you still at the beach?nbsp;

Meredith: Yep. We’re setting up a bonfire. nbsp;

Willa: Where?

Meredith: I’ll come find you guys. Where are you parked?

Willa: The usual spot.nbsp;

Meredith: Be there in 5.

“She still here?” he asks when I put my phone down.

“Yeah—she says they’re setting up a bonfire and she’ll come find us. I h

ave no idea who she’s with, so knowing Meredith this could be a total bust.”

He chuckles. “Hey, it’s worth checking out. The worst that can happen is we eat some s’mores and I can never say no to that.”

“I don’t like them.”

His jaw drops. “You don’t like s’mores? Who are you? I went nuts when my mom had a limited time s’mores coffee drink at the shop. I drank that thing every day.”

“They gross me out.”

“How? It’s chocolate? And marshmallows? And graham crackers? Nothing gross there.”

“Marshmallows,” I shudder.

“Marshmallows? You don’t like marshmallows? But … they’re marshmallows.”

I shrug. “They get all gooey and stretchy and it freaks me out.” I nearly gag at the thought.

He shakes his head. “That’s it, I need a new girlfriend.”

I frown.

“I’m kidding—but seriously, you don’t like marshmallows? That’s wrong.”

“I know it’s weird but I don’t like them. I like the chocolate, though.”

“Well, at least there’s that.” He cracks a smile.nbsp;