Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
When she doesn’t answer, I look over at her and find her staring at me with her head tipped slightly.
“Huh,” she says, then turns back to her task.
I smile as I hop down. Old women are so funny with their secret thoughts. Grabbing my bag from under the counter, I take my jacket off the hook and tug it on.
“Okay, well, I’m out of here. Have a nice Thanksgiving, Granny Grace.”
“You too, honey.”
I go to walk out, but as I pass her desk, I pause, taking a few backward steps, my eyes going to the photo.
Granny Grace is in her prime, maybe thirty years old with her handsome husband beside her as they lean against his old Chevy pickup, a bouquet of pink and white gardenias in her hands.
My heart does a little jump, and I yank my head around so I can look at the older woman, finding she’s watching me.
She smiles but says nothing, whistling as she gets back to work.
With one last wave, I leave the center and make the walk back to my dorm.
As I come up the small hill, I find the guys are already pulled against the curb, my bag hanging from Brady’s hands. He steps up to Mason’s Tahoe and puts it in the back, taking Ari’s from Chase and stacking it on top.
They turn toward each other and start talking. I’m almost to them when another car pulls up behind the two already parked there. Their teammates file out, shoving and laughing, all ready for a little break from campus.
Ari and Paige come out of the dorm doors and spot me, walking over.
“Hey!” Ari beams. “I don’t know if you want to run up and make sure you didn’t forget anything, but we grabbed both of the bags you put by the door.”
I nod, glancing over at the line of vehicles.
“Mase and Payton are on their way here in Payton’s car, and Brady’s driving the Tahoe with all of us. The others are split between the pickups, because one of the guys works at the pizza place part-time and couldn’t get his Saturday shift covered.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hey.”
We turn toward the guys.
“We’re ready to pile in when you are,” Brady tells us, but he’s looking at me. “I gave the others the address, so we don’t have to worry about following each other the whole way. They’re taking off now to hit the gas station.”
“Perfect.” Ari nods. “Well, let’s get ready so we can just roll out when Mase gets here. I want to be there before Noah.”
“Cool.” He nods, and Chase elbows him in the ribs, widening his eyes at his friend. Brady looks back to me then, and after a moment, a sigh leaves him.
“What?” I ask.
He sighs again. “We’re not the only ones who are going to be at the beach house this weekend.”
I chew the inside of my cheek, anxiety rolling off me in waves. On one hand, I don’t want him to jump to conclusions; on the other, I kind of want to see how he acts about it. “I know.”
His eyes narrow. “You know?”
I nod, trying to get a read on him, and if I’m right, it’s irritation and maybe a little disappointment that he’s feeling.
“All right.” He nods, frown pulling low. “No point in talking about it, then.”
Isn’t there?
The drive is like any other. We head out, stopping forty-five minutes later for food because boys “aren’t hungry” when you ask them but magically become so after ten minutes on the road. Thankfully, we only stop one other time after that for gas, Deaton having passed out for the final stretch and allowing us to continue the rest of the way through.
The excitement cannot be tamed as we pull into the driveway, both Ari and I itching to get out and run inside our home away from home.
Brady has barely gotten the thing in park when we’re shoving the doors open and racing up the path to the front door, but while Ari runs to the front, I take off around the corner, running along the wraparound porch to the back and down into the sand. I keep going until the sandy hill levels out and its nothing but ocean for miles.
I kick off my slides and hold up the legs of my sweatpants, not caring that my socks are getting wet, and walk right up to the water’s edge, letting myself fall back on my ass.
I drop back into the sand, smiling up at the sky, and pull in a full breath of salty ocean air.
“Cheater!” Ari screams from somewhere behind me and then she’s at my side, mimicking my position.
We sit there in silence, just enjoying being home.
“Ari?” I ask her after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“Promise me no matter where life takes us, we’ll use this house the way our parents intended.”