Bree sighs, her feet digging into the sand with each step. “I’m going to miss this place.”
My chest echoes with a pang. I’m not ready for her to talk about leaving, not when she still has two weeks left. The threat of paparazzi must make her believe the end is possibly nearer than the beginning.
But does it have to be? Why does the end have to come at all? I know we can’t really be together, not with our lives as different as they are, but some things could change, couldn’t they? We could keep in touch. We could still talk. We could stayfriends.
Except I want more than that, don’t I?
“Come on. This doesn’t have to end yet.” I pull her toward one of the dunes, away from the path in the growing darkness. There’s little moonlight to see by, but we don’t really need it, not when all the trees are back up the dunes on the other side.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“To look at the ocean.”
Our breath is coming faster as we reach the top. Stars spread out over the now dark sky above us, the Milky Way streaking through the blackness and white specks dotting the horizon until they disappear into the ocean.
Bree drops onto the sand, inhaling deep breaths andmarveling at the view. I lower myself more slowly, sitting and letting my legs spread out on the cool sand in front of us.
“This is amazing,” she says, her voice so quiet it’s nearly reverent. After a beat of silence, she looks at me. “You have the best life out here. I’m not going to lie, I’m a little jealous.”
“My friends are pretty great.”
“So is Nancy.”
“She is.”
“And Colby’s notterrible, I guess,” she says.
“I’m glad he seems to be growing on you.”
“It was spotty there in the beginning.”
A laugh rumbles from my chest.
She leans over until her head is resting on my shoulder, and I thread my arm around her back to pull her tightly against me. “What if it didn’t end?”
My pulse skyrockets. “How?”
“I can move into Nancy’s basement. No one even needs to know I’m there.”
My mood falls, but I don’t let on. She’s wishing and hoping. This isn’t arealconversation.Bree is still very much intending to return to her regular life at the end of this. “Only one problem with that.”
“What?”
“My grandma doesn’t have a basement.”
Bree laughs. The sound is musical, magical.
I take off her sunglasses, which are digging into my shoulder, and fold them, sliding them into the front pocket of my shorts.
She gasps. “The stars areamazing.”
But I only have eyes for her.
She must sense my attention, because she tilts her head to look at me. “Let’s move to this spot right here and never leave it, okay? No one gets to bother us, and Jaida doesn’t exist in this world, and I don’t have to answer for my disappearing act, and you get to stay perfectly incognito. There’s really no downside.”
I fight my amusement. “You’d miss your cereal.”
“Shoot. I didn’t think about that. We can bring Captain Crunch and Fruit Loops. I’m sure the milk will stay cold if we bury it in the surf.”