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“You should have had him sign itafterwe paid for it!” Jean sighed.

“That was really nice of you,” Paris said quietly.

I shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason. “They were really nice people.”

“Their daughter Samantha is really nice, too. She’s a researcher in Gainesville, but she comes home all the time to see her parents. You might meet her one day. She was tight with Summer growing up.”

Well, if they were friends with Summer then I’d sign anything for them. Maybe I’d make it a joke and secretly sign random things for her to pass on to Sam. That could be pretty funny.

I dropped Ben’s stuff off at Gram’s house, stopped by Trent’s to fix a leaky pipe he couldn’t reach, and got home in time to see Summer driving off with Linc for his afternoon adventure club meeting.

My eyes tangled with Liv’s as she finished waving goodbye. I saw them flare in panic but instead of backing off like I’d done every time for months, I found myself propelled forward, my feet eating up the ground between us. I swear she looked around for a way to escape and realized there was no possible way she could, so instead she stood frozen, eyes wide, like a deer trapped by oncoming headlights.

“Hey there, Liv.”

“Hi Chris.” Her voice was steady but remarkably quiet.

“I was thinking of taking the boat out for an evening run. Does my fishing buddy want to tag along?” I intentionally used the wordbuddysince she’d just used it on me, and because I hoped I could convince her my intentions were friendly.

When they were, in fact, not friendly at all.

“I…” her eyes darted around as she tried to come up with an excuse.

“You?”

“Uh.”

“Linc’s at his meeting for the next two hours. They’re learning about the lifecycle of sand dollars tonight. Come on. You’ve been working nonstop. We haven’t hung out in at least a week.”

She swallowed and stared at my chest. “Yeah. Okay. It would be nice to feel the wind in my hair. Let me text Summer and change.”

“I’ll meet you at the boat.”

I waited until she slipped past her front door before I walked back to my house with a spring in my step. I was going on a date with Olivia Saldana. She just didn’t know it yet.

16

Smile and relax

Chris

Even with the roar of the engine and the sound of the wind racing past my ears, I could hear Liv’s sigh as that same wind washed over her face and danced through her hair.

It mademesigh to see her shoulders relax and a smile curve her lips.

It had been too damn long since I touched those lips. I remembered every second of what it felt like, tasted like, to have her lips on mine. Every morning and every night I remembered with excruciating detail the heaven that was her body moving with mine.

The water was smooth today, like glass in some places, a slight ripple in others. The sunlight reflected off it almost painfully as we headed west, and then eased as I turned the boat south.

“Where are we headed?” she yelled.

“It’s a surprise!” As much as anything could be a surprise. She knew the area better than I ever would. She’d probably guess my intentions pretty quickly.

A large boat crossed ahead of us and I adjusted course slightly to take his wake a little less brutally. Liv braced her hands on either side of the windshield, bent her knees, and absorbed the impact as we passed over the waves. As soon as we were clear and back onto smooth waters she moved to the bow, looking over the side.

She paid almost no attention at all to where we were going and instead seemed to make the most of her opportunity to relax. To breathe in the salty air, feel the sun on her skin. She smiled the whole way there.

“Are we headed to Cabbage Key?” She finally asked with a confused look on her face.