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“Do you think I could be a doctor?”

“I think you can do anything, my love.”

Ellie basked in the light of her mom’s compliment as she smiled. She knew at some point she’d have to pick a major, but at least for now she was glad she could test out some careers first.

“Oh, there’s Sadie.” Isla waved as Ellie spun around in her seat to see Sadie walking toward them.

Sadie.

Ellie’s heart fluttered at the sight of her. She was wearing khaki shorts and a green tank top, along with black sandals. Which wasn’t very different than what Ellie was wearing. Sadie slid into the bench seat beside Ellie as the two quickly kissed.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Sadie blushed as she turned her attention to Isla. “Hi, Isla.”

“Hey, Sadie. Did you want some ice cream before the movie?”

“No, thank you. I’m saving room for popcorn.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong.” Ellie took a final bit of her ice cream. “I fully plan on getting popcorn too.”

Digging in her pocket, Isla fished out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to Ellie. “Popcorn’s on me.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Leaving the ice cream shop, Ellie hugged and kissed Isla goodbye as she promised to text them when she got home. Ellie knew it wasn’t because they didn’t trust her, but because they deeply cared about her.

Sadie had parked a few cars down from Isla’s Jeep and she opened the passenger side door for Ellie.

“Well, aren’t you just the perfect girlfriend?”

“I try.”

With the convertible top of the Mustang down, Sadie easily leaned into the car and kissed Ellie. Thoughts filled Ellie’s head that she knew she’d have to talk about with Sadie. Because there was no way Sadie wasn’t feeling the same thing.

And that was only confirmed when, after parking in the field at the drive-in, Sadie put up the roof of the car as they made out in the backseat. Ellie was thankful they had parked in the last row, because she definitely didn’t want to have to worry about someone seeing them. Living in the Cove with two affluent parents already put Ellie under a microscope everywhere she went. She didn’t need the lead story the next day in theMoonflower Cove Gazetteto be about her.

But with Sadie straddling her hips as she kissed her neck, Ellie didn’t really care about anything else. She arched her head back as Sadie’s lips moved to her ear before back to her lips. Ellie ran her hands through her auburn hair as she kissed her lips again.

With things heating up between them, the last thing Ellie wanted was for things to go farther before they had a chance to talk. She knew it wasn’t the cool teen thing to do, but she didn’t care. Ellie respected Sadie and wanted them both to be comfortable with whatever came next.

“Sadie?”

“Hmm?” Sadie didn’t stop kissing her neck.

“Can we talk?”

Sadie sat up quickly, banging her head against the closed roof of the car. As she rubbed the back of her head, Ellie sat up in the seat.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Want me to kiss it?” Ellie teased as Sadie rolled her eyes.

“I think I’ll be okay.” Something flashed in Sadie’s blue eyes, but Ellie couldn’t decipher it in the darkened car. Only the glow from the screen was illuminating the car. “What’s up?”

“Well,” Ellie’s heart was beating in her chest, “umm.”