Page 3 of Seashells and Other Souvenirs

“Did you know that all the pandas in United States zoos are owned by the government of China?”

“Cool story, Jude.” Gavin spun around from the front seat of the golf cart we were all crammed into. “Did you know most people don’t bring a book of trivia facts to get ice cream with friends?”

Sutton stopped the cart at the crosswalk to let some late beachgoers cross the street in front of us. “Leave him alone. I think that’s a very interesting fact, Jude.”

“I’ll bet you do,” Gavin teased, his perfect teeth sparkling in the headlights of a passing car. “Hey, can we go to the slushie place instead?”

“What do you think, Alex?” Sutton deferred to me for once. “Your choice; you only turn thirteen once.”

“Wow, Sutton,” Elle piped up. “Did you just say two nice things in a row ?”

Rebekah elbowed me. “She’s only being so nice so we don’t rat her out for doing something illegal.”

“Please.” Sutton waved her purple fingernails in the air dismissively. “I don’t need a license to know how to drive one of these things. Besides, we’re on the island; there isn’t even real traffic here.”

“So what do you say, Alex?” Gavin winked, and my insides melted.

I’d have agreed to just about anything to see him smile at me like that again.

But ice cream was tradition . And I wasn’t ready to throw that away just because Gavin Alford made me forget my own name sometimes.

Letting them come on our annual ice cream outing was a big enough concession.

“How about both?” I shrugged. “I mean, Sutton’s right; you only turn thirteen once.”

“Yeahhhh!” While Elle cheered from her perch on the rear-facing backseat and Sutton nodded her approval, Gavin high-fived me behind his back.

By the time we were finishing our second desserts, the conversation had turned silly. “So what happens when your family gets so big you fill all the beach houses for rent on the whole island?” Gavin asked.

“Then we stage a takeover of any other houses we can find.” Sutton swiped a bite of his peanut butter cup ice cream, and I was tempted to hate her for how easily she flirted with him.

“Except for ours, right?” Jude looked up from his book and flashed his silver braces at us.

“We’ll work out an alliance,” Sutton reassured him. “And once Gavin and I get married, we’ll have the blue house anyway.”

Gavin raised his eyebrows, but Rebekah jumped in before he could share his thoughts. “How come you get to marry Gavin? Alex and I aren’t that much younger than you guys. Why couldn’t it be one of us?”

“Because Sutton Alford sounds the best, and you know it. Plus, imagine how gorgeous our children would be.”

If I didn’t know my cousins so well, I would have been shocked they were having this conversation in front of him, even in jest.

“What about me?” Elle grabbed a napkin from the middle of the picnic table and wiped her mouth. “I’m not even in the running?”

“One of you could marry Jude.” Sutton’s eyes lit up. “Then we can be sisters for real.” Jude choked on his bite of cookies the Jude we grew up with always kind of went with the flow.

He keeps talking. “My friend Ty teaches surf lessons now, but we’re trying to expand the business into a whole tourism company, something that can offer families who come here the chance to make the kinds of memories that I only ever dreamed about making as a kid.

I’ve come up with dozens of lists of activities and ideas, but what I really need to know is how to add that element of magic that was part of everything you guys did.

Maybe you could help me? Share some of your secrets? ”

I wouldn’t even contemplate the request if it was coming from anyone else. But this is Jude. Sweet, quiet, slightly nerdy Jude. Gavin’s little brother. And if I’m being honest, he’s throwing me a lifeline here.

I hold out a hand, and he takes it. I shake it once. “Deal.”