Page 5 of Seashells and Other Souvenirs

“What did you wish for?” Rebekah asked as I licked the chocolate frosting from the birthday candle I’d just extracted.

“I don’t think she’s allowed to say.” Jude adjusted his glasses and peeled the paper liner from his cupcake.

“Right,” Sutton agreed. “Or it won’t come true.”

“I’m jealous that you get to spend your sweet sixteen at the beach,” Rebekah commented.

“Yeah, because you only got a slumber party at a fancy hotel with all your friends from school,” Elle shot back.

“I told you I wanted to invite you guys! It was a last-minute thing!”

“Okay, ladies.” Gavin leaned forward across the picnic table we were all sharing.

“Let’s not lose sight of who we’re celebrating.

What are our plans for the rest of the evening, birthday girl?

” The way he looked at me temporarily incapacitated me.

He’d always been dreamy, but somehow the fact that he’d just finished his first year of college made him even more attractive.

He had an air of sophistication about him that was both mysterious and reassuring.

I felt safe around him. Protected. And also terrified.

“I don’t know what your plans are.” Elle finished off her final bite. “But our last night here is always family movie night.” She gestured to where two of my uncles were hanging a giant sheet from the balcony two houses over.

“That sounded a little bit harsh, Elle,” I chided.

“I’m sorry, are you the same girl who always insists we never ever break tradition?” Sutton wagged a finger in my direction. “The one who had to be convinced it was okay to let Rebekah make you cupcakes in lieu of an ice cream run this year?”

“I’m not suggesting we break tradition,” I defended. “I’m just saying that we don’t have to be ugly to our friends about it.” I turned to Rebekah. “The cupcakes are delicious, by the way.”

Gavin nudged my fingers with his across the table and offered me one of his signature winks. “It’s cool, Alex. We aren’t offended. We’ll pop some popcorn and watch from our deck like we always do. We care about our Henry girls far too much to get in the way of their traditions. You ready, Jude?”

Jude crumpled up his trash and followed Gavin back next door, throwing me one last “Happy birthday, Al” over his shoulder.

I followed my cousins upstairs to grab blankets before we settled into our camping chairs in the yard for the feature presentation.

An hour in, Elle had fallen asleep like she did every year. I studied the faces of my best friends in the flashing glow of the big screen, feeling extra nostalgic. This was all going by too fast.

A piece of popcorn hit the side of my head. Then another.

When I raised my eyes to the deck next door, Gavin jerked his head toward the street behind us.

Rebekah giggled, but Sutton just rolled her eyes as I tiptoed past them and crept around the house.

My heart was racing by the time I met him in the middle of the road. “What’s up?”

“I just got a text from a friend, and rumor has it, there are going to be fireworks tonight. Want to check it out?”

I nodded, and he wrapped his hand around mine as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if he’d done it a million times.

I let him lead me down to the beach, and we climbed the steps hand in hand. We stood there, shoulders touching, watching the waves crash into one another.

I was almost afraid to speak, scared that it would somehow spoil the magic and the moment would evaporate. But when he slid his arm around my waist, I felt invincible.

“Tell me a secret, Gavin Alford.”

“Hmm.” His breath tickled my ear. “What kind of secret?”

I pulled my sweatshirt sleeves over my hands and leaned into him. “I want to know the story of how you guys ended up living in the beach house.” The girls and I had invented about a thousand theories over the years, but somehow, we’d never gotten the facts.

He was quiet for a beat too long, and I panicked. Maybe it was the wrong question.

“It’s not exactly a secret,” he finally said. “We just don’t talk about it much, because Jude gets weird about things sometimes.”

“Oh,” I breathed, ready to drop the topic completely. But he kept talking.

“My mom’s parents gave the house to my parents as a wedding gift.

They said everyone needed a place to escape to every now and then.

But my mom thought it was crazy to own a beach house and not live in it all the time, so they got jobs nearby and moved in.

Living on an island made commuting longer, and I think they got a little lonely out here during the offseason, but my dad said she never wanted to leave.

After she died, he couldn’t let the house go.

So, yeah, we’ve been here ever since.” He cleared his throat.

“Sorry; that was probably a much more boring story than you were hoping for.”

“I’m sorry, Gavin.” I looked up at him. “I can’t imagine—”

“I was pretty little.” He brushed off my concern. “I don’t remember much from before she was gone.” He sighed and turned me so I was facing him. “How about a happier secret?” he suggested.

“Okay.” I smiled.

He lowered his face dangerously close to mine. “I very much want to kiss you right now.”

My cheeks flushed, but I forced myself not to look away.

He kept one hand on my waist and moved the other to cradle the side of my face, gently sliding his thumb across my cheek. “Tell me a secret, Alexandria Henry.”

I swallowed. “This,” I whispered. “This is what I wished for.”

“Looks like your cousin was wrong then.”

“Hmm?”

“About it not coming true.” He closed the miniscule gap between us and, as if on cue, fireworks lit up the sky.

We missed every single one.

The next morning, when I woke to my cousins packing their suitcases, bleary-eyed from staying up far too late talking, I was tempted to believe it had all been a dream.

But Sutton came back inside from loading her car and handed me a small gift bag. “I was asked to deliver this to you.” Her usually confident voice was laced with an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher.

I pulled out a white cardboard box and opened it to find a silver necklace with a sand dollar charm. The torn scrap of paper in the bottom of the bag bore six words I would read over and over again: “Happy birthday, Alex. Until next year.”

But the next year, the Alfords were gone.

I sit bolt upright and squint as my eyes adjust to the darkness in the room, and it takes me a few seconds to remember where I am, how I got here. I check the time on my phone; 12:12. How have I only been asleep for an hour?

Swinging my feet over the side of the bed, I pull on a long-sleeved shirt over my tank top. I pad across the floor as quietly as I can, aware that Jude’s room is directly underneath this one and not sure how heavy of a sleeper he is.

The door to Gavin’s room is wide open, but I still feel like I’m trespassing as I step inside.

His bed is neatly made and everything on his desk is in its place.

I wonder if he was this organized when he lived here or if the room’s been cleaned up since.

There’s a mirror-topped dresser in the corner with so many photos tucked around the edges that I can hardly see my own reflection.

His smile is every bit as dazzling as I remember it as he looks back at me from dozens of moments in time captured with friends.

I’m not surprised that none of us girls are in any of them, but it still makes me a tiny bit sad and jealous.

The faded image in the bottom right corner grabs my eye and immediately makes me tear up.

It’s a young Gavin and Jude, long before we met them but unmistakably the same boys we knew.

Know? They’re on the beach. Gavin’s arm is draped casually over Jude’s shoulder, and Jude is looking up at him with a look of pure adoration in his eyes. I know the feeling.

My mind too full for sleep, I grab my notebook and pen from the room next door and go downstairs.

I’m so lost in thought that I’m only one step from the bottom before I notice Jude sitting on a barstool at the kitchen island, books spread out in front of him under the hanging light.

He’s clad in gray pajama pants and a white T-shirt and is typing something on his laptop.

When he pauses to lift his glasses with one hand and rub the other across his tired eyes, a twinge of affection pinches my chest.

“Hey.” He catches sight of me and leans back on the stool. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I just woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“You’re not disturbing me.”

I cross the room and set my notebook and pen next to a textbook. “What are you working on?”

“Online business classes. But I think I’m done for the night.”

“Oh, wow. This tourism business idea is for real then?”

He looks stung, and I feel like a jerk.

“Sorry, that came out wrong.” I sit down beside him. “I love that you’re doing this. I think it sounds really cool. I guess I always just pictured you becoming some kind of doctor, or like, a Jeopardy contestant or something. You were always so much smarter than anyone else in the room.”

“That’s a very kind way of saying I was a nerd.”

I shake my head, but he smiles just enough to let me know he’s not offended. “Believe it or not, ‘game show contestant’ is not an actual profession. And while the science of medicine fascinates me, I’m not a fan of blood.”

“Oh my gosh, I forgot about that! Remember that time Rebekah cut her foot on a seashell?”

He winces. “I’d rather not.”

“Sorry,” I laugh. “Do you still play the trumpet?”

“What’s with all the questions?” He closes his computer.

I almost apologize again, but he doesn’t look upset. “It’s just strange.” I shrug. “I feel like I know you so well and, at the same time, don’t know you at all.”

“Well.” He closes a book and stacks it on another. “I haven’t practiced trumpet since high school marching band. But rest assured, I am still very much the geeky kid you remember.” He stifles a yawn.

“I need to let you get some rest.”

“It has been a pretty eventful day,” he admits. “But feel free to stay up as long as you want. You can write or watch TV or eat cheese or whatever it is you usually do on vacation; I promise you won’t bother me.”

“Thanks. And maybe tomorrow, we can work on the Late Night Cheese Eating promotional materials for your future clients.”

“Perfect.” He stands and slides the stack of books from the counter into his arms before heading for the hallway. “Night, Alex. I’m glad you’re here.”

So am I.