“Mom, I’m fine. And safe. I promise.”
“I know that in the moment, things can get heated?—”
“Nope. No. Stop.”
“Summer, I will not. It’s my obligation as mother to make sure this is discussed.”
“You’ve said it. We’re good. I promise.”
The bell at the front chimes and I say, “Oh look, a customer came in. Gotta run!”
“Summe—”
I hang up on her and brush my hair away from my face, flustered. I look to the front door and see two girls around my age, maybe a little younger, weave through the display tables and shelves of books. They’re wearing cute clothes, stylish rompers and flats.
“Let me know if I can help you,” I call, walking to the trash to throw away a half-eaten banana I find on a bookshelf. Gross.
“Is Anita here?” one of the girls asks.
“Oh, no, she had an appointment. She’ll be back in tomorrow, though.”
“Oh, bummer,” one girl says. She’s got flaming red, long hair. The other girl has dark hair cut in a bob with equally blunt bangs. She nods at the disappointment of missing Anita. They cruise around a bit more but I feel their eyes assessing me. I’m about to ask if they want to leave a message but they walk to the door and the red-head tosses out, “Bye,” and they go as quickly as they came.
The rest of the afternoon is the same and since we’re still in off-season hours I lock the front door at five, flipping over the sign and closing the curtain. A few minutes later I’m going over the closing list of instructions when I hear a small tap on the door. I walk over, prepared to tell the customer that we’re closed until morning, already not liking the feeling of doing that, when I push back the curtain and am graced with Justin’s handsome face. A different feeling blooms inside me at the sight of him.
His cheeks and nose are red from the first days of summer sun—his skin getting used to it again. He’s grown the sides of hisbrown hair out a little, but the front still sticks up, away from his forehead. I open the door and he slips in, giving me a quick kiss.
“Hi,” he says.
“I didn’t know you were coming.” I re-lock the door.
“I got off work early and wanted to see how your first day as a townie went.”
“Pretty good, I guess. Anita set up a toddler class that was a little crazy. Two girls came in, eyed me, and walked back out, and my mom called and gave me a weird, over-the-phone sex talk.”
His eyebrows rise. “Hmmm…did you tell her that ship had sailed?”
“I told her we were being safe.” The student center gave me a prescription for birth control pills and I took them religiously.
The truth, though, is that we hadn’t had sex in a long time. Distance and time made it hard, but now that we’re together again, just being around him made my body tingle all over. I touch his chest—the part over his heart where the marina logo is stitched.
“Do you have any plans tonight?” he asks; there’s a lightness to the question. It’s false. He wants the same thing I want.
“Just closing up. Finding some dinner—” His lips capture mine. My heart hammers. “Maybe hanging out with you.”
“Maybe?”
I shrug playfully. “What would a townie do on a night like this?”
He smiles and it’s like looking into the sun. God, I’ve missed him. “Well, a real townie would buy a six-pack of beer and some food, then maybe walk down to the Camp and hang out for a while. If you’re a guy like me, you’re hoping some hot chick will let you make out with her behind the dunes.”
“What’s the Camp?”
“Have none of us ever taken you there?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Come on, let’s go to the Grill and get some food. Then we’ll pop your townie cherry.” His fingers link with mine.
