Jett sits up on his elbows and looks at me with a sleepy smile. “I like it. Slept like a baby.”
“That’s only because you have me next to you.”
He rolls his eyes and falls onto his back. “Dork.”
I wipe at the crust in the corner of his eye and grin. “So you keep telling me.”
“You boys awake?” Grandma yells.
“Who can sleep with all that racket?” I yell back.
“Oh, Wes. Behave.”
I roll over onto my side, and Jett faces me. “Wanna do a couple of handies before our run?” I whisper, waggling my brows.
“Do you always have sex on the brain?”
I pretend to think about it for a moment. “Pretty much. What? I’m as horny as I was when I was a teen.”
“As much as I’d love to, I’m not fooling around in your bedroom. The entire house will know.”
“Hmm, you’ve gotta point. So, no stuffing my mouth as you stuff my ass?”
He snorts a laugh and shakes his head. “Jesus, Wes. That mouth is gonna get you in trouble one day.”
“It hasn’t yet.”
He yawns and stretches as I did. “We’ll fool around when we get back.”
I feign a pout. “But I’m all hard and horny.”
“Just pee. You’ll be okay, you big baby.”
“You’re so mean. Fine!”
I crawl out of bed and dig around for a T-shirt. Jett opens his bag and pulls one out, too.
“Let’s go for a run,” I say. “We’re going to need to knock out those calories before we cram our faces later today.” I sit on the edge of the bed and pull on some socks and my sweats. “Tomorrow, we’ll hang out with Dennis and Mike, if that’s okay.”
“Yeah, I’d love to.”
Jett and I climb down the ladder and drop right into the kitchen. “Mornin’,” I say to Grandma and kiss her cheek.
“Morning. Are you boys hungry? I’m making pancakes.”
“G-ma, why are you making breakfast? We’re gonna have a massive meal this afternoon.”
“Just something small. You’re going to be hungry.”
“Save it for later. Jett and I are going for a run.”
After I fill two collapsible water bottles, I hand one to Jett with a hydration belt to keep our hands free.
The morning is brisk, but neither of us wears a hoodie. We’ll warm up soon enough. We jog a few blocks to the beach, where we’ll do our run.
Cannon Beach is empty of people, except for a few jogging or walking. The sky is gray, and the tide is out. I take a deep breath of the fresh, salty air before we start running on the packed sand.
We head in the direction of Ecola State Park. Neither of us says a word. I focus on my breathing, using the pounding of my feet on the sand to find a rhythm as my head starts to clear and my body warms.
