Page 140 of Summer Love

“I’m telling you what I saw, Noah.”

He shrugs but half-smiles, uncrosses his arms, and straightens up a little.

The mist lifts off the beach. In the distance, the first rooftops of Coral Bay come into view, pale in the morning light.

“Race you?” I say.

Noah shoots me a dark look.

“Why not just throw me off the pier while you’re at it?”

I’m already gone.

“Hey!” he shouts behind me. “That’s cheating!”

I don’t slow down. My sneakers slap the planks of the pier, then the packed sand, then the asphalt of the boardwalk. Behind me, Noah swears, his heavy footsteps pounding, his breathing ragged.

I ease off a little.

He pulls even with me after a few yards—red, drenched, furious.

“Remind me why I came and got you,” he pants.

I laugh.

“I hate you,” he adds.

CHAPTER 44

Summer

Noah’s hacking up a lung beside me. His Millennium Falcon T-shirt is soaked through with sweat. My own breathing is steady, my legs still asking for more.

“Want to slow down?” I ask.

Instead, he flips me off. I smile. We slow to a jog.

The surf school comes into view. The sun’s still low, the light pale, almost silver on the water. The beach is quiet. Two figures are already there: Jace and Harper, their boards resting in the sand. Harper, crouched down, adjusts her leash. Jace zips up his wetsuit.

When we reach them, he looks up at me.

“Hey,” I murmur.

“Hey,” he says.

One word each. And we kissed a few hours ago.

Harper and Noah trade a look, one eyebrow raised.

“You two coming out?” Harper asks.

Noah nods with suspicious enthusiasm for a guy who’s still standing by some miracle. I nod too.

We grab two wetsuits from the school’s gear room, and Noah pulls a board off the rack. By the time I get my yellow board from the garage, Harper and Noah have headed for the water without waiting for me. I watch them go, shoulder to shoulder.

Jace picks up his board.

“Coming?”