Page 34 of Summer Love

“And your foot?” he goes on. “How’s that with waitressing?”

“Some nights it’s rough. After a full day in heels at the internship, the diner kills me. Some mornings I can’t put my foot on the floor for ten minutes.”

I’d never said that to anyone outside a doctor’s office.

“And you?” I ask.

“A bachelor’s in marine biology at Monterey Bay. A master’s too.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Five years of school. Coastal ecosystems, marine wildlife, scientific diving. The whole deal.”

“And?”

Miles fiddles with his bar towel, his expression distant.

“And nothing. I tried everywhere: labs, marine parks, research centers, nonprofits… the market’s saturated. Too many grads, not enough jobs.”

“So you came back here.”

“Wasn’t much choice.”

He says it without bitterness—almost. His smile freezes for a second.

“I keep sending out résumés,” he adds. “One day it’ll work out. Or not. In the meantime, I pour beers for tourists and feed cats.”

Sushi picks this moment to jump onto the counter. Miles scratches her behind the ear.

“You know how it works here,” he says. “We all leave… and we all end up coming back.”

My hand goes to my pendant. The little gold wave is warm.

“I’m not really coming back, Miles. I’m here to sell my grandparents’ house. Fix it up, sign, go back to New York.”

“So you’re selling the Hayes house?” he asks softly.

“I have to. I can’t afford to keep a second home in California.”

It’s not a choice. It’s survival.

Miles wipes the counter with slow, deliberate strokes.

“You seeing anyone?”

A flash hits before I can answer: Jace, his green eyes, his brown hair, his closed-off face on the beach. I shove the image away.

“No. You?”

Miles flashes me a crooked, mischievous smile that brings out a dimple.

“No girlfriend. But a few guys here and there.”

I’m not surprised. At seventeen, he never once looked at the girls in their swimsuits by the pool, and I always got the feeling his eyes wandered elsewhere—to Jace’s abs, or Evan’s.

“I kind of figured,” I admit.

“You’re not the first to tell me that. But I was the last one to figure it out.”