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“She’s always upset. Can we pleasenottalk about my mother?”
“Sure. Sorry.”
“I’m nothing like her.”
“Okay.” He shrugs. “You want to walk across the boardwalk or take the tram?”
“Let’s walk.” As they fall into step beside each other, Erin insists, “I’m reallynothinglike her.”
“You’re pretty like she is,” Mark says.
“Oh. Okay.” She feels his bare arm brush against hers, feels her whole body tingle. “What’s it like, living with your grandmother?”
“Great,” he says easily. “She’s sweet and she’s funny, and way more interesting than you might think.”
“She doesn’t get on your case about everything?”
“Nah. She pretty much lets me do my own thing. No judgment.”
“Must be nice.”
“It is.” A sudden breeze blows some hair into his face, and he pushes the hair away. “Although her being so accepting about everything makes it kind of hard.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “I’m afraid I’ll screw it up.” Another shrug, another push of his hair away from his face. “Look over there.” He points over the right side of the wooden railing that encloses the boardwalk on both sides.
“Oh my God!” Erin squeals with delight, watching a bunch of slender silver-colored fish as they leap in and out of the still blue water. “It’s like they’re jumping for joy,” she says, and Mark laughs.
Her mother certainly wouldn’t be jumping for joy if she could see her now, Erin acknowledges. Still, this impromptu little trip to the beach hadn’t been her idea. She’d merely happened to step outside at the same moment Mark returned from the grocery store and decided it was only polite to inquire after his grandmother. Which was when Mark mentioned that his father had phoned to say he’d be stopping by this afternoon to talk to Julia, and he didn’t want to be around when his father got there, so he was going to the beach, and why didn’t she grab a bathing suit and a towel and join him?
Why not, indeed?
“This place is North Palm Beach’s best kept secret,” Mark tells her. “You can go kayaking, canoeing, snorkeling, bird watching, swim in the ocean, whatever your little heart desires.”
I already know what my little heart desires,Erin thinks.
“And they have a nature center and walking trails and a gift shop,” he continues as they reach the shade of a cluster of giant gumbo-limbo trees at the end of the boardwalk. “Not to mention…the main attraction. Are you ready to be blown away?” He takes her hand and leads her up the winding flight of wooden steps.
Erin feels her heartbeat quicken as their fingers intertwine.
“Close your eyes,” he instructs as they near the top landing.
She closes her eyes, feeling almost dizzy from the combination of his touch, the ocean air, and the almost deafening noise of the waves crashing against her ears.
“Okay. Now open them.”
Erin’s eyes open to a stunning two-mile panorama of blue ocean and pristine white sand. “Oh my God. It’s gorgeous. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
“Told you.”
Mark lets go of her hand to slip off his sandals, then skips down the stairs. “Careful,” he warns as she does the same. “The sand’s hot.”
Erin feels the sand burn the bottoms of her bare feet as she hurries after him. They quickly lay their towels out on the sand and plop down on top of them. “I’m surprised there aren’t more people.”
“Told you it was North Palm’s best-kept secret.” He pulls his T-shirt over his head, revealing the pale flesh of his bony torso.
Erin squints into the sun, watching a group of surfers sitting on their boards in the distance, no doubt waiting for the perfect wave, while several teenage girls attempt to bodysurf the small waves closer to the shore.
