Ellery stretched out on the towel beside her sister, the hot sun baking her back.
Samara pelted her with a sunscreen bottle.“I know.You need to take more vacations.Trust me, Hermosa Key is even prettier, but there’s more to do here.On Hermosa, the most exciting thing to do is clean the barnacles off Dad’s boat.And that’s far less thrilling than it sounds.”
Ellery rolled her eyes and focused on the book in front of her.A girl, a paperback, and a beach.Why didn’t she do this in LA?
“Where are the others?”Samara asked, her eyes covered by enormous tortoiseshell sunglasses.“Selene and Lorraine?”
“They all went home for a bit.Selene to Vermont, Lorraine to Michigan.”
“And Dante?”Samara tilted her glasses down her nose to waggle her eyebrows at her sister.
Ellery’s gut twitched and curled.“He went back to Seattle.His brother Casper planned this huge homecoming party.”
“Did you want that?”Samara leaned back again and folded her hands beneath her head to cradle it.“A huge party?Celebrating the rock goddess?”
Ellery laughed.“No, thank you.After almost two years of Logan Groff’s voice in my head, telling me to work harder, smile more, eat less, hold your hip this way— needless to say, I am grateful for the break.”
“You did always want to be a celebrity.”
“Not really.”Ellery toyed with the bookmark, scraping its edge up and down the spine of the paperback.“I want to be able to play music.I want people to hear a song I wrote and have it move them.”She marked her page and shut the book with finality.“I want to look back later in my life and know I tried.I want my family to be proud of me.And all of that takes recognition.”
Samara’s face was hidden beneath her glasses, but her chest heaved like she was holding in a sob.
Uh-oh.She had forgotten why she’d agreed to come home in the first place.Heartbreak never got easier.Ellery sat upright, her shadow adding to the coverage from the beach umbrella.“I’m so sorry, Sammy.”
Her sister rolled over onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbow, but didn’t meet her gaze.“Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry about school.I know how hard you worked to get into grad school, and it sucks that they didn’t accept you.”
Samara wiped under her eyes and shrugged, letting her sunglasses settle back over her face.“It’s okay.I didn’t actually work that hard.Maybe if I had tried more, or studied more for the GRE.But I was too wrapped up in Hudson.”She clipped the name of her ex-girlfriend like she was cutting through a flower stalk.
“I’m sorry about that too.It’s awful.”
Samara sniffed.“Yeah.It is.She’s a stone-cold bitch.Whatever.I’m getting over it.”
Ellery nudged her foot with her own.“I can tell.”
Samara laughed and sat upright.“I totally am.Just because I had to move in with Mom and Dad doesn’t mean I’m not getting any action.”She sprayed sand over Ellery’s blanket.“What about you?Getting any action?”
“Please.I barely have time to eat.Dating is not a priority.”Damned nonfraternization clause.She should have had her father review Logan’s contract before she signed it.Naive Ellery, trying to make it on her own.Not that it had stopped Dante.Whenever he wasn’t with the band, he disappeared for hours on end.Maybe he had a new girlfriend or boyfriend.Ellery’s stomach roiled.Dante should find someone new, someone who could make him happy.
Samara made a noncommittal sound and glanced down the beach.A slow smile curved up her lips, which was never a good sign.“Hey, El.Don’t be mad.”
“Why would I be mad?”
Samara sat up on her knees, brushing her palms against each other to get rid of the sand.“Because we did a thing.”
Nerves pulsed throughout Ellery’s body as she matched her sister’s height.“What did you do?”
Samara lifted her shoulders and shrugged.“We brought the party to you.”
Ellery’s eyes widened and a laugh bubbled up through her as she caught sight of her parents walking toward them across the beach.Between them was Dante, his jeans rolled up to midcalf and a Mariners cap on his head.With the Florida sun at his back, highlighting his languid posture, he was glorious.
Hope bloomed through her.There were no cameras here, none of Logan’s spies.It would just be her, her family, and Dante.For once.
* * *
Then—Dante
