“Probably not,” he agrees. “But come anyway.”
That smile hits exactly where it always used to—low in my stomach, sharp and familiar. The dimple in his left cheek flashes, the one that used to knock logic clean out of my head. Memory claws at me, greedy and relentless, dragging me toward summers that feel like someone else’s life.
My pulse stutters. I blink, trying to swallow the sharp, stupid spark that flares in my chest. “Why? So you guys can ambush me over the yacht?”
That earns me a real laugh—full-bodied, unguarded. Bright enough to steal the air out of my lungs. God, I forgot he laughed like that. Like sunlight breaking.
He must see something in my face because the sound cuts off, and he steps closer, voice dropping. “No one’s going to hurt you. If that’s what you’re worried about.”
I fold my arms tighter. “And why’s that? You going to protect me now?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “If you need it.”
I needed it thenI want to scream.Where were you then?
My heartbeat stutters once, then barrels forward with reckless speed. I look away, force air into my lungs, stitch myself back together. “I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that.” His eyes move over me—steady, assessing, not a hint of judgment. “So bring anyone you want. Your sister. Your brother. Your… whoever.” A slow smile curves. “Just not a boyfriend.”
I raise a brow. “And what about a husband?”
He chokes. Actually chokes. “Husband?” His sunglasses slip a fraction of an inch down his nose, disbelief snapping across his features. “Holy—Bell, you’remarried?”
I take two slow steps backward, sliding my sunglasses up firmly until the world turns glossy and safe again. Heat flickers low in my stomach as a grin curls at the edges of my mouth. It’s sharp and bright, riding the line between playful and unhinged. The kind of grin that saysI’m not the same girl you knew.
“I guess you’ll find out tonight.”
His mouth parts, surprise and something hotter flashing in his expression, but I’m already turning away, letting the sun swallow me before my legs decide to betray me.
“Bellamy,” he calls, low and rough, my name scraping through me like an old wound remembering how to ache.
I don’t stop.
Not until I’m safely behind the wheel of my SUV—hands shaking on the steering wheel, heart pounding like I sprinted the whole way.
4
BELLAMY
By the timeI pull into our little four-flat building—two apartments on the bottom, two stacked above—the sun has settled into that honey-colored glow that hits Hollow Beach like a blessing and a warning. The air smells like salt and heat and someone’s citrusy laundry detergent drifting from the upstairs balcony. Early afternoon, but already edging toward the golden hours surfers live for. The kind of light that makes everything look gold-brushed and temporarily forgiven.
Our unit is the bottom rear one. Not the ocean-facing dream the front apartments get, but if I crane my neck just right from our tiny back deck, I can see a sliver of blue between the houses. Sometimes that’s enough.
We’ve been back in Hollow Beach for a month, and some days it feels like we never left. When we left years ago, I always knew we’d come back. I didn’t realize it would take this long.
I walk the narrow gravel path between our building and the neighbor’s fence. The boards clack under my sandals, and I fish my keys out of my back pocket. When I push the door open, the familiar creak in the hinge greets me—the same one I meant to fix when we moved in but somehow never do.
“Beck!” I call, tossing my sunglasses and keys into the ceramic bowl in the entryway. The bowl wobbles, catches itself, and settles. “You home?”
Lola’s voice floats from deeper inside. “He’s not here!”
Of course he’s not.
I toe off my sneakers and head toward the kitchen. Sunlight spills through the sliding back door, warming the hardwood and the stack of junk mail no one bothered to sort. “Where’d he go?”
Lola appears in the hallway, twisting her hair up into oversized rollers, as if she just stepped out of a vintage pin-up photo shoot. She wiggles the last roller into place and smirks at me. “He’s surfing with Tanner and Nico. They went up to Salt Point Beach.”
Salt Point. One of the rougher breaks a few miles north.
