“Mady told me you only come back for the holidays. Honestly, she’s more jealous than insulted. She’s mad at herself for missing you so much.”
“Sounds like her. The truth is, it started as me wanting to go abroad for a couple of months, surf, see new places, and then I fell in love with it. I just wanted to see everything,” he said, eyes gleaming with passion. “Sadly, it means I don’t see my family much.”
“Well, as far as reasons go, that’s not the worst one,” I chuckled.
His face shifted, pity creeping in. I felt it before he even spoke.
“I heard about your mom,” he said softly. “I’m really sorry, Hazel.”
I exhaled sharply. “Yeah, what can you do? That’s life.” I forced a smile, consoling him in a way, too. Telling him it was fine. I was fine.
He looked at me for a long moment and then pulled me into a hug. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a loud splash in the water and some laughter, but it was just white noise to me.
The hug, however, felt like a warm, chocolate-filled croissant that you only allow yourself on special occasions. Mady had the same one. Jeremy pressed a quick kiss to my head, gently rubbed my back, then pulled away with a soft smile.
“So, what else is new in your life?”
“Nothing much than planning Mady’s wedding at the moment.”
“Yeah, that must be a highlight with her super mellow, laid-back vibe,” he laughed. “How’s Jackson treating you?” Damn, I couldn’t catch a break with these questions.
“Actually, we’re not together anymore.”
Silence. Then, finally—
“Well, I never liked him anyway,” he said.I chuckled. “What happened?”
“We drifted after Mom died... I left, and he didn’t really ask me to stay. At first, at least. Natural death, you know? Lately, he’s been showing up, asking me to reconsider.”
“Do you want? Reconsider?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Have you told him that?”
“A couple of times, actually,” I snickered.
“What do you mean, a couple of times? Is he following you or something?”
“I wouldn’t say following... just showing up where I am,” I shrugged.
“Hazel, is he harassing you?”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to think about this now. Not on my pity vacation.
“It’s nothing, I...” Before I could finish, Logan draped an arm over my shoulders, making me jump.
“What’s up, Jerry? Messing with our Hazel?” He flopped into a bean bag beside me. “She’s one of us now. Don’t think you can steal her away for one of your volcano adventures, you hobo.”
Wow. My cheeks burned. It would be hard to leave them once this was over. No matter what they said, I wasn’t truly part of their group.
“Are you high? Or has that LSAT brain of yours overheated here? She was my friend first.” Jeremy threw a handful of sand into Logan’s face.
“Oh man, I miss being high,” Ava suddenly said out of the blue. I raised an eyebrow, surprised.
“Oh, no,” Alex clarified. “She means weed, not like... heroin.”
“In fact, we recently discussed this. Specifically, if Ethan could handle it,” Summer said.
