“Yeah, you are,” he laughed. Then, softer like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud, “You’re my favorite person.”
Something in my chest tightened. I wanted to say,‘You’re mine too.’But the words hovered there. Saying them would change something, and I wasn’t ready to know what.
So I laughed instead.
“Five more days,” he said.
“Can’t wait.”
I glanced at the calendar.
June 2nd. Camp day.
Five days later,Mom’s car rolled to a stop in front of Camp Blackshear’s gates, and for the first time in weeks, I smiled.
“When does Max get here?” Mom asked, pulling the keys from the ignition.
“Three o’clock,” I said, glancing at my watch.
She popped the trunk, and I stepped into the gravel. My Converse shoes sunk into the familiar dust. That’s when she handed me a small pink gift bag, her face lit with secret excitement.
Inside, there was a brand-new silver iPhone.
“What?!” I gasped, clutching it like it might vanish.
“You’re an adult now,” she said, grinning.
I gave her a look. I’d been an adult for a whole year already. I was only a few months shy of turning nineteen.
She lifted her hands in surrender. “I know. I know. It’s overdue. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“Mom! I can’t believe you got me a cell phone!” Iexclaimed, looking at the shiny new screen. I hugged her, breathing in her floral scent. “Did West say it was all right?”
“Yes, he said it was time. It’ll be monitored—calls and texts only. No internet. You can’t download any apps. But at least now, we can text every day.”
West would see everything, but I didn’t care.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too. And maybe this year, I’ll finally meet Max.”
She’d said that before. Every year, she left before he arrived. She never made it to Parents’ Weekend, and when she came to pick me up, he had already left. He was always leaving early for baseball camp.
There was a strange tug at my heart when I thought about the two of them meeting. For some reason, I didn’t want her and Max in the same room. Part of me knew that worlds like mine and his shouldn’t touch outside of Camp Blackshear. It felt like it could explode.
Just as I thought it, I sensed him, like my body had tuned itself to his presence.
The hair on the back of my neck prickled, and I lightly touched my scar, turning towards the parking lot. When I turned, Max stepped out of his dark blue Chevy truck, and my entire world stuttered to a halt.
He stood just beyond the knot of counselors and older campers, taller than I remembered, moving with a maddening calm that made everyone else look like they were trying too hard. His dark hair had grown past the neat boyish cut he used to keep, curling at the ends like he hadn’t bothered with a haircut in weeks. I wanted to run my hands through it, feel its weight between my fingers.
I immediately bit my lower lip and shifted my weight, silently scolding myself for thinking that way about him.
He took off his sunglasses and tucked them into the collar of his white cutoff shirt. The frayed sleeve edges revealed hisstrong, tanned forearms—evidence of his baseball training and outdoor lifestyle. His physique wasn’t merely muscular; it seemed designed for movement, as if he’d forget how to breathe if he stayed still too long.
The sun had deepened his skin to a golden-brown, but the crooked smirk tucked into the corner of his mouth hadn’t faded. Only… it wasn’t boyish anymore. There was nothing innocent about it now.
When he reached for his duffel, his shirt lifted just enough to flash lean, toned abs where there had once been a soft belly. He had on scuffed-up combat boots under jeans, and when I dragged my gaze back up to his face, I hit the full force of his eyes.
