Kairi:
No.
Colton:
Same. Want to meet at the beach?
My heart stumbles and I hold my breath as I type back.
Kairi:
Yeah, I’ll see you there.
I slowly stand from the couch, careful not to wake the others as the hardwood floor creaks beneath my feet, and head toward the hallway. I throw on Maliah’s oversized sweater over my tank top, slip my feet into sandals, and sneak out the back door.
I can hear the waves crashing softly against the shore just beyond Maliah’s backyard, and as I walk toward the sand to wait for him, my heart begins to race.
THIRTY-THREE
COLTON
The beachbehind Maliah and Koa’s house looks empty when I get there. All I see is the endless dark ocean, the moonlight shining across the waves, and Kairi sitting alone near the shoreline with her knees pulled to her chest.
I stand there for a moment, watching how the wind pushes through her curls softly while her oversized sweater hangs off one shoulder, exposing the curve of her collarbone. It’s only been five fucking days since I last saw her, and yet it feels longer. Like something in me was off-balance the entire time I was gone.
I start walking again, and Kairi turns at the sound of my footsteps approaching. When our eyes connect, it’s like my lungs forget how to work properly.
God, I missed her face.
“Hey,” she says softly.
“Hey.”
I lower myself beside her in the sand, close enough that our shoulders almost touch but not quite.
“How was Bluewater Bluffs?”
I exhale slowly through my nose, staring out at the water. “Better than I expected.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” A small laugh escapes me. “My father and I finally stopped acting like stubborn idiots for five minutes.”
I tell her everything, from Cooper dragging me out horseback riding at sunrise, my dad sleeping on the couch because my mom kicked him out after their argument, the beers on the front steps, and the realization that maybe my father missed me more than he ever knew how to say out loud.
Kairi listens quietly beside me, fully focused in that way she always is when someone she loves is hurting.
“I’m really happy for you,” she says when I finish, smiling gently. “You deserve that kind of peace with them.”
I glance over at her, my eyes dropping to her lips for one dangerous second, and I almost kiss her right there.
Instead, I look away and clear my throat. “What about you? What’ve you been up to while I was gone?”
“Mostly work,” she says with a small smile. “I also went to see my parents for a bit to reset.”
“How’d that go?” Kairi doesn’t often talk about her parents but from what I understand they have a great relationship.
“It was really good,” she says with a nod. “They gave me some clarity about some things that were bothering me.”
