Simon wore polish all the time, in exciting colors, and I’d always secretly envied him for it. There’d been one recently that shifted between midnight blue and gunmetal silver in the light that I’d been mesmerized by as I watched his hands move while he made dinner. I’d liked the way it made his hands look.
He wasn’t wearing polish right now—he’d shown up with bare nails, neatly trimmed. Because he was trying not to embarrass me.
The thing was,Simoncould never embarrass me. As far as I was concerned, he was perfect and everyoneelsewas wrong. I didn’t want him to wear sensible suits and contact lenses. I didn’t want him to tone himself down. If anything, I wished I was more like him. He was comfortable in his own skin in ways I couldn’t imagine being.
I glanced at Madelaine’s bright pink nails, then at the selection of polishes in front of me again.
This isn’t real life.
What happens in Montauk.
“Have you got anything in blue?”
I foundSimon sitting on the same dock he’d found me hiding on the last time we’d been here for the Fourth of July. Exactly ten years ago today.
The air was still warm from the hot day, filled with the sound of crickets—or cicadas, I didn’t know the difference—singing andthe distant murmur of noise and music floating over from the house party. The rest of the wedding guests had arrived—there were maybe fifty or sixty people here now, all of them milling around the courtyard.
The dock was just far enough from the house to be out of sight in the dark unless you knew it was there. Dad had owned a boat, at one point, but he’d never really bothered to take it out. He’d had it because everyone else had one.
That was ideal for me, because the one time Ihadbeen on a boat, I’d been horrifically seasick. If Dad had known, it would’ve been one more thing about me to be disappointed in.
Simon had his shoes and socks off and his pants rolled up to just below his knees, feet dangling in the water, lounging back and looking up at the sky. The fireworks were due to start any minute, but for now, the skies were clear and there were twice as many stars out here as there were in the city.
Montauk was beautiful. It was a shame to hate it as much as I did.
He turned back to look at me as I approached. Even in the dark, I could see the smile he broke into, the way his shoulders relaxed. I’d never get over the way Simon looked at me. No one else had ever looked at me like that.
“I come bearing gifts,” I said, holding up the two bottles of beer I’d managed to snag from the party. I’d been surprised to see beer atall, even the local small brewery IPA stuff this was.
I’d never been a beer drinker except when I was with Simon.
“I guess I could share this exclusive spot with you,” Simon said, smile widening into a grin and shuffling over in invitation, asthough there hadn’t been enough room before. “How was your day?”
“You know,” I said as I picked my way over to him, wary of the uneven boards that hadn’t had any maintenance in atleastthe ten years since I’d last stepped foot here. “Honestly not bad. We had a spa day. For fifteen minutes while I was covered in mud from my neck to my feet, I felt genuinely relaxed.”
I passed Simon one of the bottles and sat down cross-legged beside him. Not quite touching, but close enough to feel the warmth of his body.
“Yeah?” Simon asked.
“Yeah,” I said, offering him my hand for inspection. The polish looked black in the dark, but I wanted him to see I’d done it at all.
“Oh, wow,” he said, taking my hand to inspect the nails. “Never seen you with polish on before.”
I shrugged. “A wise man once told me that what happens in Montauk stays in Montauk.”
Simon laughed. “Well, I like it on you. Black’s your color.”
“It’s not black,” I said. “It’s navy blue. To match the wedding suit.”
“Wedding suit?” Simon asked, his beer hissing as he cracked it open.
Right. I’d never gotten to tell him.
“That’s what Mom wanted me for yesterday, while you were helping Delilah,” I said. “Other than to tell me Corey was going to ask you to be his best man. I’m not allowed to wear black tothe wedding. She presented me with a suit. Made me try it on in case it needed adjusting. It’s navy.”
Simon sighed, shoulders heaving with it. “I wish she’d leave you alone for one fucking minute. Black is a normal color to wear at weddings.”
“Since when isnormala word that applies to my family?”
