I looked down at the taco in my hands.
“For a few days, I’d like to be the person standing here with you.”
Ellie was quiet.
“Not whatever the internet says I am,” I added.
A breeze moved through the palm above us. Somewhere nearby, a truck reversed with a series of cheerful beeps.
Ellie studied my face for several seconds.
Then she nodded.
“Okay.”
I looked up.
“Okay?”
“I won’t Google you.”
“You don’t have to agree that quickly.”
“Sure I do. I hate homework.”
“That’s your reason?”
“One of them.”
“And the other?”
Her mouth curved.
“I like Just Annie.”
My chest tightened in a way that had nothing to do with the wetsuit.
“You might regret that.”
“I’ve regretted plenty of things. Mostly haircuts and men with guitars.”
“That’s oddly comforting.”
“I’m known for my bedside manner.”
My phone buzzed again.
Ellie glanced at it.
“You should call whoever that is before they send a helicopter.”
“That is unfortunately not impossible.”
She stared at me.
“That was a joke, right?”
“Mostly.”
