The Last Song(19)

“There you are!” he called out with a mixture of relief and exasperation. “We’ve been looking for you. You ready to go?”

The girl, who’d been watching Blaze, was obviously unhappy to see him.

“No,” she said simply. With that, she strode into the crowd, heading for the beach. A young boy walked up to the father.

“I guess she’s not hungry,” the boy offered.

The man put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, watching as she descended the steps to the beach without a backward glance. “I guess not,” he said.

“Can you believe that?” Scott raged, pulling Will away from the scene he’d been observing so closely. Scott was still hyped up, the adrenaline surging. “I was about to pound that freak.”

“Uh… yeah,” he responded. He shook his head. “I’m not sure Teddy and Lance would have let you.”

“They wouldn’t have done anything. Those guys are all show.”

Will wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t say anything.

Scott took a breath. “Hold up. Here comes the cop.”

The officer approached them slowly, obviously trying to gauge the situation.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.

“Nothing, Officer,” Scott answered, sounding demure.

“I heard there was a fight.”

“No, sir.”

The officer waited for more, his expression skeptical. Neither Scott nor Will said anything. By then, the condiment area was filling with people going about their business. The officer surveyed the scene, making sure he wasn’t missing anything, then suddenly his face lit up with recognition at the sight of someone standing behind Will.

“Is that you, Steve?” he called out.

Will watched him stride off toward the girl’s father.

Ashley and Cassie sidled up to them. Cassie’s face was flushed. “Are you okay?” she fluttered.

“I’m fine,” Scott answered.

“That guy’s crazy. What happened? I didn’t see how it started.”

“He threw something at me, and I wasn’t going to put up with it. I’m sick and tired of the way that guy acts. He thinks everyone’s afraid of him and that he can do whatever he wants, but the next time he tries it, it’s not going to be pretty…”

Will tuned him out. Scott was always a big talker; he did the same thing during their volleyball matches, and Will had learned long ago to ignore it.

He turned away, catching sight of the officer chatting with the girl’s dad, wondering why the girl had been so intent on getting away from her father. And why she was hanging out with Marcus. She wasn’t like them, and he somehow doubted she knew what she was getting into with them. As Scott went on, assuring Cassie that he could easily have handled the three of them, Will found himself straining to overhear the police officer’s conversation with the girl’s father.

“Oh, hey, Pete,” the father said. “What’s going on?”

“Same old stuff,” the officer responded. “Doing my best to keep things under control out here. How’s the window coming?”

“Slowly.”

“That’s what you said the last time I asked.”

“Yeah, but now I’ve got a secret weapon. This is my son, Jonah. He’s going to be my assistant this summer.”

“Yeah? Good for you, little man… Wasn’t your daughter supposed to come down here, too, Steve?”

“She’s here,” the father said.

“Yeah, but she left again,” the boy added. “She’s pretty mad at Dad.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

Will watched the father point toward the beach. “Do you have any idea where they might be going?”

The officer squinted as he scanned the waterline. “Could be anywhere. But a couple of those kids are bad news. Especially Marcus. Trust me, you don’t want her keeping company with him.”

Scott was still boasting to a rapt Cassie and Ashley. Blocking him out, Will suddenly felt the urge to call out to the police officer. He knew it wasn’t his place to say anything. He didn’t know the girl, didn’t know why she’d stormed off in the first place. Maybe she had a good reason. But as he saw the concern crease her dad’s face, he recalled her patience and kindness when she’d rescued the toddler, and the words were out before he could stop them.

“She went to Bower’s Point,” he announced.

Scott stopped talking in midsentence, and Ashley turned to him with a frown. The other three studied him uncertainly.

“Your daughter, right?” When the father nodded slightly, he went on. “She’s going to Bower’s Point.”