“It’s not a date, Dad!” Uh-oh, he now had that stern “don’t argue with me” look on his face. She needed to be more mature. “What I’m saying is that I agree completely—I am too young to date. But this isn’t a boy-girl kind of date, so there’s nothing to worry about.” Evie knew her whole life hung in the balance. If this conversation didn’t go well, she might never see Clancy Flynn again, and she couldn’t accept a world without him in it. Besides, she’d promised she’d be there!
He didn’t look impressed. “If it isn’t a date to a beach party, then what is it?”
That was Amanda’s cue to pour on the crap. “It’s a Bayberry Island tradition, a beach clambake with music and dancing. They’ve been having one at Haven Beach since the late 1800s—isn’t that amazing? And Dad, there’ll be a lot of locals with their kids. We might even be asked to do some babysitting. Tickets are expensive and hard to come by, but Evie’s friend can get her in.”
Their mother and father exchanged knowing looks.
“You know the consequences for drinking.”
Evie gasped. “Mom! I don’t drink!” She was already freaking out with joy. She was almost there! They were going to say yes! “Alcohol will never touch my lips. Drinking rots your brain and I have big plans for my future. I just want to go and enjoy the music. And the clams.”
Her mother pursed her lips. “I just don’t know.”
“I’ll go with her!” Amanda smiled innocently at their parents. “That way you won’t have to worry. Evie and I will stick together the whole night and we’ll both be home by ten.”
Okay. Now she wanted to totally kill Amanda. She’d planned to stay out way later than ten, and besides, she had absolutely no intention of hanging out with her twelve-year-old sister when the cutest guy on Earth was holding her hand. But, if her choice was between taking her along or not going at all, she’d figure out a way to get around it.
“All right,” their father said. “Ten o’clock and not a minute after.”
“Please, please can you make it eleven?” Evie knew that begging was unattractive, but Clancy Flynn’s kisses were worth begging for.
Her mother shook her head, annoyed. “Ten thirty. That’s it. No discussion.”
So, with their freedom granted for exactly four hours, Evie and Amanda hustled from the Sand Dollar up to Haven Beach. It turned out they were part of a line of people heading up the hill from town, and Evie noticed that many of them were dressed in summer whites.
“Do we look okay in jeans?”
Amanda made a face. “Derrr. This is the nineties. We’re teenagers. Jeans are acceptable anywhere. We could even wear them to a wedding if we wanted.”
“Uh, not. First off, you’re twelve. And jeans at a wedding? I don’t think so, unless somebody’s getting married in a barn.”
“Uh, thirteen, remember?” Amanda imitated Evie’s tone of voice and then rolled her eyes. “Jeans are fine. Besides, we’ve got our bikini tops on under our shirts.”
“Stop a second.” Evie tugged on Amanda’s arm, leading them into the beach grass along Shore Road. “Once we get there, you are on your own. You understand that, right? I don’t want you to talk to me even one single time until a quarter after ten. Then we’ll run back to the motel. Got it?”
“Chill out, would ya? I don’t want to hang with you and your little Baldwin boy. I have my own plans tonight.”
Evie laughed. “Oh yeah? Let me guess. Brad Pitt, maybe? Johnny Depp?”