But he really shouldn’t have said he could go out with her tonight to watch the reenactment. He just didn’t want to hurt her feelings or make her think he wasn’t into her. Because he was. He was seriously into Evie.
It was hard to believe that he’d known her for only five days. It seemed like forever to him, like there was nothing but a big blank before she showed up on the island and tried to drown herself at the Point. Clancy asked himself many times when exactly he knew she was special. He always came up with the same answer: the moment she reached out through the waves to shake his hand and thank him for saving her. Most other girls would have been hanging on him, crying and shaking and gulping for air because they’d almost died. Not Evie.
Just then he saw her off in the distance. He wanted to ask her to the Mermaid Ball. A real date. But he was scared shitless. Why? Because he was crazy about her, and if she said no, it would crush him. He might not live through it.
Man, this love thing was hard.
But why her? Why was it suddenly this girl that made him light up? One thing was probably the delicate way she touched him—the same way she’d touched the wind chime—like he was one in a million. Like he was priceless. And her kisses were sweet but they meant business. He lived for that first brush of her lips against his, and then the rush he felt when things got wild. He could tell she was really into it, but was holding back because she didn’t want to look like she was a bad girl.
God, that was hot.
Sometimes, Clancy wondered what would happen between the two of them if the situation were different—no parents, no curfews, no siblings, and hours of privacy. Nuclear meltdown, probably. They’d generate enough heat to melt the beaches into glass.
Damn. He needed to stop his imagination from heading in that direction. It only tortured him, because he knew it was true—he would do it with Evie in a heartbeat if he thought she was cool with it and they wouldn’t get caught.
Evie waved to him. He waved back, groaning in frustration. Why did the world make it almost impossible for teenagers to experiment with sex? At least on Bayberry Island, anyway? He couldn’t believe that news of their hot beach make-out session got back to his mom. She was sort of chill about it, asking him if he needed his dad to buy him protection. But oh my God—Clancy would rather die than have to talk about the details of his sex life with either of his parents ever again. Just shoot me now.
Evie was perched on the boardwalk railing, near the public boat dock office. She wore a pair of dark blue nylon running shorts that showed off her long and lightly tanned legs, a sports bra running top, and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, like the first day he’d met her. She waited for him, watching as he approached her. As soon as he got close, she widened her legs so he could stand between them. He kissed her.
Uh-oh. Since he wasn’t packin’ a wind chime that day, he needed to back away a bit.
“Hey, Clancy.”
“Hey, Evie. Ready to run?”
“If you’re sure you can keep up with me.”
“Well, baby, if anyone could get the better of me, it would be you.”
They helped each other stretch out. Clancy tried his best not to stare at her butt and thighs and hips, but failed. Once they started out, they wound their way through the alleys to the beach path, headed down to the hard-packed sand.
“It’s exactly two-point-six miles until it becomes private property. So I figured we’d go the length, then run up to Shoreline Road, down the bike path, and back into town. Just shy of six miles in all.”
“Sounds great.”
They smiled at each other quickly, Clancy admiring how her ponytail would swing back and forth with her stride. He had to say that her running form was excellent—efficient and relaxed. Her gaze was forward, her shoulders were straight but not tight, and her torso and hips were perfectly aligned, upright but not rigid. She looked perfectly at home running. In fact, Clancy decided he’d never seen a sight more beautiful than Evie in full stride, the green-blue of the ocean behind her.