Page 23 of Tell Me It’s Right

“You eat it like you’ve never been on a board in your life? Oh yeah, I saw.” He grins as he sits and hangs his legs over the side. “What’s got you so far in your head you forgot where your feet are?”

“Oh, you know, existential dread. The usual.”

“Ah, I know it well.” Fletch flips his cap on backward, flashes a toothy smile, and hops up with his board in his hand. “You mind? Or are you planning on setting up camp down there?”

“All right. All right.” I get up to retrieve my board and watch as he stalls on the edge a moment before dropping in, his head lowered the way it always is before he goes for a trick. But after all that buildup, he just draws a few lines. “Was that Leo’s sister I saw coming out of your shop yesterday?” he calls as he finishes on the opposite side of the bowl and kicks his board up.

I nod, already heading for the bench where I dumped my things. This hasn’t cleared my head the way I was hoping itwould, and if Fletch is here, it’s only a matter of minutes before the others pour in.

“Let me guess, a butterfly? Song lyrics?”

“I wasn’t tattooing her, you idiot.”

He gasps. “An illicit affair? She does look all grown up now, doesn’t she?”

I ram my shoulder against his as I pass. “Don’t start. I hired her.”

“Hiredher? For what?”

I shrug and throw my bag over my shoulder. “Social media. Update my website. The kind of shit I hate doing.”

“I didn’t know you were hiring. Maybe I wanted the job.”

I snort. “I’ll keep you in mind if I ever want to go out of business.”

The jab makes him smile wider. “So, is she staying?”

I fish my car keys out of my bag. “Huh?”

“Gracie Collins. She just graduated college, didn’t she? Is she sticking around here?”

I asked her something similar at Milano’s the other day.I’m just visiting,she said.

I don’t know if she was embarrassed or being here doesn’t feel permanent to her, if she’s planning on skipping out the second a job offer—arealone with a boss who knows what they’re doing and benefits and whatever else people consider before taking a job—comes through.

I know that must be her plan, but the thought still churns in the pit of my stomach. I hadn’t considered someone else stealing her out from under me before she gets to all of her plans for the shop. And now that I’ve dared to hope she could be the saving grace I need, I don’t know what I’ll do if she leaves town as quickly as she’d come. However much time I do get with her, I better not waste it.

Fletcher raises his eyebrows at my hesitation, and I shake my head.

“I have no idea.”

But God I hope so.

Chapter Ten

GRACIE

On Saturday morning, I take off before anyone else is awake. Leo dug out an old bike from the garage so I’d have a way to get around town. For the past week, I’ve been relying on getting a ride from him or Liam. Seems he was already as sick of that as I was. So with a backpack on one shoulder and my camera bag on the other, I throw my leg over the bike and hope to find my way to the shore from here. Leo said it was walking distance, but Leo also runs half marathons for fun like an absolute psychopath.

The rest of Sweetspire seems as slow to rise as Edgewater always was. I don’t see a single other person as I make my way toward the water. I, unfortunately, am getting used to waking up at six in the morning every day thanks to those damn windows.

The chilly morning air blows my hair behind my shoulders, and I close my eyes for a moment as I wind through the rows of houses, the smell of salt and sunscreen a steady comfort.

“Gracie Collins! Is that you?”

My eyes snap open, and I swerve. I let out a yelp as the bike jumps up onto the sidewalk, but luckily I manage to regain control and squeeze on the brakes.

I turn at the pickup truck idling beside me, then do a double take at the girl smiling sheepishly behind the wheel.

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