Page 248 of Small Town Firsts
I dug into my bag, but I couldn’t find my phone among all the clothes and books.
I stood up again and climbed onto the lower rungs of the rail enclosing the lookout at the end of the pier. I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled his name again, but the wind was too strong and kept snatching my voice.
I turned around and saw people at the other end of the pier. Some I knew, some I wanted to forget. But there were so many of them—and they were all voices I needed right now.
I jumped and waved. When Brad, one of Seth’s high school best friends, broke off from the group, I quickly motioned him closer. “Can you help him hear me?”
Nodding, Brad waved people up from the gazebo to the wide pier that jutted out of the park. Our entire class—or what was left of it at this late hour—came tromping toward me.
My eyes burned as everyone came to help. People I’d barely spoken to in my classes started jumping, shouting, and waving. Girls I recognized and others I didn’t were jumping up and down like manic puppies.
Brad slung an arm around my shoulders and hauled me in close. He was a bit rounder than I remembered from school, but he had always been a sweet guy.
Jessica, the head of the cheer squad, clutched my hand. “I can’t believe how romantic this is. Is this man for real?”
“Yeah, he really is.”
She sighed. “You’re so lucky. I don’t think my husband has ever done anything like this for me. Like ever.”
One last firework whistled into the night sky and the white sparks illuminated Seth’s body.
I yelled his name and the assembled crowd parroted it behind me.
Seth finally turned around on the small dock and held out his arms. He tipped his head back and did a fist-punch into the air like Bender fromThe Breakfast Cluband I laughed.
Jessica squealed in my ear and then started hopping around with the other cheerleaders. Brad slapped me on the back as Seth jumped into his boat and headed my way.
My heart raced as I picked up my bag and made my way through the dozens of people. The guys from his lacrosse teamstarted chanting Seth’s name and laughter thundered over the lake.
I took a shaky step onto one of the docks lining the right side and waited for him to come to me.
TWENTY-ONE
I pushedthe little speedboat farther than I should, but Crescent Lake had never felt so big in my goddamn life. Fireworks had brought her to me. I’d hoped, but I knew it was a big gamble.
If my girl wanted to stay lost, she would stay gone.
I blinked away the grittiness from the wind and spray off the water. The only thing that mattered was getting to the pier. Lenny let off one more spray of white cracklers and a waterfall from his waning arsenal. I’d been worried we were going to run out of them before she showed up.
But there she was, standing in front of a crowd of our classmates. All the people who had rallied around me in my days of lacrosse. While not as big as some of the other sports, we enjoyed a status of our own. Sometimes lacrosse was even more rough and tumble than the town’s beloved football.
Ally hadn’t really been in that scene. She’d always been on the fringes, thanks to her mother’s health.
And if I wasn’t such an asshole I would have realized that before I got so excited about the reunion. But there they all were behind her, hooting and hollering as if we were at a championship game.
She moved to the side ramp where the docks were.
I rode the waves I was making with the motor on my speedboat. I rarely took it off my dock, preferring to drive most of the time. Not to mention the small nightmares that my little girl would go flying off the back and be lost in the lake. So yeah—not so much of a boat guy these days. But right now? Right now, all I wanted was to get her alone.
I wanted to tell her everything that was bursting out of my chest.
It started with the silly hearts I’d shot off into the sky. I’d needed to get her attention. She couldn’t deny that I was making a statement now. She also couldn’t deny the truth that I was about to lay all over her. Even if it cost me more than a little to be that honest and vulnerable.
For her, I would.
I fishtailed on a wave and bumped over the wake I made in my haste to get to her.
I finally made myself throttle down the engine so I didn’t come in too hot. I didn’t want to hurt the one person on this earth who had been created for me. The person I’d been desperate to lock down, only to do the exact opposite in every way.
