Page 41 of Castleton Hearts Boxed Set

Chapter Nine

Esme watchedme as I got out of the water and I made myself walk slowly back toward my towel. I’d brought an extra one to use in case I went swimming, so I pulled it out of my bag as I shivered.

“Oh my god, your skin is all goosebumps,” she said, brushing my arm. “Was it good?”

“Yeah,” I said, still panting a little as I rubbed the saltwater from my skin and tried to wring it out of my hair a little bit.

“I think I’d rather try it in a pool first,” she said with a laugh as I sat down, my towel around me like a cape. It would take a few minutes for my body to warm up again. A hot shower would be perfect right now, but I wasn’t ready to go home yet. Laying in the sun for a few minutes would have to do the trick.

“If you ever want to go, I’d come with you. I mean, I’m not a professional or anything, but I could at least offer moral support,” I said.

She shaded her eyes and then decided to put her hat back on. I did have one of those giant beach umbrellas somewhere. I should have thrown it in my trunk. Next time. I was hoping there would be a next time. A whole summer of beach days with Esme.

“When I’m ready I’ll let you know,” she said.

My phone rang and interrupted us. My mom.

“Hey,” I said, looking at Esme and kind of sliding away from her on my towel. Please don’t let me fight with my mom in front of Esme.

“Hi Sweetie, what are you up to today?” My eyes flicked to Esme, but she’d picked up her phone and had busied herself with scrolling through it.

“Nothing much. I’m just at the beach.”

“Oh, by yourself?” There was a note in her voice that I didn’t like. My mom wasn’t a great liar, and I knew her well enough to know when she was fishing.

“No, I’m not alone,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Interesting. Because Beth Carter-Bowerman said she saw you with Esme Bell looking very cozy at the snack bar.” The smugness in her voice was so palpable, I was sure Esme could feel it.

“We’re just hanging out. I’ll call you later. Love you, bye!” I hung up before she could say anything else. She tried to call me back, but I put my phone on silent. Then she sent me a text message asking for more details.

“Everything okay?” Esme asked, looking at me from under the brim of her hat.

“Yup, just my mom, being my mom.”

“Mmmm, I know what you mean. I have the feeling when I get home I’m going to get about a hundred questions from Dad because someone’s going to go to the store and tell him that we were seen together.” She pretended to gasp dramatically.

She was right. You couldn’t sneeze in this town without someone whispering about it behind your back.

“I wonder if this is what it’s like to be famous, having everyone talking about your business. Only, famous people usually have a lot more money,” I said, laying on my back and closing my eyes. I was suddenly completely exhausted.

“Hey,” Esme said, and I tilted my head to look at her. “Want to make a sandcastle with me?”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that. It had been at least ten years or more.

“Sure,” I said.

We decided that, in order to take this castle-building thing seriously, we needed tools, so Esme went to the rental shop and got us a full kit with different sized buckets, molds, and shovels.

“I don’t know how people make those huge ones,” I said, as my first few tries at pulling off the mold failed and the sand didn’t hold the shape and just fell apart.

“The key is having sand that’s moist enough, but also packed in tight enough,” she said.

I made a face at her use of the word “moist.”

“That’s what she said,” I responded.

Esme snorted a little laugh and my stomach did that little flippy thing like I was going down a hill on a roller coaster.

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