Page 11 of Unfinished Summer

“Go on,” I encourage, interested to hear what he’s come up with.

“As I don’t know this place very well, I thought the first part could be you showing me around. Introduce me to all the places in Tregethworth you like. And then we’re having burgers at the place up on the corner.”

“The Waterside?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. What’s with the idea of getting to know the place? We can just go for food?” I don’t hide my confusion at why he wants to walk around the place.

“Well.” He scoops my hand in his as we head towards the road, and I oblige, wrapping my fingers around his. “I want to get to know you better. And honestly, have no idea what we can do here. So, I thought this could help us both. Plus, I can suss out just how adamant you are about not going in the water.”

“Oh, that won’t take long. I’m sure.” I’ve never felt the urge to surf, even though most of my friends do.

“Well, I’d like the opportunity to change your mind. Come on. Where first?” He tugs at my hand.

“Okay, well…” I think about how I’m going to turn my hometown into anything remotely interesting. “What time are we at The Waterfront because this won’t take long,” I say nervously.

“Come on. There must be some places that are worth showing me?”

“Fine. Okay.” I give in, suddenly panicked as to what Icanshow him.

I steer us away from the beach and along the main road, where there’s a handful of stores, some nicer than others.

“Don’t blame me if you get bored. And don’t hold it against me. You asked for this.” I point to him with my free hand. “I suppose some people call this place charming, in its own way. The Silver Tree.” I nod to the jewellery store and instinctively rub at one of the pendants I bought from there. I could spend hours in the shop, trying on rings and picking out new necklaces to wear. But a lot of the pieces are expensive, and my t-shirt collection won’t keep growing if I spend my wages on pretty jewellery.

“Ice cream shop. The surf shop.” His pace slows as we pass the window. Luckily, they closed at six. Otherwise, I’m sure we’d be inside. “There’s a gift shop that sells fudge and tourist things around the corner, and if you carry on down the road to the end of the headland, the pub is up on the side of the coast. There’s a village hall and a Chinese takeaway. We don’t have a lot here.”

“What about where you hung out as kids? There must be a few other places?” he asks, his hand still in mine.

I stop our current trajectory. “If that’s what you want, we can go for a walk, but again, it’s not exciting.”

“Come on, Zee.” He looks at me with that boyish grin that seems to render me a little speechless, and suddenly I want to do anything he asks. So, I turn us and start up a skinny residential street that will take us where he wants to see.

“Zee?” I question his shortened name for me.

“I was trying it out.” He shrugs.

“Okay.” I laugh. “How about Zen. That’s what most people call me.”

“But I’m not most people.” He stops us in the middle of the street to face me, and for a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me. My heart even does a little flutter in anticipation. But a car comes around the corner, startling us, and ruins the moment.

We walk the rest of the short way up the incline, past the terraced cottages to the area where the primary school and local playground are. “Here we are. Not much to see.”

The school is an old stone building, and only had four classrooms, all in higgledy-piggledy rooms. I lead Jayce to the swings in the play area. From here, you can look down on part of the town and see Molly’s, the beach, and the path leading to the edge of the headland at the other end of the beach.

With the sun still casting its glow over the town, it looks pretty spectacular.

“I want to take you surfing tomorrow,” Jayce says.

“Oh, really?” I turn to him as we rock back and forth on the swings.

“Yep. I mean, how you can say no when you’re looking at that.” He points to the sun glinting off the ocean. The light catches the waves as they gently line up to take their turn at running to shore. “I will never know.”

He looks mesmerised by the sea. Like he’s found his happy place or something, and I’m hit with the urge for him to look at me the way he looks at the waves.

It’s ridiculous.

It’s stupid, but I can feel it in my heart.

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