Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Yeah, yeah,” Marley said. “At least you’re here now.”
“And I am ready to get down to Tybee.”
Marley shivered. “It’s not even going to be warm enough to tan.”
“Does it look like I care?”
“Maddox is already there with his friends,” Lila said as she tugged her long blonde hair up into a ponytail. “Get changed, and we’ll go.”
“Are we taking the minivan?” I asked. We joked about the car, but as much as Marley hated that Gran and Gramps had given her a minivan for her sixteenth birthday, she loved having her own wheels.
Marley rolled her eyes as she stomped back toward her house. “Can’t we take your BMW?”
“And get sand everywhere?” I scoffed. “No thanks.”
Marley was muttering under her breath about where I could stick sand. Lila caught my eye, and we both burst into laughter. I lugged out the duffel bag I’d filled mostly with bathing suits and cosmetics and then followed, shooting out a text to Dad.
Just got to Marley’s house. Love you.
Are you going to see your mom?
Not if I can help it.
Your choice, Jos. Check in now and then.
Sure Dad.
I pocketed my phone with a grin. My dad never cared that much where I was or what I was doing. Not when it meant he got to spend the entire week of spring break in his studio, creating his precious artwork.
“Where’s Gran?” I asked once I dropped my bag in Marley’s room.
Marley shrugged. “She went somewhere to volunteer. Gave me a twenty and told me to have my phone nearby at all times or I was grounded and you couldn’t stay here.”
“Sounds right.”
I was used to Gran’s overprotective behavior. Marley and Maddox had been raised by their grandma and grandpa, and they were strict. I still thought it was better than my situation, which included zero adult supervision. Or more accurately … zero adults who gave a single fuck what I was doing at any given point in time.
But I certainly wasn’t going to break any rules. Deb would probably let me stay with Lila, but it might be just as likely that she’d send me to stay with my mother. Deb was eternally charitable and never believed any of the baser rumors about my mother. I wasn’t sure which ones I thought were true, but I knew that I didn’t want to see her if I didn’t have to.
So, I changed out of my travel clothes and into a bikini and a teeny-tiny cover-up. Then, the three of us piled into Marley’s minivan and careened toward Tybee Island.
“I still wish we could have made the Florida beach trip work,” Lila said.
Marley pursed her lips and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Tell me about it.”
“One day, we’ll all make the trip.”
“I doubt Gran will ever let me go on an unsupervised trip to Florida. I’ll be thirty, and she’ll still be dictating my life.”
I snorted. “And I thought I was the drama queen. We’ll do it in college or something. We’ll have just as much fun hanging out this week. We can go to Tybee every day. It might not be as warm as Florida, but we will make it work.”
Marley shot me an appreciative look. I was just glad to spend the time with my two best friends. The girls back in Atlanta were all at Florida beaches unsupervised. I could have gone with any of them on the trip, but I hadn’t wanted to go without Mars and Lila.
A half hour later, through the marshy islands that surrounded Savannah, we made it to Tybee Island. It wasn’t quite Florida, but it had miles of sandy, pebbled beaches and a boardwalk. We used to beg Gran to drive us out here every summer to build sandcastles and devour low-country boil at a local beachside shack. Just thinking about it made my mouth water.
Marley tossed me her phone. “Check where Maddox parked.”
I scrolled to the text chat with Maddox. “13th Street.”
Marley pulled down 13th a few minutes later. She parked behind her brother’s pickup truck. I hopped out of the minivan and went to the machine to feed it cash for our stay.
The three of us headed toward the bridge that passed over the dunes leading to the beach. I grabbed for my Ray-Bans as the sun beat down on our shoulders. We were lucky that it was unseasonably warm. It had been in the sixties all weekend, but it was high seventies today and even supposed to hit the eighties tomorrow.
We trekked down the beach until we found Maddox throwing a Frisbee with a few guys I’d never met before. But I barely paid them any mind. My eyes were locked on Maddox.
I’d known him since we had been kids. I’d always known he was into me, and I flirted with him relentlessly because of that fact, but I wasn’t supposed to have any feelings toward Maddox. He was Marley’s twin, and we’d practically grown up together. But something had happened between coming into town for his sixteenth birthday over Halloween and today. He was … hot.