“It was the best I could get,” she said with a shrug. “I snuck it out of the Sunrise Cove Inn Bistro.”
I can’t believe she did that. Uncle Wes would kill her if he knew.
“That’s hilarious,” Charlotte said, contrary to her actual thoughts.
Lola passed her the vodka, and Charlotte took the tiniest of sips. “Yum,” she said, but then made a face as the liquid burned her throat.
“It’s disgusting,” Lola stated. “But whatever, it works for today.”
Charlotte sat next to Jason and gazed up at the cliffside, which caught the reflection of the brimming sunset. Peter and Jason talked about the football season, which was ramping up even now. Jason would be a senior, like Charlotte, while Peter would be a junior. It gave Charlotte every shade of panic to think about this being the last year of high school. What was she supposed to do after this? Did she have any useful skills at all?
After a few more sips of the vodka, Peter yanked off his t-shirt and jumped into the water. Lola removed her jean shorts and followed suit, yelping and flashing her long, beautiful hair back behind her. She wrapped her arms around him and dunked him, and he threw her through the air, making her crash down below.
Jason turned back toward Charlotte and said, “Do you want to swim?”
Charlotte had always been kind of nervous in the water. It wasn’t anything she could understand. She had been raised on an island, for goodness sakes, and had spent a number of days of her life on a boat.
“Sure,” Charlotte said instead. “Sounds great.”
Charlotte turned away from the others and removed her skirt and her tank top. Then, she forced herself around and blinked at Jason. How were his abs even possible? They looked almost drawn on; they were so perfect.
“After you,” he said, stretching his arm out toward the water.
“No, no. I insist,” she said. “You first.”
Suddenly, his eyes became electric green. He rushed toward her, gripped her waist, and then threw her in the water, the same way Peter had with Lola. As Charlotte careened toward the waves, her body froze. Fear shot through her. The second she entered the water, she forgot herself and inhaled a big glug of the salty liquid. Her throat filled up, and she started thrashing around, splashing. She yanked herself into the crisp air and coughed and coughed. Her throat burned. She had never been more panicked in her whole life. She felt certain she would drown.
Seconds later, she felt strong arms around her. A swimmer dragged her back toward the boat, and a firm voice commanded, “Grab the handle. Come on. Let’s get you back up.”
Charlotte did as she was told. With all the strength she had, she yanked herself back onto the boat and continued to cough. A large hand stretched out across her back.
“Come on. It’s okay.”
Finally, she forced her eyes open to peer into those same glorious emerald ones.
“Char! Hey! You okay?” Now she heard Lola’s voice, down in the water still. She stepped up on the boat’s ladder and peered at her cousin anxiously. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte replied. She coughed again as Jason’s hand continued to ease up and down her naked back. “I’m so sorry. I just...”
“What! Don’t be sorry,” Jason said. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I just tossed you in the water like an idiot. I should have warned you.”
“Charlotte’s not so good about the water,” Lola affirmed.
“Gee. Thanks, Lola,” Charlotte said, even though this was 100% true.
“I didn’t know.” Jason furrowed his brow. “And I won’t do that again, okay? Let’s just stay up here. I have some not-so-bad vodka in my bag. Want a little bit?”
“Hey! Were you going to hold out on Peter and me?” Lola asked, hands-on-hips and now staring at both of them.
“I just think Charlotte and I deserve it more. We’re older, after all,” Jason said, laughing.
Charlotte took a little sip and felt her body surge with warmth. Jason wrapped a towel around both of them and huddled close to her.
“The water has always been such a big part of my life,” he confessed. “Since my dad works as a fisherman, he took me out fishing for the first time when I was maybe three or four. I remember begging my mom to swim as early as five in the morning once. I could never get enough of it.”
“I was always so afraid,” Charlotte said. She shook her head, flashing her half-dried hair around her. “My mom never knew what to do with me. But I remember my Aunt Anna used to take pity on me and hold me up and tell me that if I just kept kicking, she would help me the rest of the way.”
“Maybe I can help you lose your fear of the water,” Jason suggested.
“Maybe hypnosis would work,” Charlotte said with a laugh.
“Ha. We could try that if everything else doesn’t work,” Jason said.
Charlotte couldn’t believe how easy it was to talk to Jason.
The minutes dripped into hours, until Peter and Lola begged for Jason to drive them back to the dock so they could go get something to eat. When Lola and Peter dressed and ducked toward the main road, Charlotte and Jason held back and decided to get their own food and eat it near the water.
“Suit yourselves,” Lola said with a shrug. Her eyes burned into Charlotte’s, demanding answers.
Charlotte wouldn’t budge.
She and Jason got burgers, fries, and milkshakes and sat on a blanket overlooking the Vineyard Sound. Jason explained a few things about his life that he said he had never told anyone before, like how his mother had had such a hard pregnancy and labor with him that she hadn’t been able to have any other children. “I think it killed her,”
