Julianne drifted toward the small parking lot where they’d left the car a few hours earlier, calling Chloe’s name over and over. She couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. It had just felt so meant to be somehow. A guy she had never seen before had literally fallen right into her lap—okay, well, her sister’s lap, but close enough—at the start of the summer, on the beach she loved.
And he wasn’t just any guy. Julianne couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something special about Remi. As she scanned the tiny parking lot, she made a mental note to give Chloe some “I told you so” points for dragging her out to this party.
Out of the corner of her eye, Julianne saw Chloe sitting on the ground, leaning against the bumper of their car, her head resting next to a faded “Imagine Whirled Peas” bumper sticker that their dad had stuck on.
Julianne crept over and put her hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “Chloe,” she said softly, kneeling next to her sister.
“Sorry I disappeared, I was just … saying goodbye to someone. C’mon, let’s go.”
Chloe opened her eyes, and turned to face Julianne.
“Not so fast, Missy. You were so not just giving out casual goodbyes. Look at you—you’re glowing! I can even see it in the dark with major head trauma! Tell me everything.”
Julianne smiled. She couldn’t stop beaming. “I think this will tell you everything you need to know,” she intoned dramatically as she dug her hand into her right pocket to show Remi’s phone number to Chloe. But all she felt was the fabric. She could have sworn it was in there. She reached into her left pocket and came up empty-handed again. Horrified, she thought back to saying goodbye to Remi. Suddenly, she realized that she’d never put the paper in her pocket. She had been holding it when she dashed off. Now, clearly, she wasn’t clutching the little scrap of paper anymore. She must have dropped it on the beach. Julianne felt her heart drop to the sand as she helped Chloe into the passenger seat of the Toyota hybrid they were sharing this summer. She thought she was going to be sick.
How could she be so upset—she’d just met the guy—
at a beach party of all places. Maybe she’d been taken in by the bonfire, the PBR, and the view from the beach.
But even as she tried to rationalize, Julianne knew there was more to it. She knew that if she didn’t find some way to see Remi again, she would be losing out on something really wonderful.
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Jules,” Chloe murmured sleepily. “If he’s your Prince Charming, he’ll find his way back. He has to, actually. I think it’s in the job description.” But Julianne barely heard her.
The sisters drove home in silence. Chloe napped with her head pressed against the cool car window. And Julianne tried to fight back her growing disappointment.
She had just met an amazing guy who she would probably never see again.
This did not bode well for her summer.
Chapter Two
Julianne felt the sun streaming in her bedroom window and rolled over, burying her head in a smooshy pillow. She had been having such completely bliss-ful, vivid dreams that she didn’t want to nudge herself back into reality, no matter how glorious the California morning was. She glanced at her alarm clock—it was almost noon. She’d meant to be up at 9:30, but she just hadn’t been able to tear herself out of dream world. She rolled over again, pressing her face directly into the folds of her pillow and breathing in the last lingering remnants of the lavender linen spray that Chloe always spritzed around on laundry days. The new Regina Spektor album was drifting out of her stereo alarm clock, and Julianne allowed herself to drift along with the dreamy melodies until she fully gave into conscious-ness. With one last sleepy sigh, she pushed herself upright and swung her legs off the side of the bed. Julianne stood up and stretched, raising her hands over her head and arching her back, trying to shake the sleep from her joints.
Remi had been in every single one of her dreams, and each had been sweeter and more romantic than the last.
Julianne wrapped her arms around herself, as though her cozy room somehow had a chill without Remi in it. She walked over to her closet and pulled a shrunken UCLA hoodie over her head. Shaking out the curls that caught in the hood, Julianne crossed the room again, sat down at her desk, and glanced at her perpetually-on MacBook. Quickly, she dashed off a MySpace message to Kat in Spain.
K—
Met a guy! Ridiculously hot, seriously funny. This is a biggie, I can just tell. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Waves have been amazing all week—wish you were here. Send pictures from Madrid as soon as you have
’em. Oh, and Hunter says hey …
xoxo
—J
Julianne got up from her desk and pushed the gauzy curtains back from the bay window door that led out to her balcony. She slipped on her flip-flops, unlocked the door, and padded outside. Before her eyes even adjusted to the light, Jules felt the sun beating down on her, making her sweatshirt unnecessary, and heard the lapping of the waves up against the shoreline. She walked over to the railing and leaned against it, watching the waves swell and crash. She allowed herself to drift into a few more moments of morning reverie before looking down onto the beach, which was practically glowing in the late-morning sunshine. Specks of shells caught the light and reflected like tiny prisms, casting even more light across the sand. A few sunbathers dotted the thin strip of sand directly in front of the water. People were scattered in beach chairs and on blankets, thumbing through newspa-pers or glossy paperback novels under the shade of palm trees.
Jules stared out across the beach and wondered if
