Not since my mom died.
It was my fault too. I had shut my friends out when my mom got sick. I couldn’t stand their pity or the way their parents looked at me when I was around. Like I was some charity case because my mom had cancer.
It was how the whole school had looked at me. Most of them had gone to school with me for as long as I could remember, but suddenly I became different. I could see it all over their faces. I heard it in their whispers, and as much as I hated being in Clermont Bay, I was glad that I was no longer there. Especially without her.
“This is Josie.”
I looked up at the guy she was talking to. He grinned at me as he pushed his floppy light brown hair out of his face.
He reached his hand out to me, and I couldn’t help but stare at his abs that were clearly on display. He wore nothing but a pair of boardshorts and based on the deep tan of his skin, I’d bet anything that he spent the majority of his days on this beach.
“It’s nice to meet you, Josie. I’m Will.” He gripped my hand in his, his skin as warm as the setting sun, and I tried to think of a coherent thing to say back to him. My own skin warmed as I stared at him.
“You too.”
He grinned, and I had a feeling that look rarely left his face.
“You new here?” I watched as his eyes looked me over subtly, but I noticed. Allie did too. She tried to hide her smile as she dropped my other hand.
“I’m going to go grab us a drink.” She walked away from me, and I almost reached back out to stop her. I wasn’t good at this.
This small talk with people I didn’t know.
I looked back to Will with my stomach fluttering and finally answered his question. “Yeah. I just moved here.” I could have told him more. He probably knew who my dad and my new stepbrother were just like everyone else, but I didn’t want him to know.
I didn’t want him to treat me differently when I could do nothing to change it.
I didn’t want him to treat me like Beck had.
“What do you think so far?” He took a step closer to me, away from his friends at his side.
“It’s okay.”
“Okay?” He chuckled. “Allie must be a terrible tour guide.”
“She’s not too bad.”
“I don’t know about that.” He nodded out toward the ocean, and there was a sense of awe that smoothed out his features. “Do you have this kind of view where you come from?”
I followed his gaze and took in the sun dipping just below the farthest edge of the water. It seemed so impossibly beautiful. I hadn’t even paid attention to it once since we got here.
“No.” I shook my head. “Nothing like that.”
“You been swimming yet?”
I looked over at Will, who seemed even closer than he was before. “No.”
He reached out for my hand, his fingertips barely touching mine as he turned his back to the water. “Come on. Let’s dip our toes in.”
I knew this was nothing like when I had been on the beach with Beck, but I still hesitated. My heart raced as I looked over my shoulder for Allie, but she was talking to a group of girls who looked like they probably went to school with her. “I don’t know.”
“It’s just your toes.” I looked back at him as he spoke, and there was something about his smile that calmed me just the smallest bit. “What are you scared of?”
He was teasing and I knew it, but I hated what he said. I wasn’t scared. I refused to be. The girl I left back in Utah was scared.
Not me.
I took a step toward him, my fingers hanging loosely against his, and a dimple popped out on his cheek.
He led us to the edge of the water, and I kicked my shoes off in the sand. The water was cool as it lapped at my toes, and I tried to remember the last time I had touched the ocean.
Not just the damp sand or the spray of its waves.
Truly just jumped in.
It had to be close to five or six years ago. Before my mother had gotten sick.
“Is that really as far as you’re going to go?” He trudged into the water without an ounce of fear, and I watched as the waves splashed against his legs.
I took another small step, and he laughed.
“You’re a risk taker, aren’t you?”
“You could tell that already?” I pushed my toes into the sand, then watched it disappear with the push and pull of the water.
“From the moment I saw you.” He smiled and moved farther into the water. He beckoned me in, but there was no way I was getting in the water with him.
I had just gotten here, and I didn’t know this guy.
It didn’t matter that his smile put me at ease or that the look in his eyes dared me to do something more. I had learned my lesson about trusting boys in Clermont Bay. The first time was a mistake I wouldn’t soon forget.
I shook my head just as he reached into the water and splashed me playfully.
“No.” I held up my hands, as if that would somehow help me, and laughed.
It felt odd. I hadn’t laughed in a long time. Not like this. Not so freely.
“Get in or it’s happening.” He was teasing me, but I didn’t want to risk it.
I took off back toward the beach, but Will wrapped his arms around my waist and spun me back toward the water.
“No.” I was laughing as he dropped me into the ocean, the water only hitting my knees. My stomach flipped, and my breathing was coming out in bursts.
“I warned you. You can’t move to Clermont Bay and not
