The Sweetest Summer: A Bayberry Island Novel (23 page)

“I would.”

“But here’s the biggest question, and it’s the only one that really matters: what kind of aunt would I be if I let him take her, even temporarily, and further confuse her and break her heart? And what kind of sister would I be if I didn’t follow through on the only promise Amanda ever asked me to make?”

The dogs tore up the beach toward Clancy. Earl dropped the ball, and they both sat and waited as patiently as they could.

Clancy leaned in and kissed Evelyn sweetly. Then he threw the red ball down the beach in the opposite direction, into the wind. She couldn’t believe how high it
went, how it sailed past the end of the beach and out into the water.

“You’ve got quite an arm on you. Did you switch from track to baseball?”

“You remembered!” He gave her a shy smile, which struck her as charming. A smile like that didn’t fit with his grown-up, rugged, and got-everything-covered cop personality. Evelyn took it as a compliment—even after all this time, he was still willing to let her see him. “Nah,” Clancy said. “I stayed with track. I knew a good thing when I saw it.”

Evelyn stared at him in wonder for a second. Could they have ever competed at the same event? “I ran women’s distance for Middlebury College. We were regional champions while I was there.”

Clancy’s mouth fell open. “I ran the five thousand meter for Amherst. You
know
we had to be at the same Division III meets many times over.”

“You’re right.”

“Fancy that.” Clancy put his arm around Evelyn’s shoulder. “This okay with you?”

She nodded, slipping her arm around his waist. “This okay with you?”

“Oh, yeah.” Clancy remained silent for a few strides, then squeezed Evelyn tightly. “Thank you for sharing your reasoning with me, Evie. I’m sorry I was slow on the uptake, but I do understand now. You love that kid fiercely, and Christina is incredibly lucky to have you.”

“Look! Look! What is it, Sir Clancy? A frog?” Christina jumped to a stand and pointed into the tidal pool.

“Well, look at that!” Clancy reached down and gently removed a partially buried horseshoe crab.

Christina let go with one of her high-pitched screams.

“It won’t hurt you.” Clancy squatted so he was at her level. “It’s strange-looking but it’s just the shell of a harmless sea creature.”

“What its name?”

“A horseshoe crab, probably a girl crab, and she got
too big for her shell so she had to leave it behind. Have you ever seen one of these?”

Chrissy reared back and shook her head slowly.

“She has, actually, back home at the shore. But it wasn’t anywhere near that big.”

Chrissy reached out her hand tentatively and Clancy held the shell, turning it so she could see it from all angles. He didn’t push it on her, which made Evelyn smile. He was doing it again, but this time it was a one-on-one question directed only to Christina.
Do you trust me?

Evelyn decided to step back and see what happened. The dogs suddenly realized no one was paying them any attention, so they ran over and began to sniff the shell, which made Chrissy laugh. “Do they want to eat it and chew it?”

“Nah. They’re just sniffing it because they’re curious. Remember how they snuffled and licked you when you first met?” From his squatting position, Clancy threw the ball and the dogs forgot all about the crab shell.

Christina leaned forward and began taking big sniffs, though she kept a good two feet away.

Clancy glanced up at Evelyn, his eyes crinkling with laughter, his face golden in the setting sun. She felt her heart drop. It was as if she were fourteen again, coming alive in the company of a boy who fit her, made her laugh, kissed her lips, and touched her soul. It had been the sweetest summer of her life. Though they’d both changed in many respects over the years, that feeling remained.

The physical differences in Clancy were obvious. On his way to becoming a man, his bones had lengthened and his muscles filled out. He face was still boyishly handsome, but with a harder edge to it and a lot more than the beginnings of peach fuzz. His hair was shorter than it had been as a wild island child. And he was far more confident than he’d been as a gangly fourteen-year-old. The kinks had been smoothed out in the way he moved, spoke, and filled a room with his presence.

Clancy’s eyes, though, were exactly the same. Hal was
right—he did have a penetrating gaze. They were the same intense dark blue, set deep behind dark lashes, and still flashed with intelligence and kindness.

But the thing that most obviously connected the boy to the man was an underlying sweetness about him. That, more than anything, took her back in time.

Evelyn suddenly felt her throat tighten. Here she was, letting herself feel the old attraction, but the fact remained: he claimed he never got her letter. How could that have happened? It took years for her to talk herself into believing she’d been naive for falling in love with Clancy Flynn. With the help of her friends and Amanda, she finally decided her instincts had been wrong about him, that he’d only used her as a festival week distraction, and that he probably lied to all the tourist girls.

Or was it possible the only mistake she’d made was to doubt him? Could the whole thing really have been some stupid mix-up with the mail?

Evelyn couldn’t keep it in a second longer. “You
had
to have received a letter from me. I sent you one. I spilled my guts to you. I told you I loved you.”

His smile faded. He gave her a barely there nod.

“I want to hold it? Can I hold it?”

Clancy returned his attention to the excited Christina. “How about I put it down right here in the sand for you? That way, you can touch it if you want but you don’t have to hold it. Does that sound good?”

She began bouncing and twirling again. “Yep, yep, yep!”

Clancy stood and moved toward Evelyn. He walked with determination, serious and focused, and he kept his eyes locked on hers until he was close enough that she could reach out and touch him if she dared.

“I never got a letter, Evie. I waited and waited, for years, really.”

“What?”

“Finally, when I went off to school on the mainland, I told myself I had to let you go. By the time I started the
police academy, I thought of you only occasionally. And then, life got ahold of me.”

“But . . . I waited for years, too! It crushed me that you never wrote back!”

A high-pitched screech jolted them. Christina was running in the surf after the dogs, her arms flailing in alarm. “They took it! They got the horse crap!”

Clancy kissed Evelyn’s forehead. “Someday we’ll know what happened. The important thing now is that you don’t waste another second of your life doubting me, because I meant every word I ever said to you, Evie.”

Evelyn’s spirit lifted and her mind stilled. There was so much happiness in that moment—Clancy, Christina, the dogs, the sunset. She didn’t know if her heart could carry it all. Now she knew. Clancy had not dismissed her.

“I’ve been thinking.” He took her hand and they resumed their walk. “It’s not a mistake you’re here, you know. You’re here for a reason.”

“Ya think?”

They both laughed and he pulled her tighter. “Not only because of your current . . .
difficulty
.”

“Okay.”

“I think you’re back because there’s a lot of unfinished business between us, Evie. Maybe we’re getting another chance.”

“A second chance at a first love?”

“Exactly.”

Eighteen years ago . . .

S
o this is what it felt like. Clancy hadn’t said the words yet, but Evie knew by the way he held her close as they danced, and touched his lips so softly to her neck. He loved her. She was fine with that. Because she loved him back.

There were almost too many emotions to handle that night, and too many things going on in the background. For one, her parents were at the Mermaid Ball, too, and every once in a while, she’d feel her mom or dad’s eyes on her, evaluating the danger their daughter might be in.
As if.
Clancy was a complete gentleman, and they had no idea how wonderful he was compared to some of the boys she knew at home.

Clancy’s family was there, too, wandering around. His little sister, it turned out, was the same age as Amanda, and they’d been hanging out together much of the week. After some observation, Evie decided that Clancy was right about his brother, Duncan. He did act like an ass. He was one of those brainy superjocks who thought they were all that, the kind of guy who strutted around totally sure that girls were staring at him and fighting over him.

Duncan had been smiling at Evie all evening, even
when he was out on the dance floor with a girl of his own. Right now he sat at one of the side tables, trying to get her attention. She definitely sensed some serious competition going on between the brothers—Duncan was daring her to ditch Clancy and come hang with him. Ugh. She didn’t understand boys sometimes, but she did know that guys like Duncan weren’t her type
at all
.

Her type was Clancy—a boy with smarts, a sense of humor, and good looks. He was sweet, kind, and a blast to be with. And all of this came without a hint of being conceited. That is what made him special.

“You look so beautiful tonight, Evie. This is the first time I’ve ever seen you in a dress, and it was totally worth waiting for.”

Oh, she was so happy to hear that! She had debated with herself whether to take up space in her suitcase for something as useless as a dress because, really, who wore a dress on vacation? But at the last minute she balled it up and stuffed it inside. Maybe somewhere in the back of her mind she’d known she would meet her true love that week.

“Thank you.” She slid her arms lazily over his shoulders and cocked her head, just enjoying that handsome face in the twinkling lights. The only shadow on the evening was the fact that by tomorrow morning she would be gone.

“I wish I didn’t have to go.”

“Ah, man, so do I.” A shadow moved across his expression, and Evie saw he was as bummed out as she was. “Hey!” Clancy perked up. “Do you think my parents could adopt you so you could stay on Bayberry forever?”

They both chuckled.

Just then, a flash of light surrounded them, leaving black spots in Evie’s vision. They glanced over to see Clancy’s mother with her camera, giving them a thumbs-up and a big grin. She wandered off to catch another couple unawares.

“Sorry about that. My mom’s kind of in charge of the
festival and likes to document all the events with pictures.”

“I’m not sorry at all.” Evie kissed his cheek, not caring who saw her do it. “Now you’ll have a picture of us together. It will help you remember me.”

He whispered in her ear. “I won’t need a picture for that.”

As if on cue, the DJ played their song. It wasn’t exactly a shock, since it was pretty much
the
love song of the summer and the Mermaid Ball was coming to an end, but to Evie it was a sign. The lyrics flowed through the breeze. The paper lanterns along the dock began to dance. They held each other tighter.
We’ll always be a part of each other . . . our love will never die . . . I will always be your baby . . .

After the Mermaid Ball ended, she went to her parents and begged for a little extra time.

“I just want to take one last walk on the beach. Please, please, please let me. Just a few minutes.”

Her parents shared a glance, and her dad looked at his watch.
Oh, great. She’d be lucky to get five minutes and thirty seconds
.

“Be back by eleven thirty.”

Evie’s mouth hung loose with surprise. Eleven thirty?

Amanda rolled her eyes. “God! I
hate
being twelve!”

Evie hugged her mom and dad, not sure what had just happened. They must have had pity on her, or maybe the fact that she was hopelessly in love was so obvious it was ridiculous. But she didn’t care why her usually uncool parents had just been totally chill and given her a whole hour! She was taking it!

“Remember, we’re leaving on the morning ferry, so you need to get your rest.”

She nodded at her mom. How could she forget? As of tomorrow morning, the dream would be over. The best week of her life would be history.

Evie met Clancy at the public marina. He was so
relieved and excited to see her that he picked her up and swung her around like they did in the movies, and Evie’s legs flew in a circle around them.

Most of their time together was spent in silence. Neither of them seemed to know what to say as they took their last nighttime stroll along the beach, water tickling their feet. Clancy had his arm tight around Evie’s waist, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Do you think you’ll grow any taller?”

That surprised Evie—what a strange question for the kind of important moment they were sharing. “Probably not much. Why?”

“Because.” Clancy tilted his head so that his temple touched her hair. “I’d like to be a couple inches taller than you eventually, you know, in a few years. I always pictured myself with a girl who was just a little shorter than me.”

Evie raised her face. Clancy smiled shyly, gazing down on her. They stopped walking.

“What are you saying, Clancy?”

“I’m saying that I love you. I know kids our age aren’t supposed to fall in love—except maybe for Romeo and Juliet—but it happened. And I really don’t think one week is going to be the end for us.”

Her bones weakened and her heart slammed in her ears. This was it—the most important moment of her life. He just said he loved her!

“Oh, Clancy. I love you, too. Don’t
ever
forget it.”

He grabbed her face in his hands and they kissed ferociously. Evie felt Clancy’s tears on her own cheeks and it made her cry, too, and this was after she’d successfully avoided crying the whole night long.

Clancy held her hand in his all the way back to the motel. He got her there right on time. “I’ll be at the dock in the morning to see you off.”

He kissed her one last time, with so much tenderness and love. Then she slipped inside the motel door.

Evie had never been so sad in her life. She told her parents she was fine, just tired and a little sunburned, but her mom knew better. Evie cried while she washed her face and brushed her teeth, and she cried herself to sleep as silently as she could, wishing the morning would never come.