Turtle Bay (25 page)

My news deflated all of Farrah's previous bubbly energy. She sagged beside me on the mattress as we discussed what Evan's parents might do for his funeral. "I'm sure my parents could find out," she said. I could tell at that point she wanted to go home to digest everything I had dropped on her. I felt bad. She had known Evan longer than I had.

"That sucked," Josh said from his perch on my floor after Farrah left.

I nodded, sitting cross-legged on my bed. "I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a hundred times worse. You know, you don't have to sit down there," I said, scooting over to give him room on the bed.

"I didn't want your dad to come in here and get pissed," he said, joining me.

I couldn't help but smile, knowing Butch and Buttercup better than he did
.
"I guess you don't know my parents. They'd tell me to be safe before I act," I blurted out. It almost sounded like I was giving us permission to do the nasty with my parents' blessing along with it.

Josh smiled when my face began to heat up, obviously turning red.

"I didn't mean it to come out like that," I said, giving his arm a sock while he laughed. He deflected it easily and held my hand loosely in his before turning serious.

"I can't wait until this heals up," he said, stroking his thumb gently across my discolored cheek.

"Because it's hideous to look at?"

"No, because I don't like to see you hurt."

"I appreciate that," I said playfully.

"I'm serious. I like you, Rain—a lot. Probably more than I should, considering we haven't known each other long and with all the crappy stuff that's happened. Everything seems so messed up and distorted right now. I want things to feel normal. My gut feels like it's been shredded since yesterday," he choked out, swallowing hard before continuing. "Larry was a cool dude and I'm going to miss him. I feel torn up about that, but another part of me is happy that I'm sitting here with you. Is that effed up or what?" he asked, looking conflicted.

"Not at all. I'm sad about Larry and Evan, but I'm so glad you're here too," I said, lacing my fingers through his.

"You sure?" he asked, looking at me intensely.

"Probably more than I should be," I smiled, stealing his words. "The smart half of my brain is telling me to at least play hard to get, but I don't want to pretend with you."

"Well, then I like the dumb half," he laughed.

"Whatever. You know what I meant, you jerk."

"Hey, you set yourself up for that one. Seriously, you never have to pretend with me. I'm all in," he said, dropping butterfly kisses down my unmarred cheek. The fluttering touch of his lips on my skin made me tingle.

"I'm all in too," I said. My heart raced at the significance of the moment. "It feels like we took the long way to get here though."

"We'll call it our learning curve month. Trial-and-error period, you know?" he teased, lightening the intense moment.

"Well, since it's been nowhere near a month, are you expecting more trouble?" I asked.

He laughed. "Good point. It was a figure of speech, but I guess I should have chosen my words more carefully."

"I was just messing with you. I knew what you meant. We've been through a lot already. I don't know about you, but I can still remember every detail of our first encounter with embarrassing clarity," I admitted.

"Why embarrassing?" he asked, scooting closer to me.

"Because you hated me."

"Oh, here we go. I already told you I didn't hate you," he said, looking uncomfortable.

I snorted. "Uh, yeah, you did."

"That was an act. I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. I figured you wouldn't step on those eggs. You looked like you were being cautious. I just wanted an excuse to talk to you, but then it sort of backfired."

"You mean when you accused me of being a selfish rich kid?" I reminded him.

"I was fishing. I mean, I was hoping you weren't like them. Then I saw you hanging with them later on. That sucked."

"Yeah, I made a lot of bad decisions this summer," I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"But, in the end, I got you here and that's all that matters."

I nodded in agreement. I wasn't happy with all my choices in Turtle Bay, but no one could say I hadn't learned from them.

"What's in all the notebooks?" Josh asked, changing the subject.

"Uh," I paused, debating whether to fess up about my writing. No matter what I said, he would likely ask to see them. That's what I got for taking them out of the box they were stored in. "Short stories," I finally admitted.

"All of them?" he asked in disbelief. He stood up and walked closer to the bookshelf. There were easily a hundred notebooks stacked side by side. I'd been writing in them for so long, I guess I never gave much thought to the fact that it took a ton of words to fill up a hundred notebooks. When I finished with one, I would just put it in the stack and grab a new one.

"It's kind of an outlet for me," I said uncomfortably.

"No doubt. Can I look at them?"

I knew he would ask. Keeping them from Butch and Buttercup was easy. They were my parents and had always respected my privacy, but I wasn't sure how to break it to Josh. "To tell you the truth, I've never shown them to anyone," I said, joining him in front of my shelf. "Some of them are pretty silly since I wrote them years ago when I was much younger."

"I think it's awesome," he said, running his finger down the long line of notebooks. "I couldn't think up an idea for a story that would fill one page, let alone a hundred books. I'm impressed." He almost sounded as enthusiastic as when he talked about the environment.

I took a deep breath, reaching past him to grab one of the notebooks off the shelf. And that was how we spent our day together. My notebooks full of stories acted as the buffer we needed to take our minds off the trauma we had witnessed during the past few days. At times, Josh would read sections he liked aloud, while other times he chuckled to himself. Either way, my stomach remained a mess of nerves, wondering what it would mean for us if he didn't like my writing. I tried reading one of the notebooks myself, but mostly I kept my face buried in my pillow, too embarrassed to even look at him. Luckily, Josh was kind enough each time he laughed to reaffirm that he was enjoying the stories.

"You have mad writing skills," Josh proclaimed, taking a big bite of the pizza we had ordered.

"You're just being nice."

"No offense, but if they sucked, I would have come up with an excuse to stop reading," he said in his typical brutally honest manner.

I could hardly look at him from embarrassment as I smiled and took a bite of pizza.

I lost track of how many of my stories we read, but by the time Josh left for the night, I felt oddly energized. Pulling a fresh journal out of the stack I kept on hand, I started a new tale about love and meeting Mr. Wrong who turned into a forever after.

The last thing I remembered was falling asleep with my journal on my chest.

The sun shined bright as I woke the next morning. It seemed fitting to have such a picture-perfect day for Larry's memorial service considering what a diehard beach lover and sun-worshipper he had been. Wanting to look my best, I pulled on a new sundress I had bought with my first and only paycheck from the Tasty Freeze.

Josh and Farrah managed to arrive at the same time again, which would have been funny had we not been feeling so somber. Together, we piled into Josh's truck while Butch and Buttercup drove in Butch's used jeep that he had recently purchased.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't hold back my tears during the service. Larry's twenty-year-old son, Zeke, who acted and sounded just like his dad, delivered a touching eulogy that was fraught with heartache and a surprising mixture of mirth. Larry had lived an eclectic life, and hearing his son's stories made my heart ache that I didn't have the chance to know him better.

The wake at Larry's house was a far cry from depressing and more like a celebration. Per his wishes, Hawaiian music blared from the speakers in his small house that sat directly on the beach. It was really nothing more than a shack, but it told you all you needed to know about him. At sunset, Larry's son and daughter walked his ashes to the sea and dumped them into the waves so Larry would remain in the place he loved most. It was the most bittersweet moment of my life.

Chapter 16

"What do you think?" Josh asked, moving the branches aside so I could join him in the underbrush.

"Uh, I think you're dead meat if one of those crazy brown spiders climbs on me," I said, snapping my head around nervously.

"Don't be a wimp. They're more scared of you than you are of them."

"Yeah, so long as we have the understanding that they stay away, we'll be fine."

"You're so cute. Now get in here," he said, tugging on my hand. "Look," he said, pointing to a nest that was sitting in a low bush.

Glancing in the nest, I couldn't help the little gasp of delight when I saw the baby birds looking back at me. Their tiny beaks opened and closed, showing they wanted food.

"They're adorable," I said, keeping my distance since Josh had grilled that into my head anytime he was showing me the wildlife.

"Told you it was worth the hike," he said, tweaking my nose gently.

"Ha, tell that to my aching feet and sticky shirt." We moved out of the underbrush and onto the main path. "I can't believe you make this walk every day," I said, looking down the long dirt road we had come from.

"Well, now that I don't have to clean up after parties on the beach, my mornings are free," he said, smiling ruefully. "Are you excited today is your last day of community service?" he asked, grabbing my hand as we walked.

"Only because Mitch told me yesterday he's decided to keep me on. Looks like it'll be a paying gig from now on. He said someone has to keep you in line," I giggled as Josh reached over to tickle me. "I'll tell you what else I'm happy about. No more suffering out in the sun. No offense to you, my sweet, loving lifeguard, but I'll be helping out Vanessa in the afternoons after school," I crowed happily.

"I always knew you were an air conditioning junkie," he laughed.

"Damn straight," I said unapologetically.

I really was appreciative for the paid position. After the hurricane, with all the cleanup duty, I'd been able to chip away all but a hundred hours of my community service. Mitch ended up writing a letter to the judge like Josh said he might do and got me off the hook for the rest. I think he reassured the judge that I would be mindful of the environment from here on out. He was right.

"Just a few more days of freedom before school starts," Josh said.

"I know, but at least you'll be there, and Farrah too," I said, watching as the sun slowly set in the horizon. The air around us came alive as twilight approached. Nighttime was a noisy affair in Florida with the cicadas chirping and other bugs buzzing in the trees. Thanks to Josh's influence I was learning not to be so afraid of bugs. Not that I wanted them anywhere near me, but at least I didn't want to burn the house down every time I saw one. "Are we going to be late?" I asked as we made our way to his truck.

"Nope, we still have time."

"Why won't you tell me where we're going?" I asked for the millionth time.

"Because, Ms. Nosey, it's a surprise. You only get to celebrate your two-month anniversary once."

It was hard to believe that only two months had passed since Hurricane Alexia wreaked havoc on our community and claimed two lives in the process. Only now were things truly getting back to normal. I thought about Evan sometimes, still believing that deep down he was probably a good person who was just looking for acceptance. I may be in the minority with my opinion, especially if you asked Josh, but if he truly thought about it, he would see my point. Evan and Josh came from different worlds, but both had rough relationships with their parents. I had my own issues with Butch and Buttercup that, fortunately, we had talked about and were working through. Even Farrah's struggle to gain acceptance from Leslie and Paris, in spite of her parents' chosen career, was similar. We all shared a common bond in spite of our varied backgrounds.

Evan's family ended up making a sizable donation to the Turtle Bay Beach Beautification Project in Larry's name. It was a nice gesture that in no way made up for his family's loss, but made me wonder if Evan's dad had finally realized he lost something important. Maybe now Evan could rest in peace.

"I don't think many people celebrate two-month anniversaries," I teased Josh as we climbed into his truck.

"That's because most couples don't go through everything we had to go through. We survived a lot of obstacles to get where we are."

"Now who sounds like a Hallmark card?" I asked. He was right though. We had gone through a lot. "I bet you're glad you yelled at me that first day."

He scoffed. "Are you going to hold that over my head forever?"

I snorted. "Maybe. Is that where you think this is headed?
Forever
?" I knew it was just a figure of speech, but I liked teasing him.