She looked up into his gray eyes. He’d used the past tense: He’d meant it. But how did he feel now? She took a deep breath. “Do you still mean it?”
He glanced away from her toward the water, as if he were looking for the answer in the ocean. Jessica held her breath and waited for what seemed like an eternity.
She felt a lump rising in her throat. If he didn’t tell her what she wanted to hear in the next five seconds, she was going to turn into a weeping, trembling mess.
Connor pulled his hand away from hers and her heart sank. But then she felt his hands on her shoulders, and they were pulling her close.
“I still mean it,” he said into her hair.
She felt the sob come up anyway, but it was one of gratitude rather than sorrow. She pressed into the comforting warmth of his chest, smelling laundry detergent and sunscreen and the faintest tang of sweat.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you,” she whispered.
“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on. But Lily wanted me to keep it a secret, and it was such a big deal that I pretty much didn’t have a choice.”
She felt him kiss the top of her head, and then she lifted her face so he could kiss that, too.
“I missed you,” she said. “Even thought it was only, like, a week.”
Connor laughed. “It was even less than that.”
She pulled back and gave him a tiny, playful shove. “Whatever. It felt like forever.” She reached up and brushed the shaggy blondish brown bangs away from his lovely steel gray eyes. “And I’m leaving soon to go back to Ithaca, and I don’t want to waste another minute of the time left. I want to spend it with you.”
Grinning, Connor took her hand again. “How about we go on another date tonight,” he suggested. “We can do the whole linen napkin and too many forks thing.”
“Or,” Jessica countered, squeezing his fingers between hers, “we can just make some sandwiches and eat them on the beach while the sun sets and the stars come out.” She smiled. “You know I make awesome panini.”
“Isn’t that just a fancy word for grilled ham and turkey?” he teased.
“Whatever! Like you’re so great in a kitchen, Mr. How Do I Make Toast Again?”
And then they both burst out laughing, and they laughed until they could hardly breathe. It was relief, Jessica thought, that made them cackle like a pair of hyenas. They were both just glad to be together again.
As she walked Connor to his door, she leaned her head on his shoulder. There was something else she had to tell him. “That whole virginity thing?” she asked. “Maybe we should wait.”
“I think so, too,” he replied quietly. “We have lots of time.”
Jessica pulled him to a halt before the porch. “I want to be clear about something, though,” she said. “I still expect a lot of kissing. And I mean a lot.”
Smiling, Connor bent down to her, and as his lips met hers hungrily, Jessica felt tiny jolts of pleasure in every part of her body. Now, that’s more like it, she thought, and then for a long time she didn’t think anything else.
30
“Your legs are, like, twice as long as mine,” Lara declared, as Greer settled beside her in the hammock. “I mean, look at that. I’m, like, some kind of dwarf next to you.” The hammock swayed beneath them as Greer stretched out a long tan calf and inspected it carefully.
“True,” Greer mused, “my legs are longer. But you have much better ankles than I do. See how nice and delicate they are?”
“Ankles,” Lara sighed. “Who cares about ankles?”
“Casting agents for foot models,” Greer declared. “You could totally be a foot model.”
Lara laughed. “You’re insane.”
For a while they were quiet, just resting in the giant hammock beneath their bedroom window. In the trees above them they could hear the twitter of tiny birds. (“I love those little black-and-white chickadees,” Greer had said fondly. “They’re so much nicer than the nasty Park Avenue pigeons.”)
Lara was feeling philosophical. Sadness from her conversations with Drew and Marco lingered, but the more she thought about what had happened, the more she knew that it was for the best. Marco would be a sweet memory. And as far as Drew went, well, they lived in different states—different worlds—and they owed it to themselves to belong to the places they were in. She’d be able to go back to Chicago with her mom and Mike and enjoy herself without obsessing about the next plane to Ithaca. And that would be nice. And if, in the future, they decided they wanted to be together again, they could do that. But for now they would be good, loyal friends.
Lara sighed pensively. Soon they’d all be leaving, going their separate directions. Already the aunts were packing suitcases and making huge meals in an attempt to clear out the cupboards and the refrigerators. And already the uncles were sneaking out of the house at five a.m. to get in as much fishing as possible before they had to go back to their offices and carpools and Rotary Club meetings.
Lara was starting to feel ready to go herself. School would be starting soon, and she was going to take an awesome photography class. But in order to feel truly prepared to leave, she needed to talk to Jessica and make things right.
“Do you think if I clapped my hands, I could magically summon a servant to bring me an iced tea?” Greer’s voice interrupted Lara’s thoughts.
Lara smiled faintly. “Last I looked, the Tuttles weren’t employing domestic help.”
“Aunt Clare should totally hire someone next summer,” Greer remarked. “Lord knows my mother is incapable of assistance. She doesn’t even know how to turn on the oven and she has definitely never picked up a broom.”
Next summer, Lara thought wistfully. “So do you think you’ll be back?”
Greer shrugged. “Sure, why not?” She tried to seem blasé about it, but Lara knew she was dying to come back to Pebble Beach—mostly because of one handsome tennis coach named Hunter Brown.
“Assuming my mom and your uncle Mike stay married,” Lara offered, “we’ll be back, too. I mean, they’re, like, two kids in love right now, but you know my mom’s track record. I lost count of the marriages…”
Greer tried to flop over onto her stomach and the hammock started to wobble dangerously. Lara gripped the sides until Greer decided to remain where she was.
“Well,” Greer said, “my mom only had one marriage, but as you know, that one went up in a giant ball of flames. Oh, and did I tell you I got a message from my dad? He’s in Cannes right now with two girlfriends. That’s right: two.” She sighed. “Talk about midlife crisis. Pretty soon he’s going to call me and tell me he’s getting a face-lift and calf implants.”
Lara laughed; Greer’s jaded outlook was eternally a source of amusement. She was the opposite of Jessica, who always looked on the bright side of everything.
But where was that girl? Lara wanted to know. She was just about to ask Greer to send her a text when she saw Jessica walking toward them, swinging her arms jauntily and looking not nearly as pissed off as when Lara last saw her.
“Hey,” Greer called out. “Come join us.”
Lara elbowed her in the ribs. Jessica might not be furious still, but they couldn’t act as if nothing had happened. The fact was, both Lara and Greer had acted badly.
“Hi, Jess,” Lara said softly.
Jessica stood over them with an unreadable expression on her face. Her hair was windblown and sun-bleached, and she looked beautiful and almost feral with her bare feet and tangled locks.
Lara struggled to sit up in the hammock. “Listen,” she said, speaking quickly. She wanted to get it all out there before Jessica had a chance to rediscover her anger. “I want to apologize. I should have told you what was going on. I should have trusted that our relationship was strong enough to handle my problems with Drew. I’m really, really sorry, Jessica. And I promise to be honest with you from now on.”
Then she elbowed Greer again. “I’m sorry, too,” Greer piped up, as if on command.
“It was totally uncool of me to keep secrets from you.” She smiled her high-wattage smile, the one that Jessica used to call her “Magical Charm Ray.” “Even though it was all Lara’s fault.”
This time, Lara poked Greer so hard in the ribs that she squealed. “Kidding! God!” she cried, laughing.
Lara looked up at Jessica to see a smile slowly spreading across her face. “I had to do my share of apologizing today, too,” Jessica admitted. “And it went okay. Lily forgave me for outing her to her parents. And she told me…that Connor’s not the baby’s father. He was just being a good friend.”
“Really?” Greer gasped, her eyes widening. “Oh, wow. That changes everything.”
Jessica nodded, blushing. “It does. And I talked to Connor afterward, and he…well, he still loves me. And we decided we’re both okay with waiting.”
“So all’s well,” Lara declared.
Jessica looked closely at her two cousins. “If Connor and Lily can both forgive me, then who am I to hold a grudge? I forgive you both.”
“Hooray!” Lara cried, and the next thing she knew, she and Greer were pulling Jessica onto the hammock. The hammock began to sway dangerously, which prompted the girls to all shriek with fear and glee. Their arms and legs were all tangled together, and Lara felt sure that any second, the hammock would flip and dump them all onto their butts. Luckily, she thought, the ground was covered in pine needles to cushion their falls.
But miraculously, the hammock steadied, and Jessica found her place on it, right between Lara and Greer. The three girls lay side by side, gazing up into the leaves.
“You know,” Greer reflected, “I’m the only one who achieved my goal this summer.” She paused, then went on, humor in her voice. “Not to rub it in or anything.”
Lara yawned. The warmth and the breeze were making her sleepy. “Whatever happened to that list anyway?”
“You had better know where it is, Greer Hallsey,” Jessica warned. “I told you if my mom ever found it, I would kill you, and I meant it. I am very skilled with a lacrosse stick.”
“Oh, you can relax,” Greer assured her. “I know exactly where it is.”
“It’s ironic,” Lara said thoughtfully. “My goal was to keep fewer secrets and I ended up keeping more.” Realizing that didn’t make her feel that great, but what could she do about it now? It was all water under the proverbial bridge.
“And Connor and I realized some pretty unwelcome consequences of losing your virginity!” Jessica laughed.
Greer stretched out her impossibly long legs and sighed. “Like I said, ladies, I’m the only one who can put a check mark through her goal.” Then she grinned. “Oh, am I rubbing it in? Sorry.”
Lara poked her yet again: The girl was going to have bruises. Lara thought back to the first day they’d arrived and what she’d said to them as they sat on Greer’s bed. She decided to say it again. “Well,” she said brightly, “next summer will be different.”
“Wow,” Greer exclaimed. “Where have I heard that before?”
And the three girls burst into laughter yet again, scaring the flock of chickadees from their perch.
“Hey, Greer,” Jessica said. “Out of curiosity, where is the list?”
Greer yawned in mock boredom. “It’s folded up in my drawer, inside a perfume box, right next to my silk pajamas. As I’ve told you a thousand times, I am excellent at keeping secrets secret.”
Jessica launched herself out of the hammock. “I’ll be right back,” she cried as the other two girls looked after her in bafflement.
A few moments later, Jessica reappeared with the list of their summer goals in one hand and one of their room’s many aromatherapy candles in another. Lara watched as Jessica placed the candle carefully on a stump, then lit it with a kitchen match.
As the flame flickered, sputtered, and gathered strength, Jessica held out the paper to Greer. “Would you like to do the honors?” she asked.
Greer grinned and accepted the paper, which was somewhat crumpled and torn from being carried in her purse and then stuffed into a box. “Well, ladies,” she said, dangling the paper over the candle. “It’s good-bye to summer, and good-bye to our goals.”
The edge of the paper caught fire and turned black, and the small flame rose higher as it devoured the hopes they’d written down back in June.
Lara watched as Greer held the paper for a few more seconds, then let it drop to the ground where it burned to ashes and then quietly went out. “All my dreams, up in smoke!” she cried dramatically, holding her hand to her forehead like a 1940s Hollywood ingenue.
Greer and Jessica laughed, and then Lara joined in. “Maybe next year I’ll pick an easier goal to meet,” she said. “Like ‘Get really tan.’”
Greer snorted. “I doubt you could do that, either,” she teased. “It’s August, and you’re like Casper the Friendly Ghost over here.”
Lara poked her cousin in the ribs one final time. “I’ll just steal all your self-tanner, then.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Greer responded mildly. “I’ll bring extra bottles.”
Then Jessica put her arms around both her cousins. “I can’t wait for next summer,” she said.
And Lara had to smile. She was already looking forward to next summer, too.
Also by Hailey Abbott
SUMMER GIRLS
SUMMER BOYS SERIES
SUMMER BOYS
NEXT SUMMER
AFTER SUMMER
LAST SUMMER
GETTING LOST WITH BOYS
WAKING UP TO BOYS
THE SECRETS OF BOYS
THE PERFECT BOY
FORBIDDEN BOY
THE OTHER BOY
FLIRTING WITH BOYS
BOY CRAZY
SPEND A SUMMER ON THE SHORE
Ella, Beth, Jamie, and Kelsi are excited about boys, beaches, and bonfires. But the girls didn’t count on heartache, secrets, and scandals that could tear them apart.
Jessica, Greer, and Lara can’t wait to make Pebble Beach their own this summer: There are so many parties, cute guys, and late-night swims. Too bad falling in love can burn you hotter than the sun….
IT ISN’T SUMMERTIME WITHOUT SUMMER BOYS…OR SUMMER GIRLS.
TRAVEL * GLAMOUR * ROMANCE * DRAMA
Follow best friends Alexa and Holly on their whirlwind adventures through three fabulous cities.
Spring Break. South Beach. ‘Nuff said.
Two beautiful girls. One sexy city. Endless opportunities for l’amour.
Celebrity sightings. Sizzling nightlife. Hollywood, here they come…
Read them all!
To Do List: Read all the Point books!
Airhead
Being Nikki
Runaway
By Meg Cabot
Wish
By Alexandra Bullen
Suite Scarlett
Scarlett Fever
By Maureen Johnson
Sea Change
The Year My Sister Got Lucky
South Beach
French Kiss
Hollywood Hills
By Aimee Friedman
Ruined
By Paula Morris
Possessed
By Kate Cann
Top 8
By Katie Finn
And Then
Everything Unraveled
And Then I Found
Out the Truth
By Jennifer Sturman
Wherever Nina Lies
By Lynn Weingarten
Girls In Love
Summer Girls
Summer Boys
Next Summer
After Summer
Last Summer
By Hailey Abbott
This Book Isn’t Fat,
It’s Fabulous
This Girl Isn’t Shy,
She’s Spectacular
By Nina Beck
The Heartbreakers
The Crushes
By Pamela Wells
Hotlanta
By Denene M
illner
and Mitzi Miller
Hotlanta
If Only You Knew
What Goes Around
In or Out
By Claudia Gabel
In or Out
Loves Me, Loves Me Not
Sweet and Vicious
Friends Close,
Enemies Closer
Love in the Corner Pocket
The Comeback
By Marlene Perez
Pool Boys
Meet Me at the Boardwalk
By Erin Haft
Kissing Snowflakes
By Abby Sher
Breakfast at Bloomingdale’s
By Kristin Kemp
Once Upon a Prom
By Jeanine Le Ny
Dream
Dress
Date
Secret Santa
Be Mine
Spring Fling
By Sabrina James
21 Proms
Edited by Daniel Ehrenhaft
and David Levithan
Copyright
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