“Elle?”
Crap. Come on, Elle, say something. Tell him!
I looked at Noah, focusing back on his face instead of staring right through him. And I said, “I think I left my curling iron on.”
I didn’t think he bought it, but he said, “Text your dad. He can check for you.”
I quickly pulled out my phone and pretended to send my dad a text, typing it out and then deleting it straightaway.
“C’mon, we’re already late,” Noah said.
“Yeah,” I said, shooting him a look, but a smile crept back onto my face. “And whose fault is that?”
“What, like it’s my fault you look so damn good?”
I fell back in step beside him and he bent to press a kiss to my neck. I laughed and pushed him off. “Don’t you dare! That’s what made us late in the first place.”
“You know, technically, we wouldn’t be late if we didn’t show up at all….”
“Noah Flynn, don’t even think about it. There is a big ol’ ice cream sundae in there with my name on it, and not even you and your cute butt can get in the way of that.”
“My cute butt, huh?”
I didn’t know how, even after over a year of being together, he could still make me blush by saying something like that, but I blushed nonetheless. Noah chuckled, wrapping his arm around me as we walked inside.
* * *
• • •
Dining out with the Flynns was a pretty regular affair, but usually when we went out for a meal, my dad and brother were there, too. I’d thought it was a little weird that Lee and Noah’s mom, June, had made a point of inviting only me out for brunch today, but maybe it was because she’d invited Rachel, too. Maybe it was less of an “Elle” thing and more of a “Noah’s girlfriend” thing today.
Even after more than a year, me being Noah’s girlfriend was still a new dynamic we were all getting used to.
The rooftop restaurant they’d picked out was gorgeous. I felt underdressed in my jeans, my gaze lingering on a group of women in their early twenties who were laughing and drinking mimosas. I was glad I’d let Rachel persuade me to leave my hoodie behind and put some effort into doing my hair.
We found the others easily enough, and as June got up to hug me hello, I said, “I’m so sorry we’re late. Traffic was awful, and we didn’t realize we’d have to stop for gas.”
“It’s fine,” she said, smiling warmly as we took our seats.
I heard Lee mutter, “Traffic? Really? That’s what she’s going with?”
It was promptly followed by “Ouch!” as Noah stomped on his foot under the table.
Once we’d ordered, I looked out at the view of the skyline. “This place is so perfect.”
“We wanted to finally take you guys out someplace special to celebrate your graduation properly,” Matthew, Lee, and Noah’s dad, said.
“Elle’s right,” Rachel gushed. “It’s so amazing here. Thank you for inviting me.”
“I can’t believe we’ve actually graduated,” Lee said, shaking his head. “It’s so weird to think we won’t be going back to school in the fall. Like, that’s it. And now we’ve got the entire summer ahead of us—”
“It’ll go quick,” Noah told us. “Believe me.”
“Yeah, you kids better make the most of it,” Matthew said. “Any big plans for the summer?”
“You mean aside from the beach house?” Lee laughed. “Actually, we were talking about going up this weekend, if that’s cool?”
I looked at his parents with an expectant smile, waiting for them to nod and say, “Of course!” Because why wouldn’t they? Lee and I had been planning a long weekend at their family beach house for a couple weeks now. I’d gone there with the whole Flynn family every summer, but Lee and I had thought, now that graduation was out of the way, it would be cool to go just us guys, sneak some beers, blow off some steam after the craziness and intensity of senior year.
But instead of smiling back and saying we could go, no problem, Matthew and June just looked at each other. June pursed her lips, looking worried. I watched her husband nod back at her and got a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
“What’s that look?” Noah asked. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” June said with forced breeziness and a stiff, too-wide smile as she looked around at us.
Uh-oh, I thought. That wasn’t a mom smile. That was more like the kind of smile she wore when she was taking a call from the office.
She drew a deep breath. “Actually, we have some news.”
A creeping feeling of dread prickled over my skin.
“We’ve decided to sell the beach house.”
No way.
This wasn’t happening.
Today had already been a total roller coaster, but this was the worst part so far—and it wasn’t even one o’clock yet.
“What? Why?” Noah burst out, while Lee shot to his feet, crying, “Hold on! What? Where’s this coming from?”
“Lee, please, sit down,” his dad said firmly.
Lee did, but gawped at his parents. “Wait a second—was this whole meal just to soften the blow and butter us up before you dropped that bomb?”
“No!” June sat up straighter, then fiddled with her napkin. “Not…really…Kind of. Did it work?”
“Using delicious meats and beverages to deliver bad news is wrong, Mom, just wrong. I thought we raised you better than that.”
Noah elbowed him, to quit with the jokes. “You guys are serious about this? You’re actually selling the beach house? We’ve had it forever!”
“We’ve been talking about it for a while now,” June said. “It just doesn’t make sense to hold on to it anymore, not with you kids going off to college. It’s like you said last year, Noah. You guys are going to start getting jobs and summer internships, moving around the country for college or to meet up with friends….A lot of things are changing, so it seems like the sensible thing to do.”
“And we might as well tell you, because you kids will find out soon enough anyway,” Matthew said with a sniff, “the whole area is being redeveloped. If we sell up now, we could get four, maybe five times what it’s worth.”