“Cross my heart. Where did you end up all day anyway?”
“You know that place I took you on your birthday last year? The hill, where we went to see the fireworks? I just needed some space.”
Ah. That made sense. I should’ve thought of it earlier.
“I’m glad you came home,” I told him.
He pressed another kiss to my neck and I held him tighter. The waves broke quietly around our feet and the rest of the world was silent but for our breathing. Maybe we weren’t perfect, but for now, it was all I needed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I worked the breakfast shift the next day, and the lunch one. I’d have done the dinner shift, too, but I had to pick Brad up from camp. It was an exhausting day: I’d dropped an entire ice-cream sundae, some woman screamed at me for getting her Diet Coke instead of regular, even though I was sure she’d ordered diet. And right now, I was a mere twenty-five minutes away from finishing my shift when a crowd of rowdy college-aged guys poured into the diner. Most of them had damp hair and sand stuck to them. I spotted a truck outside with a couple of surfboards in the bed.
“You want me to take them?” Melvin asked, seeing me roll my eyes. I had to hand it to him—he had a lot of guts to even offer. With his round glasses and head of springy curls and soft face and braces, they’d eat him alive. And despite the nervous glance he cast their way, he puffed out his chest, ready to jump in on my behalf.
I shook my head. “It’s okay, I’ve got this.”
Marching over to the table, a fresh jug of water clutched in my hands, I plastered on a smile. “Hi. My name’s Elle and I’ll be your server this afternoon. Can I start you guys off with some water?”
They barely paid me any attention, too wrapped up in a heated debate about who’d had the best day out on the waves. One guy grunted and waved absently at me, not even looking over. “Sure, sweetheart.”
Wow, what a charmer.
I poured their water and cleared my throat. “So, the soup of the day is leek and potato. Our specials are lobster rolls with avocado, which I’d highly recommend, and a chickpea-and-halloumi burger with—”
“How about dessert?” one of the guys asked, turning to me with a cocky grin.
“Uh…sure. The dessert special today is a hot fudge sundae with cherries or banana sorbet.”
“What about you?” the first guy asked. “Are you on the menu, sweetheart?”
I gave him a flat smile. “Sadly, we’re all out of single waitresses, and it looks like you’re all out of pickup lines.”
A couple of the guys laughed at their buddy, but he was persistent. “Aw, come on. How about you give me your number, baby?”
“How about I get my manager to throw you guys out?” I offered, batting my eyelashes.
“Quit it, dude,” the guy in the corner muttered, shoving his friend’s arm. “I’m starving.”
“I’ll give you a minute to check out the menus and then be back to take your order.”
“I know what I’m checking out,” one of them said as I turned around, and a hand pinched my butt.
I whirled around, upending the water pitcher.
“Ohh, I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” I told him in a sickly sweet voice. Grabby guy was drenched, and his friends were trying and failing to stifle their laughter as he gasped, sputtering and wiping his face.
“Bitch,” he snapped at me.
“Guilty as charged!” I told him in a gleeful tone. “Now please leave, before I ask our chef to come out here and make you leave. He’s a real pro with a meat tenderizer.”
Grumbling, the group clambered out of the booth. The guy who’d asked if I was on the menu mumbled an unenthusiastic sorry at me, and another one shoved the grabby guy, telling him, “You’re such an asshole. That lobster roll sounded so good.”
I gave them a bright smile, following them to the door and waving. “Don’t come back soon!”
Turning around, I spotted May gathering up an order from the kitchen. She arched a penciled eyebrow at me and I winced.
“Sorry. I’ll clean it up now.”
“You handled those douche-bros like a pro,” she told me instead. “And go on, get out of here. Haven’t you got a little brother to pick up? Melvin—paper towels in section five, please!”
I ducked into the back to grab my backpack. I didn’t bother to change out of my uniform, deciding I could do that once I was back at home. And it was just as well May let me clock out a couple of minutes early and I didn’t waste time changing my clothes, since I drove straight into traffic. The freeway was down to one lane and I crawled along, grumbling under my breath, watching the time slip past on the clock on the dash.
By the time I got to the field where Brad’s baseball camp was taking place, there were only a few stragglers hanging around. The parking lot was mostly empty. Two moms were standing outside their cars smoking while their kids played catch. I jumped out of the car, searching through the kids still hanging around, but saw no sign of Brad.
Fear curling like a fist around my heart, I ran to the squat brick building off the field. There was a mess hall being cleaned up, where a couple of the coaches sat talking over some papers without even sparing me a glance, but no Brad.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Okay, Elle. No need to panic. This is fine.
My legs shook as I returned to my car, fumbling with my cell phone to dial Dad. It rang twice before I was sent to voice mail and I hung up.
A text buzzed through only seconds later.
In a meeting. What’s up?
Shit. If Dad hadn’t picked him up…
No, I didn’t need to panic yet. I ignored my dad’s text and jammed the keys into the ignition. I stalled the car twice before managing to pull out of the parking lot. Maybe Brad had just gotten a ride home with a buddy. Maybe one of the parents picking their kids up from camp had seen him waiting around and taken him back home.
My fear only grew the closer I got to the house, though, because Brad never disappeared like this. And sure, maybe he was old enough to look after himself by now, but he was still just a kid. He was my little brother. He was my responsibility. I was supposed to take care of him. And if he’d gone missing…
I parked the car haphazardly, throwing myself out of it and at our front door. It gave way, not even locked, and my blood froze before—
“Oh, thank God!” I panted, snatching Brad up into a hug from his seat at the kitchen counter, where he was shoveling hot nachos into his mouth. He smelled sweaty and like grass and I buried my nose in his hair. “Thank God! I couldn’t find you anywhere. Did one of the moms give you a ride home? You know you’re supposed to wait for me, or call me if something like that happens. Do you have any idea how scared I was?”