I opened my purse and reached in to give him the crisp sheet of paper. A printed certificate with the Dunes logo on it, signed by May, declaring Lee Flynn—
“Employee of the Month!” he read aloud, and hooted with laughter. “Aw, man. Give her a hug from me, will you? And tell her this will be granted pride of place on my wall at college. I want everybody to know.”
“She’s so excited you’ll finally be out from under her feet. The employee who never was.”
“The best non-employee she’s ever had,” he agreed. He’d been spending so much time with me lately that a lot of it had been at work—and while Levi’s manager was never happy to see me, May just rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air whenever Lee came to the restaurant, where he’d inevitably get stuck with helping the rest of us out.
We started walking back to his parents’ car, which was piled high with boxes and bags, ready for Lee to move into his new dorm room. Noah had flown back to Boston a couple of days ago. “So you’re all set?”
“All set,” he confirmed. “I mean, I’m planning to come back next weekend. Pick up my car and anything else I’ve forgotten. Hey! You could always drive up to bring me back? I could show you the place, introduce you to whatever people I meet this week.”
I grinned at him. “I’d love that.”
For a second we just stood there, smiling at each other, before Lee sighed, his expression crumpling. He took my hands in his. “It feels so weird to be leaving without you.”
It was weird for me, too. I knew it was stupid because it wasn’t like he was that far away, and we’d see each other plenty, but we’d barely spent more than a couple of days apart before.
Lee had been emotional enough for all three of us when we’d cleared out the beach house. I’d been determined not to cry that day, and I was determined today, too.
But my resolve broke, and tears filled my eyes. My voice cracked.
“I’m going to miss you so damn much, Lee Flynn. You have to promise to call every day.”
“Cross my heart.”
“And you’ll FaceTime me after you’ve unpacked, to show me your room?”
“Absolutely.”
I sniffed, trying to take a few breaths. A rogue tear slipped down Lee’s cheek and I grabbed him into one last hug. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, Shelly.”
We broke apart and Lee cleared his throat gruffly, puffing out his chest and shaking his head.
His mom, over by the trunk of the car, yelled, “Lee! Did you pack the box with all the cleaning products? I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Damn, I was hoping she wouldn’t notice.” He winked at me and said, “I’ve gotta run back inside for it. Promise you’ll stay to wave me off?”
“You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”
We’d considered me joining Lee, getting in the car with them to drop him off at college. I’d have been welcome, and we’d have said our tearful goodbyes in his dorm room, but in the end, we’d decided it was better this way. Lee and I had driven up to Berkeley last week together, going to a few spots Ashton had suggested we check out, and that had been enough.
Going to Berkeley wasn’t our thing anymore. It was Lee’s. Today was just for him.
He disappeared back inside, and June stepped over to me after giving Matthew strict instructions on how to repack some things in the car.
“Hey, sweetie. How’re you doing?”
She wrapped me in a brief but warm hug, then held me at arm’s length, scrutinizing me.
“I’ll be okay,” I settled on saying. Because, really, I was getting there.
She nodded, smiling and dropping her arms. “All of you, so grown up. He made me promise not to cry, you know, but I think we all know I will. And you know if you want a hand doing any shopping or help moving in—just yell. We’re around. Matthew and I are happy to help out.”
“Thanks. I know. But it’s okay—my dad and I have got it in hand. And Linda is going to come with us tomorrow to go shopping.”
Linda joining us had actually been my idea. She wasn’t so bad, I guessed. And she did have really good taste (and a penchant for coupons). Besides, I could see how much of an effort she was making for me; it was probably about time I returned the favor.
“Oh! And I meant to tell you—we finally got everything sorted. All the paperwork and everything. Had to pay the buyers back for all their fees, but it’s done now. The beach house is officially remaining in the Flynn name.”
I gasped, beaming at her. “That’s amazing news. Thank you, June.”
“And all because of you. Don’t thank me. I was sorry to see that place go, too, but…turned out I just needed a little nudge in the right direction. Like someone else, huh?”
The day after we’d left the beach house, I’d taken the photograph of me, Noah, and Lee down on the beach—one final picture of the three of us and a summer at the beach house—and gotten it professionally printed and framed before taking it to June and Matthew that same day.
Matthew had started tearing up and left the room.
June had looked at me, then the box full of the photos from the beach house and the new one I’d had made for them, and she’d grabbed her phone, calling the movers to tell them to stop.
It hadn’t been easy, but they’d managed to cancel the sale and keep the beach house.
I knew we all had to let go and grow up and move on—but I was so, so glad we didn’t have to lose the beach house to do all that.
I helped the three of them finish packing up the car.
Lee rolled down his window, the back seat piled up with pillows and a comforter beside him, and his backpack. “Just as well you didn’t come with us. There’s no room for you.”
“Just as well,” I echoed. “Call me later, okay?”
“Yeah, I know. I promised, didn’t I?” He grinned. “And hey! When you get home, check your garage. I got you a little going-away gift.”
“In the garage?”
He grinned and reached out to tweak my nose. I stepped back and blew him a kiss, then watched the car drive off, taking him to Berkeley.
Just because we were growing up didn’t mean we had to grow apart. My relationship with Noah might have ended, but my friendship with Lee would last forever, whatever happened, wherever life took us.
If there was one thing in life I could count on, it was that. It was him.