Meet Me at the Boardwalk by Erin Haft Read Free Book Online Page A

really think so?”
    “No, not really.” She sighed again, sounding about twice her age.
    I stole another quick peek at her. She was smiling curiously at all the cheap concession stands, as if she’d never seen one in her life. All were closed. On the south side, it’s strictly swimwear and surf gear, so none of the owners show up before eleven at the earliest. Most look like washed-up eighties Hair Band members. Some actually are. That’s where the brilliantly unoriginal stand names like “Surf’s Up, Bro!” or “Hang Ten for Under Fifty Clams!” come from. I almost felt embarrassed. There was a very good chance Lily-Ann hadn’t seen a cheap concession stand in her life, particularly if she’d vacationed in places like St. Maarten before coming to rustic old Seashell Point. She’d probably feel a lot more comfortable downtown. Come to think of it, downtown essentially wasSt. Maarten, only dressed up eighteenth-century-Mid-Atlantic-coastal style.
    “Where are you applying, Megan?” she asked.
    “I was thinking about NYU,” I answered absently. “I researched on-line, and they have these great internship programs where you can work in the city government with people who try to solve local problems—” I coughed. “Sorry. As if you care.”
    “No, I do.” She paused for a second and turned toward me, fixing me with an intense stare. “It’s just…” Her wormy lips formed what looked like an actual smile. “Okay, I don’t really. But I do think it’s cool. I mean all I care about is pissing off my dad. You know what he always tells me? ‘You can do better.’ It’s like this weird mantra. Better than what?”
    I lifted my shoulders. I’d just met her. Besides, I was the hired help. I couldn’t answer that question. It wasn’t part of the job description. I should have been Soft-Scrubbing their marble tub.
    “The first time he ever said that to me was when I started going out with this guy who got kicked out of my old school,” she went on. “Roland Evans. His dad is some big-time Manhattan shrink, so of course the kid is crazy. He was hot though, in a kind of bad-boy way, and funny as hell—he just didn’t give a crap about anything. He used to skip classes and troll the school halls singing ‘ RO-Land, RO-Land, RO-Land…’ You know, like that rap song, ‘Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…’ and this one time he started singing it when we were in the janitor’s closet, and I was—”
    “How…how about I show you downtown?” I stammered before she could finish. My cheeks were hot. Jade and I hardly ever talked about sex. Especially hot sex in a janitor’s closet. Neither of us had gotten there yet. Not even close. “I mean, there really isn’t much to see on the boardwalk right now.”
    She brushed a long blonde curl out of her face and gave me another apologetic half smile. “I’m making you uncomfortable, aren’t I?”
    “No,” I lied.
    “Hey, here’s in idea. Why don’t you show me the spots where all the cute guys hang out? I haven’t really seen too many so far.”
    My gaze wandered toward the north end of the boardwalk. I shielded the sun from my face, standing on my tiptoes—and sure enough, spotted Jade and Miles leaning against the railing, maybe a quarter mile away. Miles’s tousled blond hair was impossible to mistake. And, of course, Jade was waving her hands dramatically. Their first summer fight. Duh.
    I didn’t want Lily-Ann to see Miles.
    “There is this one guy you should meet…”
    “Sean Edwards?” she asked.
    My hand dropped. I turned to her. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh. “You know Sean Edwards?”
    “Yeah. I met him yesterday. He’s taking care of our greenhouse this summer.”
    I forgot myself for a second. “He is ?” My eyebrows twisted in a knot.
    “Why, is that a problem?” she asked.
    Yes! I answered silently. And more than one! Indeed, many problems. The first? I’d be spending the summer working with a doofus I’d been