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

stupid enough to kiss a few times in the past. (Thank God he’d be confined to the greenhouse.) But I wasn’t even really thinking about that. I was thinking: Sean Edwards is a tourist. Why did he get a summer job tending to another tourist’s garden? Tourists don’t work. This is a first in the history of Seashell Point. This is wrong!
    Lily-Ann smirked.
    And after a long look at her, it hit me.
    “Oh,” I said out loud. I had to laugh. Sean must have Googled the Roth family—or maybe he even knew them. He did live in D.C. most of the year but wealthy families hung out with other wealthy families. Yup. One glimpse of Lily–Ann at some society ball…well, the thought of tending to her garden was too good to pass up. Classic horn dog. I had to hand it to the guy. Maybe he was cleverer than I thought.
    “Oh, what?” she asked.
    “Oh, well,” I said. “I’m not sure of his gardening skills, but he’s okay.”
    She drew closer. “You know him?”
    I knew my face was bright red. I began to perspire. “I made out with him once,” I blurted in as hushed a voice as possible.
    “You did ?” She grabbed my arm and giggled. “Oh, my God.”
    “What?” I asked nervously. “You just said he was cute.”
    “Yeah, but you’re way hotter than he is cute.”
    “Excuse me?”
    Lily-Ann’s eyes twinkled. “You can do better, Megan Kim. You can do better.”
    I laughed again. “Well…I…that’s…I don’t know. Nice of you to say?”
    “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” she replied. “Look, what do you think would piss off my dad the most? Hooking up with the semi-cute gardener, and being best friends with my hot house cleaner, right? Which, judging by how cool you’ve treated me so far, seems in my best interest in terms of this town. Imagine it: my boy-toy and my new BFF in the same house for a whole summer.”
    “Please tell me you’re kidding,” I muttered.
    “Of course. No. Yes. A combination.”
    My God. This girl truly was insane. But in kind of a good way. She certainly wasn’t like any of the other self-obsessed, phony tourists I’ve known. Plus, now that I thought about it, she was straightforward—very different from Miles and Jade, at least lately. Those two had been acting beyond weird for the past year, and I knew they thought I didn’t notice.
    My mood swelled, and I couldn’t help but think somewhere deep inside: If I play Lily-Ann’s BFF and Sean plays her boy-toy, there’s no chance that Miles will hook up with her.
    And I knew just when to put that plan into action.
    “So what do you say?” Lily-Ann asked. “Ready to help your boss out?”
    I nodded. “You know, a really good friend of mine is planning a party because she has her house to herself. Do you want to come?”

Miles
    A t first, I couldn’t focus on Lily-Ann Roth. I should have; she was even prettier close-up, but I couldn’t stop staring at Megan.
    I’d never seen her act so affectionate with anyone. Not even Jade. Of course, Jade wasn’t all that affectionate, either. The last time the two of them had hugged in public was at Jade’s bat-mitzvah. Plus, Megan was wearing an apron. She must have forgotten to take it off before she’d ventured out.
    “Meg, you know you’re wearing your apron, right?” Jade asked. “I can still see the spaghetti stains from last summer.”
    Megan and Lily-Ann looked at each other. Then they giggled. Lily-Ann took Megan by the shoulder; she spun her around, untied her apron—and tossed it into the nearest garbage can. A seagull landed on the railing nearby, studying the apron as if it wanted to hop in after it. A bird! I said to myself. That’s what I am right now: a creature with a brain the size of a bird. I have no idea what’s going on. I turned to Jade.
    “You’re right, Miles,” Jade said loudly. She stared at Lily-Ann. “In answer to your unspoken question, we have entered some sort of bizarre alternate universe.”
    “I’m sorry,” Megan