From This Moment by Barnholdt Lauren

Author:Barnholdt, Lauren [Barnholdt, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: young adult, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780062321435
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2015-07-13T07:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

THE BEACH IS PRETTY BUSY, BUT EVERYONE is congregating around the center of the coast, up where the pavilion and the food stand are located. So Liam and I walk silently until we find a spot all the way down the shore. There’s a wall that curves up from the ground to protect the oceanfront houses from trespassers, and right behind it are a bunch of palm trees casting a bit of shade onto the beach. So I pick a patch of shade for myself and sit down near the wall, up where the sand is rocky and not as smooth.

“Do you mind if we sit farther down?” Liam asks, gesturing toward the shore. “I kind of want to be closer to the water.”

“Sure.” I move into the sun and we both sit down right in the sand, no blanket or umbrella or anything. I slip my sandals off and let the tide slide over my toes. The water is cold, but the air is hot, so they kind of cancel each other out. I remember what Liam said about vitamin D, so I raise my face to the sun and hope I’m soaking some up.

I wait for Liam to say something, and when he doesn’t, I glance over at him. He’s staring out at the water, his face contemplative, his chin resting on his hand, his thumb moving back and forth over his bottom lip, like he’s trying to work something out in his head.

I pick up a stick and doodle a little bit in the sand, just nonsense things, my name, a heart, one of those five point stars you can make without picking up your pen. I draw a tic-tac-toe board and play a game with myself until Liam notices what I’m doing.

“Are you playing tic-tac-toe with yourself?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why not? This way I always win.”

He grins and takes the stick out of my hand. He draws a new board on the sand in between us and then hands the stick back to me.

“Your move,” he says, and his fingers brush against mine. A breeze rustles through the palm trees overhead, and maybe I’ve been reading too many romance novels or maybe I’ve just finally gone insane, but it feels like something’s different, like there’s been a subtle shift between us. I can’t explain it, but it’s there.

“No way,” I say, shaking my head. “You get the first move.”

“You sure?” he asks.

“I’m sure,” I say, raising my chin. “I’m not scared.”

He draws an O in the middle square.

I shake my head. “Taking the easy way out, eh, Marsh?”

I draw an X in the upper middle square and then hand him back the stick. Every time we pass it back and forth, our hands are going to touch. With nine squares on the board, that could be a lot of touching.

“So I wanted to explain to you,” he says, drawing an O in the lower left square, “about Annabelle.”

“Okay,” I say. “But honestly, Liam, you don’t have to explain anything to me.

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