The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland

Author:Shannon Greenland [Greenland, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101572337
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2012-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Aunt Tilly, Beth, and I zipped home, dropped off the food, and headed straight to the beach. When we arrived, we pulled off the side of the road, parked under a huge palm tree, and piled out.

I followed them down a narrow sand path, bordered on both sides by high dunes, onto a secluded beach that looked like something straight out of a magazine.

Off-white sand covered the area, its powdery texture devoid of shells. Roughly twenty feet farther on lapped a calm, vibrant ocean that stretched all the way to the horizon. I glanced around, discovering we were in a small inlet with a beach bordered by sand dunes and huge boulders. I estimated the entire place to be about half the size of a football field.

Off to the far left lay the only people on the beach. And from the distance I stood, squinting in the sun, I honestly couldn’t tell if the couple were women or men or one of each.

Beth dropped her towel and yanked off her shirt and shorts to reveal a turquoise bikini, then sprinted into the water. A few seconds later, her giggle floated back to us.

“She does that every time we come,” Aunt Tilly said.

I smiled at her comment, but found myself oddly envious that my aunt and Beth had such a great relationship. That Beth had had more time with my aunt than I had. That she’d known her longer.

“Come on.” Aunt Tilly picked up Beth’s stuff and led me all the way over to the right. “There’s hardly anybody here. For a Saturday, I expected it to be much more packed.”

Aunt Tilly busied herself laying out our towels. “We locals like to keep this place quiet. The tourists have tons of other beaches they can make use of.”

I liked the fact I was now in the elite “locals” category.

In my peripheral vision I caught sight of a huge yacht circling in the distance around the island. I studied it a second, recognizing it as the one from the marina.

I took off my T-shirt and shorts.

“Great suit,” Tilly said, nodding at my black-and-gold bikini.

“Thanks. Gwenny bought it for me. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be brave enough to wear it. It’s kinda stringy.”

Aunt Tilly smiled. “You can totally pull it off.”

As she closed her eyes and soaked in the sun, I sat for a moment taking in the scenery.

“So, how was your date with Jeremy?” Aunt Tilly asked a few minutes later.

I lay back on my towel and closed my eyes. “It was fine. He’s nice. He’s coming for brunch tomorrow. I hope that’s OK?”

“Sure.” She shifted, nestling herself into the towel and sand. “But ‘fine’ and ‘nice’? Not really zing-zang-zoom words?”

“Zing-zang-zoom?”

“Yeah, you know, does he ‘rock your world’?”

I laughed at that. “I don’t know. He’s sweet. We’ve had only one date. It takes more than that to figure out the ‘rock- your-world’ part, right?”

Although one tiny whisper and an unexpected kiss from Cade had most certainly “rocked my world.”

“Yeah, give it some time.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.