Tell Me It’s Right (Sweetspire #1)

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

GRACIE

On Saturday morning, I take off before anyone else is awake. Leo dug out an old bike from the garage so I’d have a way to get around town. For the past week, I’ve been relying on getting a ride from him or Liam. Seems he was already as sick of that as I was. So with a backpack on one shoulder and my camera bag on the other, I throw my leg over the bike and hope to find my way to the shore from here. Leo said it was walking distance, but Leo also runs half marathons for fun like an absolute psychopath.

The rest of Sweetspire seems as slow to rise as Edgewater always was. I don’t see a single other person as I make my way toward the water. I, unfortunately, am getting used to waking up at six in the morning every day thanks to those damn windows.

The chilly morning air blows my hair behind my shoulders, and I close my eyes for a moment as I wind through the rows of houses, the smell of salt and sunscreen a steady comfort.

“Gracie Collins! Is that you?”

My eyes snap open, and I swerve. I let out a yelp as the bike jumps up onto the sidewalk, but luckily I manage to regain control and squeeze on the brakes.

I turn at the pickup truck idling beside me, then do a double take at the girl smiling sheepishly behind the wheel.

“Carson?”

“Where’re you headed?” she asks.

“Uh, just the shore.” I yank the strap of my camera bag higher on my shoulder before it can fall.

She nods to the side. “Throw your bike in the back. I’ll give you a ride.”

If not for the truck, I might not have recognized her. She’s driven this giant monstrosity since sophomore year of high school, and it’s as hard to climb into as I remember. It’s been only four years since I last saw Carson, but everything about her looks different.

Every memory I have of her since elementary school includes her long blond hair in two French braids, but it’s now dyed black and chopped into a blunt bob that barely skims her chin. Her face looks thinner too, her cheekbones more pronounced, and I’d be surprised if that wasn’t filler in her lips, because they definitely never looked like that before.

“What are you doing out here so early?” I ask as I pull the door shut behind me.

“Oh, I was just heading home.”

Home?

My confusion must show on my face because she shrugs as she pulls away from the curb. “I work nights.” Before I can ask for more details, she adds, “And anyway, how long have you been back in Jersey? I had no idea you were here.”

“A week or so. I, um, I moved in with Leo.”

Her eyebrows shoot up.

“It’s temporary,” I add quickly.

The eyebrows come back down and pinch together.

We’ve made it to the water now, and she shifts the truck into park, but I don’t climb out.

I don’t know when or why we stopped talking. We were inseparable almost all our lives. By senior year of high school, we’d started growing apart—different friends, different hobbies—and by the time I left for college, somehow we went from talking every day to not exchanging a single word for four years. And the longer that silence between us grew, the harder it became to be the one to reach out.

“Look, Carson, I’m?—”

“Gracie, I’m sorry I never?—”

We both break off with an awkward laugh, and I look down at the camera bag in my lap.

“You coming out here to take pictures?” she asks.

“Yeah, and I just missed the water, I guess.” I bite my lip, sigh, and add, “I’m staying at Leo’s because I haven’t been able to find a job after I graduated. And every minute I’m in his house I feel like more of a failure. I just—I needed the fresh air. Maybe I’ll get some shots to add to my portfolio if any turn out okay. Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. You’re probably exhausted and just want to get home. I’ll—” I jab my thumb over my shoulder and reach for the door handle.

She lays a hand on my arm before I can climb out. “Have you had coffee yet?”

For a while there, that was our thing. Getting coffee and going for walks on the beach as we gossiped and swapped stories since we were in all different classes and barely got to see each other during the day.

“You know what? I’m not taking no for an answer.” She hops out of the truck and circles to my side like she’s going to pull me out if I don’t do it myself. “You can leave that here, if you want. I’ll lock it.” She gestures to my things as I join her on the sidewalk. I leave the backpack but keep my camera bag, then follow her as she heads for the line of shops along the shore.

Most of them don’t look open yet, but a tiny yellow house on the corner has lights glowing in the windows. A bell rings overhead as Carson steps inside first. There’s so much more confidence in her walk than I ever remember there being. She commands attention as she walks with her head held high, shoulders thrown back, and an easy smile on her face.

Even with just the two of us in here, the space is pretty cramped. Two tables are against the far wall, with the counter across from them. I wonder if the owners live in the other parts of the house.

“Gracie? What do you want?” asks Carson with a glance at me over her shoulder.

I spout off my order then hurry forward and dig out my debit card before Carson can pay. She opens her mouth to protest, but I wave her off. “For the ride.”

She rolls her eyes but smiles as the barista hands over her order—something in a large hot cup.

“You’re not going to be cold carrying that out there?” she asks as the barista finishes my drink.

“It could be subzero temperatures and I’d still be drinking iced coffee.”

She snorts and leads the way outside. There are decent enough waves this morning that I spot a few surfers in the water, but the beach itself is empty. Carson and I slip off our shoes before treading into the sand, and for a moment, the déjà vu is staggering enough that I forget where I am— when I am.

I watch the gentle morning sun reflect off the water, and an overwhelming sense of peace washes through me, so contrary to the heavy, suffocating feeling that’s been weighing on my chest every morning that I wake up in that basement. There’s something about being this close to the ocean that makes any problem feel small.

“So are you looking for work around here?” Carson asks as I sip my drink.

I try in vain to tuck my hair behind my ears as the wind whips it around my face. “Not exactly. I’ve been applying mostly for positions in the city. Either Philly or New York. For now, I’m working at Liam’s shop on Main Street.”

“ Liam Brooks ?” she practically screeches as she whips around and comes to an abrupt stop.

“I—yeah.” I shrug.

“Liam Brooks,” she repeats. “Leo’s best friend, Liam Brooks.”

It doesn’t sound like a question, so I don’t respond.

“Your biggest childhood crush, Liam Brooks.”

“I— what ?” I sputter. “I never said I had a crush on Liam.”

She snorts. “Yeah, you never said .”

“I hated him growing up. And he hated me.”

That gets a full laugh out of her.

“What?” I demand.

“Gracie, acting like you hate someone has always been your idea of flirting.”

“I—that is not true.”

“Mm-hmm.” Her expression turns thoughtful. “Admittedly, I don’t think you realize you do it.”

“ Or I was actually irritated by Liam always teasing me.”

“Did it ever occur to you maybe that was his way of flirting too?”

I scoff and ignore whatever the hell that little flutter in my stomach is. Now she’s really lost her mind. “You’re being ridiculous,” I mumble into my coffee.

“ Mm-hmm .” She’s full-on grinning now, and I shake my head and turn my attention to the incoming waves.

I absolutely never had a crush on Liam Brooks. He was annoying and smug, and he and Leo were always ganging up on me. And I absolutely never noticed when he had his growth spurt in seventh grade and suddenly his limbs weren’t so gangly. Or when he stopped with the buzz cuts and grew out his hair in high school, which suited him much better. Or the way his eyes always looked different after his mom died.

“He runs a tattoo shop now, right? No offense, but what does he need you for?”

“Updating his website, social media marketing, that kind of thing.”

She purses her lips and nods. “Well, that could be good, right? So many jobs won’t hire you because you don’t have experience, but this would technically be professional experience to put on your résumé.” The look on her face twists from contemplative to mischievous. “So is he as hot as I remember?”

“Can we talk about you for a minute? It’s been four years. Catch me up.”

She squints and looks away with a shrug. “Stayed around home for the first year or so after high school. Once I had enough money to move out on my own, I came down this way to get a little more distance from my parents, and there’s just more to do over here. I have roommates—three of us total. We rent a house a few miles that way.” She points the way we came.

“How’d you meet them? Your roommates?”

An odd look passes over her face, but it’s gone so quickly that I might have imagined it. “From work.”

I wait, but a heavy silence descends like the one in the truck earlier. It’s so foreign I don’t know what to think. She was always the more talkative of the two of us, spilling every detail you never needed—or wanted—to know.

“So do you work around here?” I ask slowly.

“No, it’s up almost near Newark. A little less than an hour commute, but I’m only there a few nights a week, and I like having some…space from it.”

We’ve stopped walking now, and she stares out at the ocean, the gentle crash of the waves filling the silence. I step up beside her and chew on my lip. Years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated to push for more. But we’re not close like that anymore, so I don’t feel like I have the right.

“I guess it’s better that you hear it from me,” she murmurs. “It’s not public knowledge around here, but with how gossip gets around, I’ve always figured it’s just a matter of time.” She rolls her coffee cup between her hands. “It’s one of the gentlemen’s clubs.”

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that. I nod slowly, trying not to stare at her, but I can’t help it. My eyes trace over every difference as if I’ll find something there to make processing this easier.

“The money’s good,” she says quietly. “A lot of the finance guys from the city come in pretty often. Some nights are worse than others but, I mean, you know what it costs to live around here. And without a college degree, finding a decent job…”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I say quickly. “I’m not judging. At all.”

She gives me an unconvincing smile. “I guess I just want you to understand. I didn’t plan this. I was looking for roommates at first to try to afford moving out—if I had to spend one more day with my parents, I swear one of us was going to commit murder—and I met this girl off a Facebook group, and we grabbed coffee. We got along really well. She’s the one who introduced me to the place. Said she’d vouch for me to get a bartending job there. When I went in to interview, they said I could have a job, but not behind the bar. I guess I figured, what was the harm? If I tried it out for a week? And the money was so good those first few days…I was hooked.”

“Are you…safe? The guys there, they don’t try anything?”

She purses her lips. “The security there is good, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some bad nights. But it comes with the job, I guess.”

My stomach does a little flip, but I try not to show it on my face. I can’t wrap my head around it. “I—thank you. For telling me.”

She turns to look at me, and her eyes get a little misty as she smiles.

I’m the first to lean in and pull her into a hug. She falls into it like she was desperate for one, and I tighten my arms.

“I’m sorry we fell out of touch,” I say.

“Me too.”

“Maybe it was fate running into you today,” I say as I pull back.

She smirks. “Maybe it was.”