"I need this summer to be perfect, Eli," I whispered, knowing he would somehow understand again. "I don't get another shot at this."
Cora Ellsworth only has one thing on her bucket list-spend one wonderful summer at Martha's Vineyard, gloriously f...
That summer smelled of salty sea and sweet surrender.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I always knew it was going to be special—just not how much it would change my life.
"Pen, hurry!" I shoved my feet into flip-flops and flew down the stairs. "I don't want to be late!"
My best friend, Penelope, descended with more grace except for the eye roll at me. "People go to these things late, Cora. A party's not fun until everyone's loosened up."
"I don't want to miss a second of it so we're going now."
Penelope didn't argue with me any further. We agreed that this summer was going to be on my terms and I was on a roll.
"The twins are outside taking selfies," I said as we stepped out of the cozy beach front cottage that was all ours for three weeks. Since Pen's family bought it ten years ago, they'd spent part of every summer here. I devoured all her summer stories, always hungry to find my own place under the sun someday. This year, I made it happen. Her parents booked an anniversary cruise and entrusted her sixteen-year-old twin sisters to us even though we were only two years older. It was freedom too rare and exotic for me to describe properly.
"Cora, finally! You ready to party?" Piper talked like a walking pep rally but I adored her anyway.
Her twin, Paisley, snapped a pic of me with her cellphone. "You're all lit up and the fireworks haven't even started yet. Did you have a drink already?"
I giggled and stuck my tongue out at them. "No, I'm just drunk with excitement, okay? This is the first Fourth of July I'm not watching through my window."
I knew I'd hate the flash of compassion on her face but I glanced at Pen anyway.
"You're gonna party, watch the fireworks, meet people and live it up," she said, her head bumping mine gently. "It'll be everything you imagined... and maybe more."
I didn't know what more could really mean but if this summer was all I could have, it'd be enough. It was already more than I ever had my whole life and it's only been a week.
Tonight was going to be another first for me.
I only attended small, quiet parties with friends and family but we were crashing this one. The twins wangled the info at a beach volleyball game yesterday. No one could pick us out anyway when the small cottage was bursting at the seams with people. Inside, personal space was nonexistent, the air smelled of booze and sweltering bodies, and the loud music barely managed to rise above the busy chatter—I loved every minute of it.
"I'll be right back," I told Pen as I rushed past her on my way to the door.
I could see the traces of oranges and pink on the deepening sky outside so I hastened across the sand that stretched a good distance from the house. Sunsets may seem infinite when they catch you in a moment but in truth, they're so fleeting—there one moment and gone the next.
