“Kinda.” I let him pay.

As we drove away from the shop, I leant back in my seat. I had stained my shorts and scraped my knee, my feet were still blackish from the beach, and my hair had dried from the rain into a fluffy mess—but I couldn’t have been more content. It had been a brilliant day.

We were back!

Chapter 15

That night, Josh suggested that we get up early the next morning for the sunrise. I thought it was a brilliant idea, especially because the sun wouldn’t rise until 7:00am and we could have a bit of a sleep-in. We were staying right on the beach, so we climbed out of bed just before seven. I slipped on my flip-flops, figuring my nightie looked enough like a summer dress to pass any scrutiny. Josh pulled on his shorts and left the room shirtless. I approved.

Forgetting my bed hair and morning breath, I followed him onto the sand. There were a few others on the beach too—another couple, a woman wading in the shallows, and a man with his dog. It wasn’t as pretty as other beaches we’d seen, but a sunrise over the ocean is always something special and this was no exception. Josh reached into his pocket for his phone and took a series of shots.

When he showed me later over a mediocre breakfast at a local café, I was blown away.

“You really have an amazing eye, Josh. These are incredible.”

“Thanks.” I could tell he was a little shy about the compliment. He reached for his phone and I handed it to him. “And, I wanted to show you this.”

He scrolled, then handed it back to me. It was the photo he’d taken the day before at Black Sand Beach, the one of me waving. I looked blissful and carefree; it was beautiful.

“I love it.” I looked up and we shared a smile.

“It’s automatically saved to Google pics—all my photos are—but I’ll create a folder I can share with you. Then you can add your photos too, if you like.” Wow, we were going to share an online photo folder. I guess you could say that things were getting pretty serious. “Or I could just put them on Facebook and tag you.”

Uh oh.

Josh had sent me a friend request on Facebook right after our trip to Greece—actually, even before I’d landed back in London. I’d accepted it, just like I’d accepted requests from Duncan, Marie, and Hannah. At the time, it hadn’t occurred to me that it could be a problem, but then I made plans to see James, and I got worried. I didn’t want them to cross paths online, especially as I wasn’t the only connection between them—there was Duncan too.

But it turned out that James wasn’t even on Facebook. So, I didn’t have to worry about them seeing each other’s interactions with me, or dread that they’d get friend recommendations for each other. Can you even imagine? Cringey.