“And I mean just us. Me and you. About real stuff, things that matter.” He fixed me with a pointed stare.

He had me there. Conflicting emotions built up inside me until my chest felt tight and stretched. Penny knew that this was a big ask. But she’d asked it anyway. That was Penny all over, but this wasn’t me. I wasn’t okay with this. I wished to God I hadn’t agreed, but now I was here and Chad was here, and there was no escape route. Penny was probably on her second beer by now, waiting for my text to tell her I had it all handled. Before, her faith in me would have been a comfort. Now it was a noose.

“Kinda worrying me here, Babe,” said Chad. He kicked at the sand, and when I still couldn’t unstick my mouth, he kicked some right onto the tops of my feet.

I shook the sand out of my flip-flops. “I heard about what happened yesterday.”

His mouth opened and closed. He took a step closer, lowering his voice. “She told you?”

Now it was my turn to fidget. I slipped my foot from my flip-flop and dragged my big toe through the sand, creating a line between us.

“Damn,” said Chad. “It feels weirdly more real if she’s actually telling people.”

I bristled. I wasn’t people. Immediately, my irritation rerouted. It wasn’t him I was upset with. What was I doing here? This wasn’t my place. I had no right to break his heart, and now that I thought about it, really thought about it … Penny didn’t, either.

What was her excuse? She wanted to be single? She didn’t want to be one of those girls who went to college with a boyfriend and had to miss out on meeting new people?

None of that was a good enough reason to dump someone who loved you.

“Babe, seriously. What’s up?” Chad took a step closer and settled his hands on my upper arms, as if he was trying to steady me.

The last time he was this close—the last time we’d talked about real stuff—he had said something neither of us had been ready for.

One of his buddies shouted at him from the beach and Chad half turned, waving him off. When he looked back at me, concern pooling in his eyes, I felt something inside me give.