My heart strummed deliciously. There was no denying it. I was attracted to him. There’d been chances over the years to get involved with summer boys and girls, but I’d never once been tempted. I thought about Chad and his fear of being alone, his wanting to replace Penny with me just so his world didn’t go out of orbit. Was I like that, too? Was I trying to use Levi to replace what I had lost? Though his hand was warm against mine, I felt a chill at the idea of Levi as a stopgap.

Navigating back to safer waters, I pulled my hand free and handed him his sketchbook. As I looked back at the lighthouse, I said, “And, um, you asked if my parents minded.”

He nodded.

“It’s just me and my mom. I don’t have a—well, I mean, I do have a dad, somewhere. I just don’t know him.”

He stayed silent. Gratitude thrummed through me. He never rushed to fill the silence. He waited, he listened. He let me come at my own pace.

“We never talked about him much. It never mattered to me, though. I didn’t need him. All I could get out of Mom was that he was a summer boy, too.”

He picked up on that last word. “Too?”

“Like you.”

The breeze lifted his hair, teasing the golden waves until they fluttered back down to his forehead. He swiped them aside.

“She works on a cruise ship,” I continued. “I think she was thrilled when I turned eighteen, so she could go off without the guilt. She gave me some money, and I put it toward getting this place at the end of my junior year. I always loved the lighthouse, and when the opportunity came up to rent it … it was a no-brainer. I’ve only been here a year, but I already can’t imagine being anywhere else. There’s a saying about this town. Kids learn it in school every Founders’ Day.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“That Oar’s Rest is a place to rest your oars. It’s home,” I said simply.

He was quiet for a long moment. Then, “I’m jealous,” he said, so adamantly that I was taken aback.

My laugh was startled. “What?”

“You’re living in your literal dream house. Do you have any idea how rare that is?” Levi couldn’t look away from the lighthouse, face glowing from more than just the sun. “My mom’s always talking about getting out of the city, moving to upstate New York and building a house. I remember this one weekend as a kid where she convinced my dad to drive up there and look at houses. But we never actually did it.”

I could hear the regret in his voice. “Maybe she still will.”