“And this is why we’re sitting all the way over there, so I don’t have to worry about you embarrassing me.”

“Moi? Never.”

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. “Bye, Lorc.”

“See ya, Babe.”

I left Lorcan to his customers and maneuvered my way back to Levi, the makeshift basket of shrimp extended in front of me like a sacrificial offering. “Dinner,” I said. “The best meal you’ll ever eat.”

“As long as it doesn’t have legs, I’m in,” Levi said, and I laughed.

We hustled to the picnic tables, narrowly dodging a Frisbee, a dog, and a scampering child in the process. “Watch out!” I called.

With Levi on one bench and me on the other, I put the still-scalding basket of shrimp between us in no-man’s-land. “Dig in.”

He slid one of the bottles to me. “Cheers. To new friends.” He held his bottle by the neck and tilted the wide bottom toward me in a toast.

“To new friends,” I repeated, tapping my bottle against his in a gentle clink. I felt a lot more confident making this toast the second time around.

eight

Fingers sticky, we found clean corners of the newspaper to wipe our fingers on when we ran out of napkins. Any second now, the night would come to an end—and I didn’t want it to.

“I can’t believe I was nervous about La Mer.” Levi blew out a breath, his cheeks puffed. “I’d seen the lines here before, but you know how I feel about seafood.” His eyes crinkled in a smile. “But this … it’s amazing.”

He glanced toward the boats moored at the dock, eyes flitting around until he found what he was looking for. I followed his gaze to Penny’s houseboat, stiffening.

“So, tell me if I’m wrong, but did something happen between you and Penny at the party last week? I hope it wasn’t because I showed up with you.” Catching the panic on my face, he shook his head. “No, sorry. It’s not my business.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just stupid friend stuff.”

He nodded slowly. “Stupid friend stuff or stupid friend stuff?”

Penny didn’t really feel like a friend right now. She just happened to be in the same town as I was. One sliver of hope—there was only so long you could go, brushing against the same people, before you finally had to admit you were more than just strangers.

“Long story,” I said. “Some friendships just … start to fall apart after high school.”

“It’s not weird that I’m mentoring her at the art center, is it?” he asked, taking a swig of his soda.

I shook my head. “Not for me.” My stomach twisted as I thought about a possible reason for his question. “Why, did she … did she say anything to you?”