He drags his teeth across his lower lip as though he’s deciding whether to kiss her again. When he does, the tip of his tongue teases her mouth, and she parts her lips to deepen the kiss. She ignores the quiet niggling thought that they should not be making out at a restaurant, but kissing Wyatt Kennedy might just be her new favorite thing. When he pulls back, he grins. “I used to think it was weird when couples sat on the same side of the table, but I get it now.” He pivots on the bench so they’re facing the same direction. “I’m looking forward to elbowing you while we eat.”

“I don’t know how I’ve lived eighteen years without blue crabs in my life,” Willa says as they lay side by side on a plaid blanket. She was a little nervous when Wyatt took the blanket from the back of his Jeep and spread it on the ground in the middle of his parents’ empty lot, but this is not half naked in the woods; this is looking at the stars in a sky untouched by light pollution. “I will never forget that dinner.”

Mike had come out of the shack with a stainless-steel pot and upended the contents onto the butcher paper-covered table. No plates. No utensils, except for a wooden mallet. Willa and Wyatt had dug into the pile, smashing open the crabs to pick out the sweet meat, peeling the skins off the shrimp with their fingers, and challenging each other to see how fast they could eat the corn off the cob. They’d laughed a lot. Talked more. Kissed each other with buttery lips.

And now that they’re alone beneath the cloudless night sky, Willa feels secure knowing that holding this boy’s hand is enough for both of them.

“I told you it got better,” Wyatt says.

“I’m going to have to introduce you to Lake Erie perch,” she says.

“Are you inviting me to Ohio on the first date?”

She laughs. “Maybe . . . although I might not be back there for a while.”

“Why not?”

“A few days ago I e-mailed Case Western to withdraw my enrollment so I can finish the Great Loop on my own.”

“I can’t really say whether that’s a good idea or not, considering I’ve opted out of the whole college experience,” he says. “But what made you decide to withdraw?”

“It kind of started at graduation when I realized there was nothing all that special about being valedictorian,” Willa says. “And then I got an e-mail from my assigned roommate. She was so excited and it hit me that I’m just . . . not . . . excited, I mean. I chose Case because studying business is practical and smart, but what I really want is to go to Kenyon and learn how to write.”

“Is it too late to do that?”