And this place was so much more than a house. It was where we’d spent every summer since we were kids. It was the one place that, no matter how far apart Lee and Noah had drifted, they would (for the most part) get along. It was the one place where we could act like five-year-olds and not give a damn.

“I hate this,” Lee said quietly. He had his back to me and was cramming shoes into nonexistent spaces in his suitcase. But he said it like he knew I was almost about to cry. “The leaving, I mean. I hate the leaving.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be back in a year. It’s stupid to miss it.”

“I know, but it won’t be the same, will it? Especially if Noah doesn’t come. And we’ll be, like, off to colleges….”

“Hey, what happened to our pact? We pinky-promised when we were ten years old to come here every year, and now you want to break that promise? Shelly, you of all people should know how tightly the pinky promise binds you.”

I giggled, but it stuck in my throat. “You know what I mean.”

“Kinda.” Then he sighed. “It sucks, huh?”

“Definitely.”

After a few minutes passed, Lee’s arms curled round me and he hugged me from behind. His chin was on my shoulder. After a couple of seconds, I turned and wrapped my arms round him, burying my face in his shoulder. We stood there like that, totally silent and holding each other.

I think Lee was just as upset as me, really, but he wasn’t going to show it. I knew him too well, though. I didn’t need him to tell me that Noah’s comment about growing up and maybe not coming back had stuck with him too.

Right then, we both needed the hug.

And afterward, it was like the world felt a little brighter and a little warmer. I didn’t feel quite so sad about the fact that this year could be the last we were all here for summer at the beach house together.

Because yeah, things changed.

And yeah, we still had a lot of growing up to do.

But right then, everything I was worried about—from what would happen with me and Noah to the stuff deeper down, like college, like the future—just didn’t really matter anymore.

I’d have to deal with those things at some point, but not right now. Not while we still had the beach house.

“Where are we going?” Lee asked as I started tugging him wordlessly out of the bedroom.

I didn’t answer him.

“Shelly?” Lee asked again.