Page 94 of Plotting Summer

Walker smirks. “What’s the hurry, Capri? Excited to see someone?”

I shrug. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

“I’ll try not to be offended by that.” Tristan’s voice comes from behind me, and I spin around to find that glorious smile of his aimed right at me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, jumping on him and wrapping my legs around his waist before kissing him a week-away-level kind of kiss that prevents him from answering.

When Walker grumbles something under his breath, I drop down and shoot him a smile. “You’re one to talk.”

“I’m well aware of the hypocrisy, but still …”

I ignore him and turn back to Tristan. “I thought you had a meeting and then football practice.”

He pulls me into his arms. “Turns out if you know the right people, you can reschedule both a meeting and practice to pick up your girlfriend who’s been gone for way too long.”

“Aw. Remind me to thank those people later.”

“Oh, I will definitely be reminding you.”

“Okay, you two.” Walker steps next to me. “I don’t need any other images of you guys stuck in my head.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Jane says, placing a kiss on his cheek that instantly makes him look as smitten as the rest of us.

Tristan grabs my luggage while Walker grabs Jane’s, and the four of us head to the docks. After Tristan helps me onto his boat, he walks over to Jane’s boat where she and Walker are, and he hands Walker my luggage. He says something I can’t hear, and Jane’s gaze flicks to me before she nods.

“What was that about?” I ask when he steps into the boat and starts his engine.

“What was what about?” he asks, his slight smile making it obvious he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

“Why did you give them my luggage?”

“Oh, they’re headed to Tala and Heath’s and said they’d drop it off for us.”

“And where are we headed?”

“You’ll see.”

I watch for manatees as we move across the bay, but when Tristan gets to open ocean, I move onto his lap. It’s my new favorite seat with the way Tristan’s arm is wrapped tightly around me as we fly over the water. After several minutes, he slows the boat, then stops it, cutting the motor.

I glance around, but besides the shoreline in the distance, there’s nothing but ocean and sky. The sun is dipping into the horizon, causing an array of pinks and oranges, purples and blues, and it reminds me of that time over ten years ago when Tristan brought me out on his boat at sunset. The evening of The Incident and the night I decided to start writing my first book. It was that experience—the fictionalized version I created in my head of it, anyway—that acted as inspiration for the scene in Secret Crush when Trenton proposes to Cali. A book Tristan has read. Suddenly, my heart is pounding and my mind is reeling with how this could potentially play out. But I quiet my thoughts, wanting to live in this moment.

“I have something for you,” Tristan says, and I force myself to take a deep, calming breath.

“What’s that?”

“Let me get it.”

I stand up, and he grabs a rectangular package in brown paper wrapping out of the dashboard compartment on the passenger side. He takes a seat in the front and gestures for me to sit by him. When I do, he hands me the present. “What’s this for?”

“Open it.”

My hands have a slight tremble, but I run my fingers along the taped edge to undo the wrapping. When I see what’s inside, I glance up. “Secret Crush?” I ask, not quite understanding why he’d gift me a copy of my own book.

“Just open it,” he says again, his smile widening.

I pull the book out and flip the first page open. On the dedication page, in Tristan’s writing, it has his name written out above my dedication with a caret pointing to it: To (Tristan Palmer) the protagonist of my love story, thanks for the inspiration.

“The prize from our competition?” I ask, still completely lost.