Turtle Bay Read online

  After a few minutes of making little headway, I received some advice from a chuckling elderly gentleman who had observed my struggles. "Young lady, you have to swim parallel to the shore, otherwise the rip current is gonna keep taking you right out even farther. See, like this," he said, swimming down the shore rather than toward it.

  "Thanks," I said, slightly embarrassed. "It's my first time in the ocean."

  "You don't say. Might be a good idea to swim close to the lifeguard stand just in case. You don't want to end up as fish food." He laughed at his own joke like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

  Although my progress was slow and tedious, the old man's advice worked. By the time I reached the shore, my legs felt like wet noodles and I was heaving like I had just run the Cornstalk 10k back home. Sinking down on the wet sand, I worked to get my breathing under control as I took in how far down the beach I had landed from where my chair sat. There seemed to be fewer people on this end of the beach. Probably because the boardwalk with all the shops and restaurants was closer to the other end. Moving away from the water I had not yet forgiven, I stood up to make my way back to my chair when an area of sand that was staked off with orange netting snagged my attention. I had no idea what it could be, but I was intrigued.

  "Hey, get back," a loud male voice called out behind me as I leaned down to peer around the netting.

  Whirling around, I nearly lost my balance, only to be held upright by a strong set of masculine hands. "You scared the crap out of me," I said breathlessly. Of course, what I was thinking was hello, blue-eyed angel as I took in the most piercing blue eyes I had ever seen. His glare burned into me with an intensity that caused me to take a half-step backward even though his hands were still wrapped around my arm. Okay, maybe blue-eyed devil was more like it. He looked slightly older than me but had definite boyfriend potential.

  He snatched me toward him and I raised my hands to his chest to shove him back, not liking the way I was being manhandled.

  "Hey, creeper, you want to get your hands off me?" I jerked my arm away, but his grip only tightened.

  "You're going to step on the eggs," he growled as he maneuvered me away from the netting before abruptly releasing my arm.

  "Ow, manhandle much?" I rubbed my sore arm that was sure to bruise. "What eggs are you talking about?"

  "The turtles," he answered, jerking his thumb toward the netting. "You just about stomped on hundreds of baby turtles getting ready to hatch soon."

  "Well, I didn't know. Besides, it wasn't like I was gonna climb in there." Gorgeous eyes or not, Turtle Boy seemed to have serious authority issues. Judging by his attire, I understood why. He wore board shorts that stopped just above the knee and a red muscle shirt with Lifeguard printed across the chest in white letters. That still wasn't an excuse to jerk me around. I thought lifeguards were supposed to keep people from drowning. Where was he a few minutes ago when the ocean was trying to turn me into seaweed?

  "Shouldn't you be sitting on a beach chair watching swimmers or something?" I asked defensively.

  He kneeled down to inspect the sand around the netting. "You're not from around here, are you?" His tone was so straitlaced I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. It wasn't like I had a sign on my forehead that read new in town, but I guessed by his attitude that people from around here knew not to touch the turtle nests. Lesson learned.

  I watched as he used his hand to smooth over the sand around the net. "Are you dusting for fingerprints?" My question was intended to be a joke to try and break the ice, but he didn't laugh.

  "I'm making sure you didn't disturb the sand above the eggs. Carelessness like that can impact the future these hatchlings have on our environment."

  I bit back a sudden urge to laugh. How ironic that the first guy I met in a new town was as zealous about the planet as my parents were. The fact he was lecturing me, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eco-Planet, was downright hilarious. The words to correct him were on the tip of my tongue, but I held them back. He was actually kinda cute all fired up the way he was. Why rain on his parade?

  "Hey, I'm really sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" I lightly teased when he ran out of steam.

  I guess he was immune to my charm because his sky-blue eyes looked more resentful than amused. He turned away, mumbling something under his breath that sounded like he had called me an airhead. I snorted in response. Ordinarily I might have gotten upset over some guy putting me down, but something about Turtle Boy's attitude made me laugh.

  "Did you just call me an airhead?" I questioned him, not even trying to hide the amusement in my voice.

  "Let's just say I see your type around here every summer. You're too busy hanging out with your friends to care about anything else. You come to the beach to drink and party, and when you're done, you leave the mess behind for someone else to clean up. Not caring that most of your trash gets swept away to sea when the tide rolls in. Do you know what cans and bottles do to the fish and mammals in the ocean?" He shook his head in disgust without giving me a chance to respond.

  "You don't even know me. How can you assume anything about me?" Cute or not, Turtle Boy was on the verge of receiving a kick in the nuts. My whole life was made up of people making false assumptions about me.

  "Just call it a hunch based on previous experience."

  His blue eyes clashed with mine. Even though they seemed to be filled with animosity, a pool of warmth filled my belly. Damn him. Too bad he was such a Boy Scout. He might have been fun to hang out with.

  Chapter 3

  "Look, dude. I get you have a job to do, and I guess watching out for turtles is part of it, but just because you seem to lack any social skills, and obviously have something against partying and having fun, doesn't mean the rest of us are doing anything wrong."

  I spun around to strut away with my dignity intact, but didn't count on the uneven sand that caused me to stumble. Turtle Boy reached out to steady me, but thankfully I was able to regain my balance without his help. After straightening up and gathering myself again, I continued with my original plan to leave the lifeguard in the dust. So what if twice in one day the beach had made me its bitch? I'd get the hang of things here eventually.

  I managed to make it back to my beach chair without any more mishaps. After nearly drowning and a run-in with an uptight lifeguard over a nest of baby turtles, I figured I better pack up and leave before the beach could find another way to humiliate me. I gathered my towel to fold up my chair when a fluorescent orange Frisbee landed at my feet.

  "Hey, sorry about that," a guy said, jogging my way as I bent over to pick up the Frisbee. He looked like part of the same group I had seen tossing around the Frisbee earlier. If his smile was any indication, my rotten luck for the day was about to change.

  "The wind caught it just right," he added with sparkling eyes. "I'm Evan," he said, holding out his hand. I gave him a quick appraisal before returning the gesture. He was definitely cute. There must have been something in the drinking water, because Turtle Bay seemed to have no shortage of hot guys. At least this one wasn't looking at me as if he'd like to stab me.

  "Rain," I said, placing my hand in his.

  "Rain? I like that. It's got to be a sign that I met a pretty girl named Rain during a cloudless day," he added, winking at me.

  I bit back a laugh at his total cornball pick-up line. It's not like I had a whole lot experience at being picked up by a guy, but even I knew a bad line when I heard it. It was kind of sweet in a lame way, but with his looks he could get away with a little cheesiness. He was definitely yummy with light auburn hair that would have been considered too long back in Kansas but seemed a perfect fit here on the beach. He ran his fingers through it to push it out of his eyes. He was lean with a defined physique that was more pronounced by the way his board shorts rode low on his hips. When I finally accepted the move to Turtle Bay, this is what I had pictured the guys to be like. Not some neurotic lifeguard who took his job too seriously.

>   "You live around here?" he asked conversationally, tossing the Frisbee back to his friends so they could continue their game without him.

  "Yeah, across the street," I said, pointing in the direction of my house.

  "Cool. My buddy Greg used to live in the house on the corner. It's a sweet house. The Jacuzzi's wicked. It's a fifteen-seater," he said, shifting his feet to a more comfortable stance, like he planned on staying for a while.

  I nodded like I understood that a fifteen-seat Jacuzzi was cool. Truthfully, I'd never been in one. Back home, guys got excited over tractors and lifted super-duty trucks. To each his own, I suppose.

  "That's my parents' place over there," he continued, pointing to a large house behind us that sat directly on the beach. Even I couldn't help being impressed. Considering its size, my guess was you could easily stack at least four of my new house inside the three-story monstrosity. It had multiple wraparound porches with massive decks, and most likely a large swimming pool judging by the slide that was visible from the sand. No disputing who had the bucks around here.

  "Nice," I finally commented so he wouldn't think I was dense.

  "It's okay. For a summer home, it works," he bragged. "It's usually a drag to leave my friends back home every summer, but this year seems to be shaping up," he added, eyeing me with blatant interest.

  "Back home?" I asked, slightly surprised by his openness. Guys like Evan usually weren't interested in someone like me. Not that we had a whole lot of rich people back in Huntsville, but even the few wealthier families in town where nowhere close to the type of filthy rich money Evan obviously had. This was new territory for me. Not the dating part, even though guys usually hung with me just to see what crazy prank I would think up next. Sure, we'd fool around a little, but nothing ever too serious. Score one for the pink bikini, I guess.

  "Yeah, I live in Manhattan. We spend summers here and spring break at our house on the Cape," he said offhandedly, as if everyone had three or four homes.

  "What about you? Are you here just for the summer?"

  Unsure of how to answer his question without looking like a complete one-house-owning loser, I gave a shrug that could have been a yes or a no. I felt it was best not to divulge too much about my personal life to someone I'd just met.

  "Uh, the summer for sure," I said as I gathered my things.

  "Hey, I'll walk you home," he said, reaching for my chair.

  "It's okay. I appreciate the offer though." An awkward meeting with Butch and Buttercup wasn't something I was prepared for yet. Not until I had a chance to get a sense of how my family would be accepted in our new surroundings. "Besides, you have to buy me dinner before I allow you to walk me home," I purred, hoping he'd go for my deflection.

  "You can count on it," he said, winking at me. "Hey, I'm having a party tomorrow night at my parents' place. You should come," he added, leaning in close and creating an air of intimacy that made my stomach flip in a good way. Score one for the cute rich boy.

  "Rain, what do you say?" Evan cooed enticingly when I appeared to be zoning out. With his good looks and money he was clearly used to getting his way.

  "Sure. My schedule is pretty light this weekend."

  "Legit. I'll come over to get you around eight."

  "Uh, no, that's okay. I'll walk over."

  "That works," he said, stepping close and running a finger down my cheek.

  His intimate familiarity put me on edge, and I couldn't help jerking back unconsciously.

  "Sorry," he chuckled, holding up his hands. "I didn't mean to freak you out. You had a little sand on your face."

  "Oh," I said, feeling like an idiot. What was it with Florida? Both Turtle Boy and Evan had managed to throw me off my game within a few minutes of meeting them. I was usually more adept at handling guys trying to pick me up.

  "Come meet my friends before you head off. They'll all be at my bash tomorrow night, so you might as well get to know them." He grabbed my hand and pulled me along before I had a chance to object.

  "The twins there are Trevor and Steve. Careful with them. They'll switch identities just to screw with you. They're identical, but you can tell them apart by their tics," he whispered in my ear.

  "Tics?"

  "Yeah. Trevor tugs on his ear when he gets nervous or is trying to prank us, and Steve rubs a hand over his face, which is always a dead giveaway. They don't know I've got them figured out," he answered out of the corner of his mouth as we approached the twins who were dressed in the same style of board shorts as Evan. They were both handsome but lacked Evan's movie star looks and the self-confidence he seemed to carry himself with.

  "Guys, meet Rain," Evan said, sliding his arm across my sun-warmed shoulders like I was a prize he had claimed. The twins not so subtly eyed me with open admiration.

  "Who's your friend, Evan?" a ridiculously attractive blonde girl asked as she approached with two girls flanking her on either side. Her eyes narrowed as she studied me from head to toe. She looked like she had walked off the pages of some fashion magazine. Everything about her was perfect, from her tanned lean body that glistened in the sun, to her full chest that made me want to cross my arms over my own modest bosom.

  "I'm Rain," I said sheepishly. Not that I was intimidated by her. She just had a way of making you feel slightly inferior.

  "Leslie," she returned, eyeing me like a riddle she was working out in her head. Her eyes focused on Evan's arm that was still draped across my shoulders.

  "Nice to meet you," I replied as I debated shrugging off Evan's arm. I got the sense that Leslie had some kind of stake on Evan. Getting in the middle of some kind of couple drama wasn't exactly the best way to make new friends.

  "I'm Farrah," one of the other girls chirped with open friendliness. She wore the same awkward smile as me, but I returned her greeting nonetheless. She was also cute, but wasn't a waif like Leslie. Not that anyone would call Farrah fat. Her frame just didn't scream anorexic model like Leslie's.

  "Paris," the third girl said with a slight curl of her lip as she eyed me up and down. She held her hand out like a dead fish for to me to shake, so I must have passed her inspection.

  Evan removed his arm from my shoulders and turned to talk to the twins while Leslie, Farrah, Paris, and I continued staring at each other in an awkward silence. It felt like a game of chicken to see who would break first.

  "Well, I better head home," I said, nodding at the group around me."I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow night."

  "We'll be here at the beach tomorrow morning," Farrah said, much to the dismay of Paris and Leslie, who exchanged a look. I guess I knew where I stood with them even though Farrah seemed nice. As tempted as I was to accept the invitation just to make them squirm, I planned on pounding the pavement over the next few days to find a job. Now that I was sixteen, I was ready to earn my own dough to buy the things I wanted. Still, it would be fun to show Leslie she didn't intimidate me.

  "I have plans tomorrow, but maybe I can head over after," I said, taking my beach chair from Evan.

  "Sweet," Evan said, stroking my shoulder where my bikini strap rested. "See you tomorrow," he added, eyeing me like I was something he'd like to nibble on. With one last grin he jogged off to join Trevor and Steve, who were now standing in the waves throwing the Frisbee to each other.

  Pasting a nice fake smile on my face, I tossed a nonchalant goodbye to Leslie, Paris, and Farrah—or the Unwelcoming Committee, as I would now think of them.

  Buttercup was working in the front yard when I got home. "How was the beach?" she asked, kneeling in front of the inexpensive planter we had bought for her herbs.

  "Nice. The ocean is a beast though." I launched into a description of how the waves had tossed me around like a rag doll. Buttercup smiled at my narrative and didn't comment on the dangers of being reckless in the ocean. It wasn't that she didn't care. She and Butch were just the kind of parents who felt the best lessons in life were learned from experience. She knew without a shadow of a dou
bt that I would be infinitely more careful the next time I went into the water. She would be right. I had learned a new respect for waves today after the ocean made me its plaything.

  "Where's Butch?" I asked, pouring myself a glass of lemonade from the pitcher that was resting on the small table on the porch.

  "He's working in your room with the plumber. Looks like you'll have your own bathroom before you know it."

  "Yay! I thought my bladder was going to explode when I had to skate around that bug. Speaking of which, where's Player?"

  "He's in the flower power room. I figured Butch wouldn't be venturing in there anytime soon, so he should be safe with his allergies."

  "Smart idea. I'm going to go catch a shower and then I thought I would hit the pavement to look for a job."

  "Why?" she asked, surprised, sitting back on her heels.

  I shrugged, unsure of how truthful I wanted to be. "There's a few things I want before school starts in the fall," I finally admitted.

  "Like?"

  "Um, books, supplies—maybe some new clothes?" My confession didn't evoke any response other than Buttercup's eyes boring into mine as she waited for me to elaborate further. "I want to look different this year," I added defensively as she quirked her eyebrows.

  "Clothes do not—"

  "Define a person," I finished for her. "I know you always say that, Mom, but new clothes are nice. Maybe I want to experience the bliss of not worrying about whose ass last filled out the jeans I'm wearing."

  "Language," she warned.

  I rolled my eyes. Was ass really a bad word? It is an animal too, after all. I considered debating the point, but saw no reason to provoke her when I was trying to talk her into letting me get a job.

  "I'm pretty sure I wash out any butt germs before you wear them, Rainbow," she teased, dropping seeds in the hole she had made in the soil with her finger.

  "Rain," I corrected automatically, not bothering to address her comment. It was a fight we'd had so many times that a stalemate was the closest resolution we were going to reach. I knew Buttercup struggled to understand the changes she and Butch had seen in me during the past few years. I went from wearing whatever homemade or hand-me-down clothes that were provided for me to begging for new ones. Combine that with my track record for trouble since middle school and getting kicked out of Huntsville High and I was pretty sure my parents assumed aliens had taken over my body. "I want new stuff. Don't worry. I'll buy it," I said with an uncharacteristic edge in my voice. I just wished they'd see my side of things. Butch and Buttercup could live any way they wanted to, and I should be able to make my own choices. I didn't see the problem.