The Newcomer (Thunder Point #2)(67)

She grabbed the binoculars and trained them on the sea. She was quiet for long moments before she said, “I saw a spout, but it’s a million miles out there.”

“I hope some come closer,” he said. “It’s a good day for it.”

“Do you do this often? Whale watch?”

“Spring and fall,” he said. He took an apple out of the cooler and offered it to Ashley. When she shook her head, he bit into it. “Sometimes I’d hitch a ride out with a fisherman. Nobody minds me. I’m quiet. Sometimes I’d come out here. Ben didn’t care because I was careful not to disturb anything. Sometimes he came with me. Before Dodger’s arthritis got bad, he’d come, too.”

“We haven’t had a dog since I was four,” Ashley said. “She was my mom’s dog. She was real old even then.”

“And you didn’t get another one,” he pointed out to her.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure why.”

He laughed. “I hope you don’t feel that way about boyfriends.”

“I do right now,” she said, but she smiled at him. “It’s going to be a long time. And I’m going to be much fussier. I’m not hooking up with some big dumb jock who has an ego the size of California.”

He just smiled. Then he pointed. “Spout. It’s much closer.”

She went back to watching, but without the binoculars. She scanned the horizon and saw another spout, a few minutes later. After about an hour, they each had a sandwich and a cookie, broke out some drinks, saw a few more spouts.

When the sun started to get a little lower over the Pacific, Ashley spotted a few dark humps in the water and wordlessly pointed.

“Here we go,” Frank said. And no sooner had he said that than there was a big breach, all the way up out of the water, not too far off the coast. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

Ashley had never done anything like this with Downy. If they were together, he wanted to be either throwing a ball or making out. But they had talked on their phones all the time—they even had to get a special plan for exchanging calls so they wouldn’t have such high monthly call charges. Several calls and many texts passed between them every day. Her grandma would say, “You young people text each other when you’re in the same room together. Don’t you realize you have to communicate to have a relationship?”

“Frank? Do you text many people?”

He gave a shrug, his eyes focused on the ocean. “If there’s a reason. By the way, that text that went around? I knew that was a fake.”

“You did?”

He looked at her. “Ash, you have a nice figure but that obviously wasn’t your chest.” And he colored a little.

“No joke,” she said with a laugh. Oh, my God, was she laughing at that horrible incident now?

“Everyone knew, except idiots,” he said. “There. Look out there.”

And sure enough, a pod. Close to shore. There were a couple of tail splashes and another breach. As Ashley knew, you could go whale watching for hours and never see anything.

“Do you date at all?” she asked Frank.

“I’ve been out a few times. Nothing special. I mean, nice girls.”

She laughed at him. “Who?”

“Paula from science club. We doubled with Kurt and Lynette. Paula is not very happy with me.”

“Why not?”

“I told her I just wanted to be friends,” he said. “I think she wanted to get married.”

Ashley crumbled into laughter.

“I didn’t think it was that funny,” he said.

“I know, I know. But that’s the thing about girls,” she informed him. “We all want to live happily ever after. And the sooner, the better. Even the ones who want some major career achievement still want to be adored forever. Believe me, Frank, it causes a world of trouble.”

“Did you? Want to marry Downy?”

“Oh, absolutely! We even talked about it—made crazy promises to each other about forever. We had plans—right after college he was going to go pro and we’d have a big wedding and I’d follow the team to games.” She shook her head. “So much for that idea.”

“And now?” Frank asked.

“I want to punch him in the face,” she said. “With a brick.”

Frank’s smile was huge. “I think it’s time to move this party to the beach,” he said. “I have a log. I’ll show you some popular constellations. If you’re up for that.”

“I’m up for it,” she said. “I might have to make a stop at Cooper’s. And, Frank? Am I getting credit for this course?”

“You get anything you want, Ash. How many whales did you see?”

“I don’t know! Twenty?”

“Nine.”

“Do you remember everything?”

He shook out the blanket to get the dirt and dried pine needles off. “Sometimes it’s a curse.”

* * *

The sun was setting a bit later over the ocean and it was Saturday night, big night in Thunder Point. Cooper had been busy, but by eight-thirty there was just one couple sitting on the deck, a candle on their table, a beer and a glass of wine before them. They’d come across the beach in their golf cart and would go back the same way. Cooper wiped down the bar and took a glass of wine out to the deck for Sarah, bringing a beer for himself. There was a small fire out on the beach—Ashley and Frank. They were lying on their backs, looking up at the star-filled sky. Before sitting down he said to his last two guests, “Let me know if you need anything, folks. I’ll be right over here.”