Heart Bones(29)

I think Sara can tell I’m folding in on myself. She walks over and sits down next to me. Pepper Jack Cheese is lying in the sand next to my chair. Sara looks down at the dog and scratches him on the head.

“Where’d you find this thing?”

“He followed me home earlier.”

“Have you named him yet?”

“Pepper Jack Cheese.”

She looks at me. “Seriously?”

I shrug.

“I kinda like it. We should give him a bath later. We have an outdoor shower on the stilt level.”

“You think your mom would let me keep him?”

“Not in the house, but we could make him a spot outside. She probably won’t even notice, honestly. They’re barely here.”

I’ve noticed that. They both get home late and tend to go to bed soon after. They leave early in the morning. “Why are they gone so much?”

“They both work in Houston. Traffic is terrible, so they eat dinner together in the city on weeknights so they don’t have to fight it. But they take off Fridays during the summer, so they both have three-day weekends.”

“Why do they even bother driving here Monday through Thursday? Isn’t their main house in Houston?”

“My mother would worry about me too much. She’s not as strict as she used to be because I’m almost twenty, but she still wants to know I’m home in bed every night. And she loves the ocean. I think she sleeps better here.”

“Does anyone live in your beach house when it isn’t summer?”

“No, we use it as a rental. We come here for holidays, or a weekend getaway every now and then.” She stops petting Pepper Jack Cheese and looks at me. “Where are you staying when you start classes in August? Are you moving back in with your mother?”

My stomach turns at that question. They all still think I’m going to some community college back in Kentucky. Not to mention I still haven’t told anyone about my mother.

“No. I’ll be—”

Marcos appears and pulls Sara out of her chair before I can finish my sentence. He swoops her up and she squeals and wraps her arms around his neck as he runs her out toward the water. Pepper Jack Cheese stands up and barks because of the commotion.

“It’s okay,” I say, putting my hand on his head. “Lie down.”

He resumes his position in the sand. I stare up at Samson’s house, wondering what he’s doing. Does he have a girl with him? That would explain why he isn’t out here socializing.

I don’t like being out here alone now that Sara and Marcos are in the water. I don’t know any of these other people and they’re really starting to get rowdy. I think I’m the only one not drinking.

I stand up and go for a walk to get away from the group before any of them decide to play spin the bottle or something else just as horrifying. Pepper Jack Cheese follows me.

I’m really starting to like this dog. His loyalty is nice, but his name is way too long. I might just call him P.J.

There’s an abandoned sandcastle a few yards away from the group that’s half destroyed. P.J. runs over to it and starts sniffing around it. I sit down next to the sand castle and start rebuilding one of the walls.

Life is weird. One day you’re staring at your dead mother and a few days later you’re building a sandcastle on the beach by yourself in the dark with a dog named after a cheese.

“It’ll be washed away by the tide in an hour.”

I look up to see Samson standing beside me. I’m extremely relieved to see him here and that makes me feel strange. I’m starting to find an odd comfort in his presence.

“Then you better help me build a retaining wall.”

Samson walks around the sandcastle and sits on the other side of it. He looks at the dog. “He likes you.”

“I fed him. I’m sure if you gave him a burger, he’d follow you around, too.”

Samson leans forward and begins piling sand up on his side of the castle. The sight of it makes me grin. A hot shirtless guy playing in the sand.

I steal glances at him every now and then, impressed by his focus.

“His name is Pepper Jack Cheese,” I say, breaking a stretch of silence.

Samson smiles. “You met Marjorie?”

“How’d you know it was her idea?”

“She has two cats. Their names are Cheddar Cheese and Mozzarella.”

I laugh. “She’s interesting.”

“Yeah, she is.”

The tide pushes closer and some of the water spills into the area where we’re working. Samson stops patting the walls with his hands. “You been in the water yet?”

“No. I’m kind of leery of it.”

“Why?”

“Jellyfish. Sharks. All the things I can’t see beneath the surface.”

Samson laughs. “We hung out on top of a three-story house today. You’re safer in the ocean than you were on that roof.” He stands up and wipes sand from his shorts. “Come on.”

He’s walking into the water, not waiting on me. I look for Marcos and Sara, but they’re a good ways down.

The ocean is massive, so I don’t know why going into it with Samson seems intimate. I stand up and pull off my shorts, then toss them near Pepper Jack Cheese.

“Keep an eye on those,” I say.