Read Online Sing by Vivi Greene - Free Book Online Page A

it, it’s gone again. I open my eyes and stare up at the star-studded sky, waiting for something, anything, to find me.
    There’s a whooshing sound in my ears. My eyes snap open, dusty sunlight blurring the horizon. What time is it? Have I been out here all night? I hear a ragged panting and feel a slobbery tongue on my cheek. I sit up in alarm, but it’s quickly replaced by a pleasant surprise: there’s a long-haired black-and-white dog investigating my towel.
    â€œHi there, handsome.” I nuzzle the dog’s nose and he licks me again, this time more aggressively, until I’m pinned on my back, smothered in his salty, damp fur.
    â€œMurphy!” a voice calls from down the beach. In the dim morning light, I see the shadow of a person running, a head bobbing up and down at the water’s edge. “Murphy, come!”
    I’m laughing, shielding my face with my arms to ward off any further advances, when someone appears beside me.
    â€œMurphy, enough,” the guy says firmly, lugging the dog by the scruff of his neck and nudging him behind his legs. His face is turned away, but I recognize the subtle smile in his voice. Noel. “Sorry. He’s usually not so forward.”
    I wipe the slobber from my cheek and smile. “No problem.” The dog grips one of my flip-flops in his teeth and takes off toward the water.
    â€œMurphy!” Noel groans. “Are you kidding me?”
    â€œLet him go.” I laugh. “He’s having so much fun.”
    â€œYou sure?” he asks. “He’s probably going to sell it on eBay or something. He has pretty questionable morals.”
    â€œYeah,” I say, watching as the dog darts up and down the winding beach, waving my shoe back and forth like a giant chew toy. “He seems like a real menace.”
    Noel chuckles, still out of breath from running up the beach.
    â€œDo you want to sit?” I ask. “Looked like you worked up to a full sprint there.”
    â€œThat was nothing. You should see me when he steals a wallet.” He settles into the sand beside me. I fiddle with the tattered seam of the towel and pull down the sleeves of my sweater. Noel stares out at the calm of theocean, and I sneak a glance at his profile. It still seems insane, and almost cruel, that there could be somebody so spine-tinglingly good-looking on an island so remote, and that I would end up sitting beside him, alone, on a beach, at sunrise.
    I try to distract myself by wondering how old he is. His blue eyes are deep and ageless, but there’s something boyish about him, too. Even when he’s not smiling, there’s a lightness to him, like he’s remembering a joke he’s not yet ready to share.
    â€œYou live near here?” I ask, trying to strike a perfect balance of breezy and polite.
    Noel gestures up the beach toward a cluster of houses on a hill. “Just beyond the point,” he says. “There’s a path. It’s a bit of a hike from the water. That’s where the real people live.”
    â€œReal people?”
    â€œYear-rounders,” he explains. “People from here.”
    â€œNot Tess,” I clarify.
    â€œNot Tess. Not you,” he says. “You’re from away.”
    â€œYou can say that again,” I say, hearing the wistful self-pity in my voice and wishing I could erase it. I clear my throat. “What about you? You grew up here, I know. But do you still live here all the time?”
    â€œEvery day,” he says. “I left for college, but only lasted a little while. There’s a lot to complain about, especiallyin the winter, but after growing up here, it’s hard to live anywhere else.”
    â€œI can see why.” I look out at the painted clouds creeping around the rising sun. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve spent this much time outside. It’s amazing how far away everything else feels. In a good