Read Online The Summer of Lost Wishes by Jessa Gabrielle - Free Book Online Page B

shakes his head. “Nah, he hates the
tragedy,” he says. “His girlfriend Natalie is the mayor’s daughter,
and her mom is all about remembering the victims, so it’s in
Natalie’s face all the time. Plus, the other girl who died that
night would’ve been the mayor’s aunt, so there’s no way to escape
it.”
    Maybe after the anniversary, after the
summer passes, after we’ve officially moved into our house… Maybe
then, everything will be somewhat normal. We won’t be the new
people anymore. The fifty-year deathiversary will be over. Our
house will be finished. The town will grow bored of the gossip, and
we’ll continue moving forward.
    But Rooks will be back at his mom’s house,
and I’ll be the new girl who lives in the Calloway Cottage, unsure
if people really want to know me or want to look around my
house.
    I refuse to think about it right now.
    “I’ll have to introduce you to Natalie,”
Rooks says. “She won’t want to talk about your house or who was
going to live there or anything else that could possibly link back
to the accident. She’s cool. You’ll like her.”
    I can only hope he’s right. Once he’s gone,
I need a friend or two to keep me sane, although more than
anything, I’d prefer to just keep Rooks around.
     
    After almost two hours of treasure hunts,
fake sword fights, and a massive loop around the bay, The Dragon’s
Jewel docks right back where we started. My legs feel heavy when I
try to stand. Rooks says it’s normal to have ‘sea legs’ after being
out on a boat, but this definitely isn’t for me.
    Hector stands at the edge of the dock where
the girl took our tickets earlier.
    “So did you just come to make fun of me or
were you planning on hanging out?” he asks, eyeing Rooks.
    “Totally here just to make fun of you,”
Rooks says. He cracks up laughing, though, so he isn’t very
convincing. “You off work now?”
    Hector nods. “Just gotta get out of this
damn thing,” he says, tugging on the vest of his pirate costume.
“Meet me at the Surf Bar?”
    Rooks says we’ll see him there before we
head back up to the pier at Moonlight Harbor. But my mind isn’t on
the boat or my sea legs or this surf bar place. I’m still back on
The Dragon’s Jewel, listening to the announcer talk about Shark
Island. We didn’t get close enough to really see anything in
detail, but the lighthouse remains, sprouting from the end of the
rocks, like a rocket that’s waiting for takeoff.
    Everything about Shark Island was eerie,
like never-ending gray clouds that absorb all happiness the moment
you sail under them. No one spoke. The kids stopped giggling and
running around. It was mesmerizing yet terrifying. It only made me
wonder even more about the accident and why anyone would be crazy
enough to sail out there. None of it makes any sense.
    “You okay?” Rooks asks. He stops in the
middle of the crowd and stares at me, as if he’s unable to walk
until I answer.
    I nod my head, but that isn’t good enough
for him.
    “Are you sure? You’ve been really quiet,” he
says. “Was it…the location?”
    I nod again but also give a half-shrug so it
doesn’t seem like I’m totally fixated and obsessed. But I’m sure he
already knows that I am. I basically live and breathe the Shark
Island tragedy and these letters and my new house.
    “Just a little creeped out,” I tell him.
“Where are we going next?”
    He tells me that the name of the place is
literally Surf Bar, which is probably the most uncreative thing
I’ve heard since I got to this coastal town. I fasten my seatbelt
once I’m in Rooks’ truck, but I don’t drop my bag to the floor.
Instead, I keep it in my lap, arms around it, like it needs extra
safe-keeping.
    Like most things in Coral Sands, the little
seafoam green building known as Surf Bar is close to downtown, just
a few more blocks over from the souvenir shops and boating tours.
The sign is hand-painted but looks weathered and worn. A few
bicycles are