Beauty and the Beach (Boys of Summer) Read online

  Beauty and the Beach

  Boys of Summer

  Kayla Tirrell

  Copyright © 2019 by Kayla Tirrell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover: Designed with Grace

  Proofreading: EditElle

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Thanks for reading!

  ***

  Love Retellings?

  Love Retellings?

  Acknowledgments

  About Kayla

  Also by Kayla Tirrell

  Varsity Girlfriends

  Disastrous Dates

  Mountain Creek Drive

  River Valley Lost & Found

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  for everyone who has had a run-in with cancer

  (no matter how small!)

  Chapter One

  Adam

  Water runs down my chest as I walk out of the waves and back onto the shore with my surfboard tucked under my arm. I’ve been in the ocean for a couple of hours taking advantage of some of my rare free time, but I need to be at work in an hour.

  I walk up the beach, which is a lot more crowded than when I first got here, and spot Gisele sitting near where I left my stuff. If we didn’t live next door to one another, I’d wonder how she knew I was here. But I can’t so much as sneeze without her hearing, and not just because the wall between our duplex is paper thin.

  It’s more than neighborly concern that has her tracking my every movement. Although neither of us has come out and said it, I’m not a complete idiot. Gisele likes me.

  But I don’t feel the same way, so I pretend I’m oblivious to her feelings and wait for her to get over me. There are plenty of great guys in Sterling, all who would love to date her. And when she starts going to the local community college in the fall, she’ll meet even more. Hopefully, she’ll forget all about me then.

  I just need to keep a friendly distance between us until she can see that for herself, because I’m not willing to go down that road. We wouldn’t be good together, and then we’d be stuck seeing—or avoiding—each other every day.

  “Hey, Adam,” she says with a smile as I get closer. She tucks her chin down, and her short blonde hair shifts with the movement.

  “Gisele.”

  “Looks like you got some decent waves today.”

  I nod, ignoring how her eyes travel the length of my body. “Yeah. It was pretty great.”

  I sit down in the sand and chug some water. A few of the guys from Sterling are sitting close by, arguing about something. I don’t catch most of it until Nicholas turns and faces me. “So, what do you think?”

  My brows lower. “Uh…”

  Gisele leans in close and clues me in. “They’re talking about Rose.”

  I sigh. “Again?”

  “Always,” she says, though I suspect it’s one of her favorite pastimes.

  “I think she’s pregnant,” Nicholas says, brushing his blond hair out of his eyes.

  “Oh, yeah?” I ask. “And why do you think that?”

  “Think about it, dude. She’s, like, Sterling royalty. Her parents are super influential in this town. It’s no secret that Mr. Beaumont has political aspirations. Maybe he doesn’t want anyone to know his precious daughter got knocked up.”

  I choke on a laugh. “What is this? The fifties? It’s not like they’re going to ship their daughter off to the country to live with her spinster aunt until she delivers.”

  Gisele laughs beside me.

  “Maybe not,” Nicholas says. “But you gotta admit, it’s possible, right?”

  “Fine,” I say. “It’s possible.”

  “Maybe she’s left this town behind,” Isaac says.

  We all turn toward him, and Gisele groans.

  He lifts his hands. “What?”

  “Well, her convertible is still parked out front of her house though,” Gisele says. “She wouldn’t leave without it.”

  “I mean, couldn’t her parents just have bought a new one for her somewhere else?” Isaac asks.

  I shake my head. “The Beaumont’s are rich, but not two-Porches-for-their-daughter-rich.”

  “Oh yeah?” Gisele raises an eyebrow at me. “When did you become such an expert on the wealthy of Sterling?”

  I shrug. You don’t have to be a millionaire to know even that’s excessive for any family. I roll my eyes and jokingly tell her to shut up before I lift my phone and look at the time. I really need to get home and take a shower before my shift at Murdoch’s. “Alright, guys. As fun as it is to talk about Rose, and the rest of the snobs on the north end, I gotta go sell overpriced junk to tourists.”

  I stand up and wipe the sand from my board shorts before bumping fists with Nicholas and Isaac. “See ya.”

  Gisele stands up with me. She says bye to the guys, and we start walking toward Sandbar Drive. The short street lined with duplexes for Sterling’s working class isn’t the prettiest, but it has the advantage of being only ten minutes on foot from the beach.

  The two of us walk in silence for a few minutes before Gisele opens her mouth. “Why don’t you ever guess about Rose?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t care that much.”

  Probably because I’m too busy trying to make sure my mom and I don’t end up homeless and that we have food in the cabinets. We may live on the “poor” side of Sterling, but rent is still stupid expensive because we’re in a tourist town. As much as I love living on the beach, I wish my mom hadn’t insisted on staying here. I suspect it has a lot to do with not wanting to uproot me during my senior year of high school, but I wouldn’t have cared.

  “Well, I’m tired of speculating,” she says. “Which is why I have a proposition for you.”

  “A proposition?”

  “I know things are tough at your house,” she says. “And I don’t want you to move.”

  I take a deep breath and silently count to ten, so I don’t say something I’ll regret. I don’t like talking about my financial situation with anyone—especially not Gisele.

  When I don’t say anything, she continues. “I’ve been saving all the money I have for a while, and I want to give it to you.”

  My feet stop. If talking about my financial situation is hard, the idea of taking someone’s money makes my blood boil. It’s hard to be in a position where you don’t know if you can pay rent, and my pride gets in the way every time. “I don’t want your charity, Gisele,” I say through gritted teeth.

  “No, no, no.” She shakes her head. “It’s not charity. I want to hire you.”

  I whip around to look at her, nearly whacking her with my board. “What are you talking about?”

  “Rose.” She nods vigorously. “She’s hiding something, and I want to know what it is.”

  Wait. We’re still talking about her? I adjust my board under my arm. “Why do you care so much?”

  “Why do I care? Adam, she made my life a living hell in h
igh school.”

  I close my eyes. “Yeah, and high school is over. Nobody cares about what happened anymore.”

  Her mouth falls open. “I care.”

  We’re caught in a staring match, and I’m the first to look away. I press my lips together and start walking again. Gisele falls into step with me.

  I don’t know what to say to her. I know Rose Beaumont was a real jerk to Gisele in high school, but Rose was mean to everyone at Sterling—everyone who wasn’t part of her clique. But Gisele doesn’t want to see that. She only sees herself as a victim. She always has.

  “Aren’t you even curious what I’m offering?” she eventually says.

  I pick up my pace and shake my head.

  “What if I said it was enough to cover your rent for a month?”

  Damn it. I stop again and face her, waiting for her to explain.

  She pauses, a small triumphant smile on her face. “I want you to sneak into her house and find out what’s going on.”

  “You want me to what?” I choke back a laugh. “Are you serious?”

  Gisele nods.

  I run my hand through my hair. “Do you have any idea of what you’re asking? I could get arrested.”

  But it’s not just the possibility of jail and how unpleasant that would be for me, it’s also what it would mean for my mom. Without my added income, she wouldn’t be able to pay the bills. And after everything she’s been through, I am not going to do that to her.

  “You won’t get arrested,” Gisele says, and watches me expectantly.

  “Why don’t you just do it and keep the money for yourself?” I ask. “That’s a much cheaper way to spy on Rose.”

  “Because she hates me. If I get caught, there’s no telling what she’ll do.”

  I lift my brows. “You mean, like have you arrested?”

  “It’s different. If you get caught, you can use your charm on her.”

  I laugh because I don’t think I’m charming. But assuming that’s the case, and I am, it still feels too good to be true. “And you’re willing to give me all your money for this?”

  She nods.

  I lift my hands and open my mouth to tell her she’s crazy—that the whole idea of me spying on some girl from high school is straight up insane—but we’re close to our duplex, so I clamp my lips together. It’s easier to just walk away, and that’s what I do.

  This time, Gisele doesn’t follow me. She’s known me long enough to know when I need some space, and I’m thankful for that at least. But it doesn’t stop her from calling after me as I open the door to my place. “Just think about it, okay?”

  Yeah right. Not in a million years.

  I try to shake her words as I walk inside.

  My mom’s sitting at our small dining room table, with a bunch of bills spread out in front of her. It’s the end of the month, and everything is due. I get my paycheck tomorrow, and while I usually keep a little money for some food at The Star and sometimes a movie at Showboat Cinema, most of it goes straight to her.

  She looks up at me as I enter and smiles widely. “Hey, sweetie.”

  I lean my board against the wall before I walk over and kiss her cheek. “Hey, Mom.”

  “How was the water today?” She stacks the papers and looks up, so she’s giving me her full attention. We may not have a lot, but I know she loves me. It’s the only reason I’m able to show up to Murdoch’s day after day.

  “It was good. Not too crowded yet,” I say as I slide into the seat across from her.

  “That’s great.” She smiles slyly at me. “And Gisele?”

  I lift one of my brows. “Someone must have told her I was down at the beach.”

  She laughs. “It wasn’t me, I swear.”

  I continue to stare at her.

  “It wasn’t,” she insists. “Not that I would complain. It would be good to see you going out with a nice girl.”

  A nice girl who wants to pay me to break into someone’s house and spy on them. I have a feeling that’s not exactly the kind of girl my mom wants me to date. “I’m not really looking to get involved with anyone right now.”

  “You’re right. What eighteen-year-old boy wants to waste his time on girls?”

  I laugh, but then a medical bill catches my eye from the papers in front of my mom, and the smile falls from my face. “Another notice from the hospital?”

  Her eyes go to the stack and she tucks it under some other papers, so I can’t see it.

  “How much?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  I reach out and grab the papers before she can stop me, and shuffle through the bills. It’s not just our rent and electric bill. There’s car insurance, medical bills, and the credit card statement. And it’s all so much worse than I thought.

  Past due.

  Last notice.

  Delinquent account.

  The words are on almost every page in red or bolded print.

  “Mom!” I stand up and start pacing in the small room with the papers still in my hands. “Why didn’t you tell me it was so bad?”

  She covers her face with her hands. “Because I didn’t want you to worry.”

  I shake the papers in front of me. “But if I knew, I would have picked up a second job before they all got snagged up by kids looking for summer work.” Even as I say the words, I’m mentally going through places that might still be hiring.

  I’m pretty sure The Star Diner and Aunt Mary’s Pie Shop have already hired their summer help. Maybe I could get a job down at Max’s. I’m not as big as Deek, so I doubt I could be a bouncer, but I’d be willing to do anything that could work around with my schedule at Murdoch’s.

  My mom stands and snatches the papers out of my hands. “And I don’t want you to work your life away. You already do more than you should have to, and I want you to be able to enjoy what’s left of your youth.”

  “Don’t worry, I kissed those carefree days goodbye a year ago.” I shake my head and storm down the hall to the bathroom to get ready for work. I’m angry, but not at her.

  I’m angry that Dad died last year.

  I’m angry that we’re still paying the doctors who didn’t save him.

  And I’m especially angry that I’m going to be taking Gisele up on her offer to break into Rose Beaumont’s house in exchange for some extra cash.

  Chapter Two

  Rose

  My face is killing me.

  I assumed the pain would stop by now. And, if you ask my parents, they’d say it has stopped. They’re convinced that it’s all in my head—but they’re wrong. I can feel the places where the stitches once were and the way my skin pulls over my cheek, tugging every time I stretch the muscles in my face.

  It always hurts so much.

  There are three more pills in my prescription bottle, and I’ve been trying to hold off on taking them. I want to save them for a bad day, because my face hurts more on some days than others. But today is a bad day, and I don’t want to feel like this anymore.

  A sigh escapes from me as I pull out the pill. I swallow it down with the glass of water that’s on my nightstand. They tend to make me sick and usually knock me out, but my meds take the sting from my face. I don’t know what I’m going to do once the last one is gone, but I’ll have to cross that bridge when I get there.

  Right now, I just want the pain to go away.

  It doesn’t take long for the feeling I’ve grown so accustomed to these last several weeks to hit. I go downstairs to the living room since my parents are both at work and pull up some cheesy rom-com on the giant television. I wrap myself up with a quilt my grandma made me for graduation—the graduation I didn’t actually attend—and settle in for the cheese-fest this movie is sure to be.

  It’s how I’ve spent every day since the surgery, and I don’t expect my routine will change anytime soon, not if I have my way. Mom and Dad don’t know it yet, but I’m not going to Brown in the fall. In fact, I don’t plan on going anywhere in August. I’ll find
another way to get a college education.

  If I even want one. What good is a college degree if no one will hire me? I don’t need Brown to do remote work online.

  The boy and the girl have just met in my movie when my eyes start to get heavy. I’m about to fall asleep when a knock startles me from my spot on the couch. I look up at the clock; it’s only ten thirty. Even with my brain fog, I know it doesn’t make sense for anyone to be here. All my friends know better than to show their faces around here anymore, our maid doesn’t come to clean the house until Tuesday, and the gated community we live in assures that door-to-door salesmen don’t get in.

  So, who is it?

  A neighbor looking for a cup of sugar? Unlikely.

  Nolan and I broke up early in our senior year, and he hasn’t been around since. It’s better that way. Golden boy can go off and do whatever he wants, and I don’t have to worry about uninvited visitors—except for the one who’s knocking on my door.

  I hold my breath and don’t move while I wait to see if they’ll knock again. Lo and behold, they don’t. I should be relieved by this, but there’s something about the mid-morning visitor that has me on edge, even with the codeine in my system.

  I walk to the front door with careful, slow steps—both from my uneasiness and reaction to my meds—and look through the peephole, but there’s no one there. I take a deep breath and turn the knob. I walk outside and still don’t see anyone. No person in the drive, no car pulling away.

  I shake my head. Maybe no one was actually knocking. It’s completely possible I was in that weird place between wakefulness and sleep, and I imagined it. But I don’t think so. So, I linger on my porch, feeling a little awkward, and very much like I’m overreacting until I hear something on the side of the house.