Free The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks Page A

gone three years without talking to you, and it was the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
    With that, she stomped back to her room. Twenty minutes later, after showering and changing, she was out the door.
    *     *     *
    Her first thought as she trudged through the sand was that she should have worn shorts.
    It was already hot, the air thick with humidity. Up and down the beach, people were already lying on towels or playing in the surf. Near the pier, she spotted half a dozen surfers floating on their boards, waiting for the perfect wave.
    Above them, at the head of the pier, the festival was no more. The rides had been disassembled and the booths had already been hauled away, leaving behind only scattered garbage and food remnants. Moving on, she wandered through the town’s small business district. None of the stores were open yet, but most were the kind she’d never set foot in anyway—touristy beach shops, a couple of clothing stores that seemed to specialize in skirts and blouses that her mom might wear, and a Burger King and McDonald’s, two places she refused to enter on principle. Add in the hotel and half a dozen upscale restaurants and bars, and that was pretty much it. In the end, the only interesting locales were a surf shop, a music store, and an old-fashioned diner where she could imagine hanging out with friends… if she ever made any.
    She headed back to the beach and skipped down the dune, noting that the crowds had multiplied. It was a gorgeous, breezy day; the sky overhead was a deep, cloudless blue. If Kayla had been here, she’d even consider spending the day in the sun, but Kayla wasn’t here and she wasn’t about to put on her suit and go sit by herself. But what else was there to do?
    Maybe she should try to get a job. It would give her an excuse to be out of the house most of the day. She hadn’t seen any “Help Wanted” signs in the windows downtown, but someone had to be hiring, right?
    “Did you make it home okay? Or did the cop end up making a pass at you?”
    Looking behind her, Ronnie saw Blaze squinting up at her from the dune. Lost in thought, she hadn’t even noticed her.
    “No, he didn’t make a pass at me.”
    “Oh, so you made a pass at him?”
    Ronnie crossed her arms. “Are you done?”
    Blaze shrugged, her expression mischievous, and Ronnie smiled.
    “So what happened after I left? Anything exciting?”
    “No. The guys took off and I don’t know where they went. I ended up just crashing at Bower’s Point.”
    “You didn’t go home?”
    “No.” She got to her feet, brushing the sand from her jeans. “Do you have any money?”
    “Why?”
    Blaze stood straight. “I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning. I’m kind of hungry.”

7

    W ill
    W ill stood in the well beneath the Ford Explorer in his uniform, watching the oil drain while simultaneously doing his best to ignore Scott, something easier said than done. Scott had been haranguing him about the previous evening on and off since they’d arrived at work that morning.
    “See, you were thinking about this all wrong,” Scott continued, trying yet another tack. He retrieved three cans of oil and set them on the shelf beside him. “There’s a difference between hooking up and getting back together. ”
    “Aren’t we done with this yet?”
    “We would be if you had any sense. But from where I stand, it’s obvious you were confused. Ashley doesn’t want to get back together with you.”
    “I wasn’t confused,” Will said. He wiped his hands on a towel. “That’s exactly what she was asking.”
    “That’s not what Cassie told me.”
    Will set aside the towel and reached for his water bottle. His dad’s shop specialized in brake repairs, oil changes, tune-ups, and front-end alignments, and his dad always wanted the place to look as though the floor had been waxed and the place just opened for business. Unfortunately, air-conditioning hadn’t been quite as important to him, and in the