Free Waiting for the Storm by Marie Landry Page B

strange it was to see the sun rise and set in the same day. Not a usual occurrence for me.
    “I love this time of day,” Ezra commented, staring out over the water as the sky turned pink and purple. “This time of year, too. In the winter when the sun sets before five, the evenings are so long.”
    He leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him and folding his hands behind his head. He looked so relaxed I half expected him to fall asleep, but his eyes remained open, scanning the horizon.
    The sun descended slowly toward the water, a fiery ball that bathed everything in an almost eerie red glow. It hovered for a minute over the water before being swallowed up by the waves.
    It felt like only seconds passed before the beach came alive. Teenagers spilled from houses further down the beach, and the bonfire from last night was relit. The scent of wood smoke drifted over, and I breathed it in. I’d always loved that smell, but because of the dry weather warnings back home I hadn’t encountered it since last autumn.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ezra’s head jerk. I glanced over, and he gave me a tired smile.
    “Will you hate me if I take off?” he asked. “I feel like an ass leaving you when the party’s just starting, but I’m exhausted. I only got about two hours of sleep last night…well, this morning, before coming here to work.”
    I thought about meeting him on the beach this morning just after sunrise. Had it really just been a little over twelve hours ago?
    “Go ahead,” I told him. “I think I’ll just go in and read.”
    “You should stay,” he said quickly. “Go over and join the party. There’s a bunch of kids our age around here.”
    “Sure,” I said, nodding. I had no intention of going down to the beach, but Ezra didn’t need to know that. I was certain he just felt bad about leaving, and wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be alone. There was a time when I wouldn’t have thought twice about walking up to strangers, but these days…well, these days, I could barely even get my own family to talk to me.
    “Good.” Ezra rose from his chair and stretched, his t-shirt rising to expose a strip of muscled stomach. I looked away quickly before he could catch me staring. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
    We said goodnight and he headed in the direction of his house. When he stepped inside, the house remained dark until a light on the far side of the house turned on, and I assumed Ezra was either in his bedroom or the bathroom. I watched until the light went out and the entire house was in darkness once more.
    The sound of approaching giggles drew my attention back toward the beach. A couple of girls my age were trailing along through the sand. They stopped at the foot of the porch steps.
    “You’re Gabriella’s sister, right?” one of them asked. From what I could see of her in the faint light, she was tall and slender with long blond hair pulled into a high ponytail. Her companion was shorter and curvier with light brown skin and curly black hair.
    “That’s me,” I confirmed. “Charlotte.”
    “I’m Kennedy, and this is Miranda,” the blond said, pointing to herself then the other girl. “Was that Ezra Rhodes you were talking to?”
    “It was.” Clearly I was nothing if not a conversationalist.
    Kennedy said something to Miranda that I didn’t catch, then looked back at me. “He hardly ever talks to anyone,” she told me. “He used to be really popular until his mom—” Miranda elbowed her hard, cutting off her words.
    Until his mom what ? I was about to ask what had happened to her but Kennedy started talking again.
    “Anyway, now he barely speaks to anyone,” she said, rubbing her ribs.
    “He’s doing some work on the house,” I explained. “Fixing the porch and maybe a few other jobs, I’m not really sure.”
    “And he just, like, stayed and hung out with you?” Kennedy asked.
    “Pretty much,” I said slowly. What was the big