Free Daring the Wild Sparks by Ren Alexander Page B

glow like a copper halo above her. She then turns her head to me. “It’s in the stars, Hadley. Tonight, when you look up into the night sky at all the wonder above us, you’ll have your answers.” She mysteriously grins. “You’ll see.”
    “I wish it were that easy, Miss Sunshine,” I grumble into the glass at my lips.
    “Quit looking so hard for the answers. They’ll come to you. I promise.”
    “You’re awfully weird.” I giggle and take a sip.
    “And you love me!”
    “That I do, Bethany Louisa Donaldson-Chackmore. That I do. Eternally.”
    She reaches over and grabs my hand. “Hadley Bliss Beckett- Wilder . Eternally.”
    I grin ridiculously and she raises her glass to mine. We clink them and giggle in the late afternoon sun.
     

     
    “Cody, do you need some more lighter fluid?” I ask, watching him furiously squeeze the can, but nothing comes out.
    He tosses the can aside. “Nah. I think we have enough. We’ll see how this does. I’m not going to make it a huge fire tonight.” He looks at me and grins wickedly over the flames. “That’s tomorrow night.”
    “You are pretty scary.”
    “I am, so you’d better watch,” he playfully warns.
    I see Bethany coming out of the house, bouncing down the back stairs. She walks up behind Cody and puts her arms around his torso. “Are you still playing with the fire? I think we need to take away your matches for the night.”
    “Come on! I was just getting started!” he spiritedly whines.
    Bethany tousles his blonde hair and then smacks his ass. “Have a seat. No more fire for you.”
    “You’re no fun,” he exaggeratedly pouts.
    “I’m sorry I’m crashing your little party for two tonight,” I contritely tell Cody.
    He scowls as he sits down in a nylon folding chair. “It’s fine, Hadley. You’re not crashing anything. It’s good to see you. You’re always welcome here. You know that.”
    I smile and take a seat in the blue folding chair he put out for me. “Thanks, Cody.”
    Bethany takes a seat next to Cody. She grabs a marshmallow from the bag and puts it on her metal fork. She whispers something in Cody’s ear and I look out over the water. The sun is setting, so the water is a darker contrast to the dimly-lit sky. Above the water, a smattering of stars is twinkling and the crescent moon is already becoming bright. There are a few wispy clouds streaking across the sky, but other than that, it’s a clear evening.
    I close my eyes and listen to the crackling fire in the metal fire pit that I helped Cody move to a spot in the sand, away from the house, but not too close to the water. The sound of the waves crashing can be heard with the fire, creating a harmonious and soothing symphony.
    “Oh! I know what I forgot! Hadley, will you go grab my iPod? It’s actually in your room. On the nightstand, I think.”
    “Sure.”
    She shrewdly grins. “We can’t have a fire without some music.”
    “Do you have our song on it?” I ask.
    “You know it!”
    “What song?” Cody looks back and forth between us. “Not that one song, is it?”
    “Yep! ‘Celebration’ by Kool and the Gang!” we yell at the same time.
    “Oh, shit,” he complains. Bethany smacks his leg and he laughs.
    I dramatically scowl at him. “Meanie.”
    Trudging through the sand to the deck stairs, I peer out to the ocean as I climb the stairs. I can’t see the water as much as I can hear it. It’s so peaceful here. I want to live on the beach with Bethany. Fat chance of that ever happening, Beckett. I can’t even persuade Finn to agree to marriage. How would I convince him to quit his job and move to the beach, let alone move back to Delaware near his mother’s grasp?
    I haul open the sliding glass door and step into the living room. Bethany’s house is beautiful. So open and flowing. I bound up the staircase and down the cream-painted hall to my room. Pushing the door open, I flick the wall switch, but the light doesn’t come on. Oh, shit. How in the