Love Bait

25| Feels like paradise

The next few days are spent working on the scavenger hunt. Lexi works on the finer details, like tickets and service, Dad cooks up his very best menu, and Lina and I work on turning Mom's secret beach into a magical fairyland.

It helps, in a way, to have something to focus on. With college fast approaching and everything up in the air, it's nice to spend all my time at Mom's beach. Sometimes, it even feels like she's here.

Lina is busy helping me coil fairy lights around palm trees. In the distance, waves curl along the shore, and I get this strange sense of melancholy being here with Lina, like this is the last time we'll be like this. There will never be another moment where we are stood here, opposite Mom's ocean, as the same people we are now. If we do somehow defeat the odds and stay friends, everything will be different. We'll be different.

I try not to focus on impending change and focus on the positive, instead. We've already raised thousands from the tickets alone, which means soon Jordan will have enough money to at least rent an apartment while he works on fixing up the cafe. I can come home every weekend to help, and this island won't succumb to the piranhas from the mainland who want to take all we've got. Everything will work itself out, somehow. I'm sure of it.

"This place looks incredible," Lexi says from behind us, and she's right.

The three of us have spent days fixing up the secret beach. Fairy lights coil around each palm tree – charged up by the generators Dad let us borrow – casting a soft yellow glow over the beach. Several makeshift tables are dotted around, borrowed from various neighbors, and on them are candles and lanterns that create a pathway to where the buffet will be. There will also be a table filled with several glass bottles filled with secret messages similar to the one Mom and I found, where guests can pick one to take home as a souvenir. Along with a little music and some good company, this place will feel like a secret island paradise.

"I should hope so," Lina says. "My fingers are practically numb from unraveling these lights."

Lexi laughs. "Well, it'll all be worth it. Everyone is so desperate to find out what the secret location is. People think we're making it up or something. I can't wait until they see it like this."

I glance at the ocean, watching the waves crash against the rocks. There's still a part of me that's reluctant to give up our secret place, but I know deep down, this is what Mom would have wanted. This beach belongs to this island, and this island belongs to the people; it's time I share it with them.

"I just hope we'll raise enough to save the cafe," I say because if not, all of this will have been for nothing.

"We will," Lexi says, squeezing my arm, "but if we don't, you did everything you could, Evvy. You can't let it get you down."

I nod, but it'll be hard not to feel like a failure if this plan doesn't work. We've put so much time and effort into it, and I'm holding onto success so tightly, holding onto the idea that Jordan and I could possibly be something, that just the thought of this not working is terrifying.

"I hope Jordan appreciates all this effort," Lina says, and she gives me a knowing look. "Speaking of lover boy, where is he, anyway?"

"He's still working on the cafe," I say. "I think his constant hammering is driving Kali insane."

Lina raises an eyebrow at my smile. "What's going on with you two?" she asks. "Every time I ask about him, you smile. Are you dating? In love? On your way to marriage and kids?"

I frown and say, "Hard no," before looking at the lights in my hands like they are the most fascinating thing in the world. "I don't really know what's going on. It's like we like each other, but we know deep down it's not going to work, so we're kind of just...I don't know. Floating along. And I guess I'm so focused on saving the cafe, I haven't really talked to him about it."