Firefly Summer Read Online Free Page B

blushing.
    Later that day, when she was heading to her car, he’d called her name. “It is Piper, isn’t it?”
    She’d nodded.
    â€œI don’t know if you have time right now, but someone just called in a possible leatherback sighting and I could use a second set of eyes. Want to come along?”
    Piper had jumped at the chance, and from that day on, she and Nat had been inseparable. Anytime there was an errand to run, a sighting to check, or a turtle to rescue, Piper had been by Nat’s side, learning the hands-on work she’d do—and love doing—for the rest of her life, and although she loved every minute she spent with Nat, too, she never told him. Nat, for his part, seemed innocently unaware of her feelings. It wasn’t until the end of that summer, when the staff went out for pizza together and Nat drove her back to her car, that she got up the courage to tell him how she felt. They were leaning against the hood of his truck, and she shyly told him she was going to miss him. Nat had put his arm around her, kissed the top of her head, and told her he was going to miss her, too, but then Piper had leaned up and softly kissed him. Nat had pulled away in surprise, but then he’d searched her eyes, and gently kissed her again.
    â€œAre you sure about this?” he murmured when she pulled him against her, and she nodded, and on the last night before she headed back to Maine, the innocent friendship they’d shared all summer spiraled into intimacy.
    â€œNow I’m really going to miss you,” Piper murmured, feeling his lingering heat between her legs.
    He smiled. “I’m going to miss you, too, but you need to focus on your schoolwork and not think about me. I’ll still be here when you graduate.”
    â€œThat’s a long time from now.”
    â€œGood things come to those who wait,” he teased.
    â€œMaybe you could come to Maine.”
    â€œI don’t have a reason to come to Maine.”
    â€œYou could give a talk.”
    â€œThat’s a nice thought, but I think we’d be asking for trouble.”
    â€œWe’re already asking for trouble. . . .”
    â€œThat’s what worries me, Pipe.”
    Piper had smiled wistfully, and then he’d pulled her close, kissed the top of her head, and wondered how he’d let it happen.
    Â 
    When Piper reached the harbor at the end of Dyer Prince Road, she unclipped Chloe’s leash and the big golden raced ahead, loping through the dune grass like a porpoise. Piper followed her down the sandy path, and when she came to the beach, Chloe was standing on the water’s edge, waiting. “Okay,” Piper said and Chloe charged into the water.
    Piper continued to run along the wet sand, and when she looked back, she saw Chloe, wet and sandy, racing after her. “Oh, no, you don’t!” she said, but Chloe raced past, knowing right where, in the tall grass, Piper had hidden a tennis ball. She got there first, picked it up, and pranced around triumphantly. “You beat me,” Piper said, laughing breathlessly, and Chloe dropped the ball at her feet and raced toward the water. Piper picked up the ball and threw it as far as she could, and the golden plowed through the shallows. Time and again, Piper threw the ball, and time and again, Chloe raced after it.
    â€œOkay,” she said finally. “Time to head back,” and the big golden turned on a dime and raced past her. “You are so full of energy tonight. Maybe you should act your age before you hurt yourself,” she said, laughing as the blur of wet fur blasted past her again. Piper trotted along after her wet dog, looked up at the evening sky, blazing with orange and pink streaks, and smiled. “Thank You for everything, ” she whispered.

C HAPTER 6
    B irdie sat on the back deck of their old saltbox-style house in Orleans with her sprained ankle up on a chair, watching the birds