Chapter One: A Summer I Didn’t Ask For
The car slowed as it approached the gates, and Mia Carter finally lifted her head from her phone.
For the first time in almost two hours, she looked away from the same three social media posts she’d been scrolling through without actually reading.
A large black gate stood ahead of them.
Beyond it was a long driveway lined with tall trees, their branches stretching over the road like a tunnel. At the end, barely visible between the greenery, stood a huge white house with dark shutters and wide balconies.
Mia blinked.
“Wait.”
Her mother glanced at her. “What?”
“This is the place?”
“Yes.”
Mia looked at the house again.
“You said it was a beach house.”
“It is.”
“That is not a beach house.”
Claire laughed. “What exactly did you expect?”
“A house.”
“It is a house.”
“A normal house.”
“You’ve been here before.”
“I was eight.”
“You still remember it.”
“I remember a swimming pool and Isla stealing my Barbie.”
“I did not steal it,” a voice suddenly said from the front of the house.
Mia jumped.
Her mother laughed.
“What the ”
Claire pointed through the windshield.
A girl was standing on the front steps, waving enthusiastically at them.
Mia squinted.
The girl had long dark-brown hair, a bright smile, and the kind of energy that somehow reached them from across the driveway.
Mia slowly smiled.
“Is that Isla?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God.”
The moment Claire parked, Mia was out of the car.
She had barely closed the door when Isla came running toward her.
“Mia!”
Mia laughed as Isla threw her arms around her.
“Okay, okay. I need oxygen.”
“You’re so annoying.”
“You’ve known me for ten seconds.”
“And I remember enough.”
Isla pulled away and looked her up and down.
“Wow.”
Mia narrowed her eyes.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Because you look completely different.”
“So do you.”
“I know. I got hotter.”
Mia burst out laughing.
“Please.”
“Don’t hate because it’s true.”
They hugged again.
For some reason, seeing Isla made the whole trip feel less strange.
It had been years.
So many years that Mia wasn’t sure how much of their childhood she actually remembered correctly.
There were flashes.
The swimming pool.
Running barefoot across the grass.
Isla dragging her into games she didn’t understand.
A boy who always seemed to be nearby.
Her mother laughing with Victoria.
And then…
Nothing.
The memories became blurry after that.
“You’re staying in the same room you had last time,” Isla said.
“I don’t remember having a room here.”
“You did.”
“Did I?”
“You cried because you didn’t want to sleep alone.”
Mia stared at her.
“I did not.”
“You absolutely did.”
“I was eight!”
“That doesn’t make it less funny.”
Mia rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
Before she could defend herself, another voice came from the front steps.
“Isla, leave her alone.”
Mia turned.
A woman was walking toward them.
Victoria Bennett.
She looked almost exactly as Mia remembered, although the memories were faint. Elegant. Warm smile. Dark hair pulled neatly behind her shoulders.
“Mia.”
Victoria opened her arms.
Mia stepped into the hug.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Mia smiled against her shoulder.
“Hi.”
Victoria pulled back and held Mia’s face between her hands.
“Look at you.”
Mia laughed awkwardly.
“Please don’t start.”
“You’ve grown so much.”
“I’d hope so.”
Victoria smiled.
“You look just like your mother.”
Mia glanced at Claire.
Her mother was standing beside the car, smiling.
But something about her expression seemed forced.
It disappeared almost immediately.
Mia almost missed it.
Almost.
“Come inside,” Victoria said. “You must be exhausted.”
“A little.”
“Your room is ready.”
Isla grabbed one of Mia’s bags before she could protest.
“I’ll take this.”
“I can carry it.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because I want to.”
Mia laughed.
“Fine.”
They started walking toward the house.
Mia glanced over her shoulder.
Her mother and Victoria were talking quietly near the car.
For a second, they looked like old friends.
Then Victoria said something.
Claire’s smile vanished.
Mia slowed.
“What?”
Isla looked at her.
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.”
Mia looked back at the two women.
Her mother was smiling again.
She frowned.
Maybe she’d imagined it.
She followed Isla inside.
The house was even more impressive from the inside.
High ceilings.
Huge windows.
A staircase that curved toward the upper floor.
Family photographs covered one wall.
Mia slowed down as she passed them.
She recognized Isla immediately in several pictures.
There were pictures of her as a baby, as a little girl, on birthdays, at school events.
Then she saw another child standing beside her.
A boy.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
The twins.
Mia stared at the photograph.
“He looks familiar.”
Isla glanced at the wall.
“That’s my brother.”
Mia looked at her.
“Asher?”
“Yep.”
Something about the name made a strange little feeling move through her chest.
“Where is he?”
“Outside, probably.”
“Still the same?”
Isla laughed.
“Worse.”
Mia smiled.
“Why?”
“Because he thinks he’s grown now.”
“He is grown.”
“Don’t encourage him.”
Mia laughed.
They continued upstairs.
Her room overlooked the ocean.
Mia stopped in the doorway.
“Okay.”
Isla smiled.
“Pretty, right?”
“Very.”
She walked inside slowly.
The room was bright and comfortable, with white curtains moving gently in the breeze. A small desk sat beside the window, and the balcony doors were open.
Mia walked outside.
The ocean stretched endlessly beyond the garden.
She could hear waves crashing somewhere below.
She breathed in.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
“You like it?”
Mia turned.
Isla was leaning against the doorway.
“I do.”
“I knew you would.”
Mia smiled.
“Thank you.”
Isla shrugged.
“Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t survived a full week with my brother.”
Mia laughed.
“What exactly is wrong with him?”
“Everything.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“I’ll introduce you properly later.”
“Didn’t I already know him?”
“You knew a ten-year-old.”
“And?”
“And now he’s twenty-one.”
Mia shrugged.
“How different can he be?”
Isla gave her a look.
“You’ll see.”
By sunset, Mia had unpacked half her suitcase and given up on the rest.
She was standing in front of the mirror, trying to decide whether she was hungry enough to go downstairs when she heard laughter outside.
She walked toward the balcony.
The sound came from the garden.
A group of people were gathered near the pool.
Isla was there.
Noah was there.
And then Mia saw him.
She didn’t know why she stopped walking.
Maybe it was because he looked so different from the little boy in the photograph.
Maybe it was because she suddenly understood what Isla had meant.
He was tall, dressed in a simple black T-shirt and shorts, with dark hair that looked like he’d run his fingers through it one too many times.
He was laughing at something Noah had said.
Then, almost as if he could feel someone watching him, he looked up.
Their eyes met.
Mia froze.
Asher’s smile slowly disappeared.
Not completely.
Just enough for her to notice.
He stared at her for a second.
Then another.
Mia suddenly became aware that she was standing on the balcony in an oversized T-shirt and shorts, with her hair tied into a messy bun.
She stepped backward.
Too late.
Isla looked up.
“Mia!”
Mia waved.
“Come down!”
Mia hesitated.
She didn’t know why.
It wasn’t as though Asher had done anything.
Still, something about that look had made her nervous.
She grabbed a cardigan from her bed and went downstairs.
When she reached the garden, Isla immediately pulled her into the group.
“You remember Noah?”
Mia looked at the guy beside her.
He smiled.
“Barely.”
Noah laughed.
“I’ll take that as an insult.”
“You were like twelve.”
“I was memorable.”
“You weren’t.”
“That’s hurtful.”
Mia smiled.
There was something easy about him.
Comfortable.
Then someone stepped closer.
“Mia.”
She looked up.
Asher.
Up close, he was even more intimidating.
Not because he looked unfriendly.
Quite the opposite.
There was something relaxed about him, something almost playful in the way he looked at her.
“You remember me?”
Mia smiled.
“Honestly?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Honestly.”
“No.”
Noah laughed.
Isla covered her mouth.
Asher stared at Mia for a second.
Then he smiled.
“That’s brutal.”
“I was eight.”
“You still remember Isla.”
“She has a more memorable face.”
Isla gasped.
“Excuse me?”
Mia laughed.
Asher’s smile widened.
“I remember you.”
Mia looked at him.
“You do?”
“You cried because Isla wouldn’t let you play basketball with us.”
Mia’s eyes widened.
“I did not.”
“You did.”
“I hate you already.”
“You just got here.”
“Exactly.”
He laughed.
And Mia hated the fact that she liked the sound.
She looked away.
Noah noticed.
So did Isla.
Neither said anything.
Dinner was loud.
Victoria talked about plans for the summer. Claire asked Mia questions about university. Isla kept stealing food from her brother’s plate, and Asher kept taking it back.
Noah sat across from Mia.
He was funny.
Easy to talk to.
But every now and then, Mia caught Asher looking at her.
Each time, he looked away before she could figure out why.
After dinner, Mia escaped to the balcony.
The night air was cooler now.
She leaned against the railing, listening to the distant sound of the ocean.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
She turned.
Asher stood in the doorway.
“Not yet.”
He stepped outside.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then he leaned against the railing beside her.
“You really don’t remember me?”
Mia smiled.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m offended.”
“You’ll survive.”
“I might not.”
She laughed.
He looked at her.
“You used to follow Isla everywhere.”
“I did?”
“Yeah.”
“That sounds embarrassing.”
“It was cute.”
Mia’s smile faded slightly.
She looked at him.
He was already looking away.
“You remember a lot.”
“Some things.”
“Why?”
He shrugged.
“Maybe you were hard to forget.”
Mia didn’t know what to say to that.
Her heart gave a small, annoying flutter.
She looked toward the ocean.
“I’m glad I came.”
Asher nodded.
“Yeah.”
She glanced at him.
“Are you?”
He looked at her.
For a moment, his expression changed.
Something unreadable passed through his eyes.
Then he smiled.
“Ask me in a few weeks.”
Mia laughed.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
He pushed away from the railing.
“Goodnight, Mia.”
“Goodnight.”
He walked back inside.
Mia watched him disappear.
She didn’t know why she was smiling.
She didn’t know why his voice seemed to linger in her head.
And she definitely didn’t know why, when she eventually went to bed, she found herself thinking about the way he’d looked at her.
She had been at the Bennett house for less than a day.
Already, something felt different.
And Mia had no idea that the summer was about to change much more than she expected.
