Page 1 of Starry Skies, Stolen Kisses, and My Best Friend's Brother

ONE

Mae

“Rise and shine, Valentine.”Abi thumps my bunk from below.She’s scared of heights, so she gave me the top bunk, but she’s obnoxious about it.I’ve been awake for a while, staring at the rough wood ceiling with glow-in-the-dark stars I put up.

I can’t sleep because of the tightness in my chest and the dream I had of a certain hot brother of Abi’s kissing me.

Abi pokes her head up and over the side.“Seth’s coming home today.”

I roll my eyes as butterflies churn in my stomach.“I know.You’ve told me every five seconds for the last three days.”She and her oldest brother look almost identical, even though they are twelve years apart.Though Seth has a strong jaw and thick brows while Abi is much more feminine.I think it’s the same dark eyes with long lashes and thick, dark brown hair that makes them look so similar.I’d give anything to have the same striking features.Between my pale blue eyes, pasty skin, and white-blonde hair, everything blends together.

“He hasn’t been home since he left for college sixteen years ago.”

Another fact that Abi keeps bringing up even though I know her brother almost better than she does.I will never understand why Seth left.Whisper Springs is the best place on the planet.Now, if he were leaving the planet, then maybe I could understand.But why would anyone want to leave when we live in paradise?

“It’s still early.Go back to sleep.”I push on her head, hoping she’ll take the hint.I don’t want to sleep, but I don’t want to talk about Seth either because then I might have to talk about how nervous I am to see him.

“Yeah,” someone else shouts from across the room.“Go back to sleep, Abi.We don’t have to be up for hours.”

This is likely the last summer I’ll spend in the bunkhouse with Abi at her family resort, Blackwood Family Farm.We share it with a dozen other girls.Abi and I are the oldest at twenty-two.Most of the rest are in high school or are freshmen in college.I could stay at my house, but my dad is a little too meddlesome, and he’d ask questions every time I came in after midnight even though I’m an adult.He still gives me a guilt trip about staying in the bunkhouse every time I see him.

Which is a lot because if he’s not at work, he’s out here helping Todd, his childhood best friend and Abi’s dad.I like that he’s around, but I can’t live with him.The summer after my sophomore year in college, I realized he had plans for my life.Plans that I wasn’t even aware of.Plans he seems hell-bent on me following.Plans that don’t involve my dream of eventually working with the SETI team at Green Bank and living forever in Whisper Springs, which is my heritage.My great-great-grandfather started the town after all.I don’t understand why my dad doesn’t want me to inherit it.

According to him, I’m supposed to go out and see the world and then get married and settle somewhere around D.C.so he’ll be fairly close to his grandkids.Which is where I’d probably be if I was still with Rick, and while I miss him even though he dumped me, I don’t miss the future in the city.

I want to spend the rest of my life here so I can be here the first time the SETI Lab makes actual contact with another planet.I want to be in the tiny lab and be a part of it.I believe in aliens.

But he doesn’t know about that.

No one else does either.It’s a secret I keep from most of my friends and family because I don’t want to be called the crazy one.

I’ve been a lifeguard at Abi’s family’s campground for years, and I wanted one more summer before I have to go out and be a real adult.My internship in D.C.starts this fall, and it’ll probably turn into a real job.

Unfortunately, I don’t like cities.Or crowds.They make me anxious.I like the peace and quiet of home.There just aren’t any social media marketing jobs here, and I have no money to renovate anything in my great-grandfather’s old town.But I love it here.I’ll never understand why Mom left and why Dad thinks I should move away.

Tucked away in the rugged Appalachian Mountains, deep within the radio-free zone of West Virginia, lies my home.Surrounded by a thick forest of pine and oak trees, the only sounds that break the quiet are the rustling of leaves and the occasional chirping of birds.Whisper Springs is nestled on a hill adjacent to the rushing river.With no cell service, this place feels different than the rest of the world, less busy and connected.Years ago, Whisper Springs was a bustling logging community, but all of those businesses moved on long ago.Now, the only buildings utilized are the ten or so homes Dad rents out to tourists.

If it were up to me, we’d fix up the small town that my dad still owns.It’s right next door to Abi’s family’s property and has fifty-seven small houses, a church, an old company store, and a few other buildings.And so many stars.Which are better outside than on the ceiling of the bunkhouse.

“Y’all are party poopers,” Abi says and plunks back onto her bed.

None of us will sleep now.I realize Abi’s excited, but I’m exhausted.We stayed up way too late last night making cookies and talking with her mom.We didn’t really sleep the night before either with all the Fourth of July festivities.It’s my favorite holiday.Add to that my nervousness over seeing Seth, and I’m not sure I got more than a couple of hours of sleep.

I see the glow of phones all around the bunkhouse, one of only two places on the property where we can get wifi.A few of the beds are missing girls.Animal caretakers and food service workers leave early.But the rest of us—lifeguards, housekeepers, groundskeepers, and front-office staff—don’t have to get up for a while.

I scroll mindlessly through TikTok videos.I shouldn’t be this nervous, but I am.I talk to Seth daily—sometimes multiple times a day—but I’ve never seen him in person.At least, not that I remember since he left when I was so young.The guy’s practically a chiseled Greek god with dark hair and eyes, and he’s the most charming man I’ve ever known.If he wasn’t Abi’s big brother, I don’t know if I’d be able to coherently speak two words to him.I might not be able to in real life anyway.

I’m scared he’ll recognize my infatuation with him.I’m nothing like the women he dates.They’re gorgeous, sophisticated, and smart.I’m a seven on my best days, I prefer jeans to dresses, and smart is never the word people use when they describe me.Plus, with my white-blonde hair and baby face, sometimes I still look like I’m twelve.Which is how old I was when I first developed a crush on Seth.Though we didn’t become real friends until a few years later.

Our friendship began one night seven years ago when I needed dating advice.Once a week, Abi and I would hide out in her family’s internet room in the outbuilding with offices—the only place on the property at the time with wifi—and Facetime Seth.I always loved her big family.She’s the youngest of eight and the only girl, and all of her brothers became mine.As an only child that was special to me.Seth was always the least intimidating because he was on the other side of a screen.So when I needed advice about a boy, I asked Abi for his number.

And somehow, he became my best friend from afar.It’s silly, though, because until I was in college, he just saw me as a second little sister, not his best friend.Our friendship was pretty one-sided.He rarely told me things about his life but listened to my drama and offered advice.

But I’m not a kid anymore, and he’s coming back home.

That’s something nobody saw coming.I’ve asked Seth why a couple of times, but he always evades the question, usually with an invitation to come see him wherever in the world he is.

My phone buzzes, and a message pops up.

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