Page 2 of The Beach Trap

•••

In the dark,musty cabin, Kat pulled her giant suitcase out from under the bunk and laid it open on Blake’s bottom-bunk mattress. Blake sat at the foot of the bed and helped Kat fold herclothes and place them into her suitcase. She didn’t know what to say—Kat was usually the one to fill the silence with her chatter, her jokes and ideas. Now she seemed like a candle that had been snuffed out.

After Blake’s mother had died, she’d wanted so badly to talk about her mom, but it seemed to make other people uncomfortable. She’d been desperate for someone to share stories and memories with, and she wondered if Kat might feel the same way.

So Blake took a deep breath and said, “Were you and your grandpa close?”

Kat blinked away a few stray tears. “Yeah.”

“What was he like?”

Kat’s chest felt like it was being squeezed by a giant fist, like her ribs might splinter. She swallowed down a sob and said the first thing that came to mind: “He—he always had butterscotch candies in his pockets for me.”

“My granddad always has Jolly Ranchers in his pockets,” Blake said. “He likes the peach ones the best. They’re, like, super hard to find, so whenever we stop at a gas station or grocery store, we always look for them. For Christmas last year I filled his stocking with them, right up to the brim. He laughed so hard he almost fell off the couch.”

Kat sniffed. She liked the image of Blake’s grandpa laughing on Christmas morning. The tight fist around her chest eased, just a bit. “Every summer, we go to my grandpa’s beach house in Destin—that’s in Florida. There’s white sand and it’s right on the ocean, and we’d spend all day on the boat, swimming and looking for dolphins.”

Blake couldn’t help feeling a small twinge of envy. She’d already known that Kat came from a different world, a wealthier world—the brand names on her clothes and shoes made thatclear. But her grandpa had a whole beach house and a boat to go out in theocean? Blake’s granddad had a beat-up old fishing boat that they’d take out on the lake sometimes.

“I don’t know what I’d do if my granddad died,” Blake blurted, then instantly regretted it. Kat’s face had gone white. “Sorry—that’s not what I meant. It’s just that my grandparents are like my parents now. I’ve lived with them since my mom died.”

Kat gave her a curious look. She realized that despite all the time they’d spent together, she didn’t know much about her best friend’s life outside camp. “What about your dad?”

Blake pulled her bony knees into her chest and hugged them. “I—I don’t know where he is. After my mom died, I didn’t see him anymore.”

The words felt like ash in her mouth. All those long, lonely nights after her mom’s accident, longing for her daddy, wishing he would come.

“What happened to him?” Kat said, knowing it was maybe not very nice to pry, but her curiosity about Blake’s past was a nice distraction from the pain in her chest.

Blake hesitated; she hated talking about this. For a full year after her mom died, Blake had held on to the hope that her dad would come get her, bring her to live with him. He always called her his very best girl—so where was he? He hadn’t even come to the funeral. The only explanation, in Blake’s mind, was that he didn’t know what had happened.

But then one day her grandparents had sat her down and explained things to her.

“He—” Blake took a deep breath. This was the first time she’d said this out loud, and her cheeks burned with shame. “My parents weren’t married. My dad had another family.”

Kat saw the flush spreading across Blake’s face and reachedout to squeeze her hand. “And he just abandoned you after your mom died?”

Blake nodded, unable to speak.

This seemed unbelievable to Kat. Her father wasn’t perfect, but she couldn’t imagine a world in which he’d just disappear from her life. “But you knew him before your mom died?”

Blake’s face lit up in a big smile. “Oh yeah. He would stay with us all the time. A couple weekends a month, sometimes a whole week. We’d play catch in the front yard; we’d pick up donuts from our favorite place in the morning for breakfast; we’d have movie marathons and stay up until midnight.” Then her smile faltered. “Anyway. You’re lucky your dad is around all the time. Lucky that he’s coming to get you.”

Kat bit her lip. “Well, I love my dad, but he works a ton, and yeah, I see him every day, but he’s always super busy. He golfs a lot, and most nights, he’s not even home in time for dinner.”

Blake had a hard time imagining that—her dad had given Blake all his attention when he visited. All his love. Which was exactly why it had been so difficult to understand why he’d just disappeared after her mom died. Even if he had another family, hadn’t he missedher?

This was why she had begged her grandparents to send her to Camp Chickawah—her father had gone to the boys’ side of the camp as a kid. She’d thought it might help her feel closer to him, doing things he loved in a place he used to go. Now the whole idea felt silly and babyish, and she was glad she hadn’t mentioned anything about it to Kat.

The door to the cabin opened, interrupting their conversation, and in marched the rest of their cabinmates. Immediately the other girls rushed over to Kat, hugging her, surrounding her with support and love, saying that they were so sorry she had to leave early.

•••

The next morning,Blake stayed back from sailing so she could help Kat take her things to the main lodge. Blake knew it was selfish, but she felt like her own heart was breaking; without Kat, what would she do here? How would she get through these final weeks of camp?

Kat felt like she was in a daze; none of this seemed real. She’d spent most of the night crying into her pillow. But she kept reminding herself that soon her dad would be there, and he’d make everything okay.

When they reached the lodge, Kat stopped and pulled something out of her backpack. It was an old, tattered teddy bear with one eye. “I’m giving you Beary,” Kat said.

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